Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club Preview

A brand-new Famicom Detective Club game? In 2024? You wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t been blasted out on Nintendo’s socials, but it’s real, somehow, and it’s coming out next week. We’ve had a bit of time with the game, and while there’s a lot we can’t talk about just yet, there’s plenty we can. Most of our preview here is focused on the game’s epilogue and first chapter, which you can also play yourself with the Emio demo, the first part of which is available now. 

So what is Emio: The Smiling Man? 

Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club is the third and latest game in the Famicom Detective Club series. It’s the first new game in the series in 27 years, although the previous two games were remade for Switch in 2021. You can read our review for that here. Like those previous games, though, Emio is part visual novel, part detective game, and part point-and-click adventure — think of it as something a little bit like Ace Attorney, with a bigger focus on talking to people to unravel mysteries rather than gathering evidence to prove your case. 

What’s it about? 

Alrighty, strap in, because it’s about to get heavy. Emio: The Smiling Man has you, the protagonist, working for a detective agency when a murder case lands on your desk. The police have asked for your help, so you and your colleagues hit the scene to start figuring things out. The victim is a 15-year-old boy from a local high school, and he was found with a paper bag over his head, a smiley face scrawled on its front, after being strangled to death. 

That’s pretty horrifying as is, but made even worse by the fact that this has happened before, a few times, 18 years ago. Same MO, too, with the paper bag over their heads. And just to step up the horror a little bit, it all sounds very similar to an urban myth called The Smiling Man, in which a man with a similar paper bag covering his face targets young girls. How are these three things connected? That’s for you to figure out. 

That sounds like a lot, is it scary? 

The epilogue and the first chapter aren’t too scary, all things considered, but when you take into account the subject matter, it does start to creep in a little bit even in the early stages. I certainly wouldn’t recommend booting it up at night if you live alone, at least (ask me how I know). 

Is this related to the previous two Famicom Detective Club games? 

I’m so glad you asked! Yes, this is a direct sequel to Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir, set two years after the events of that game. The protagonist is the same as the prior two games, now 19-years-old and a fully fledged (assistant) detective at the Utsugi Detective Agency, and there are a few returning characters, too. 

Do I need to play the previous games to understand this one? 

Nope! You don’t need to have played anything… but you should, anyway. It’s helpful to know the history between the main characters, and you’ll get a better picture of how things work and what to expect. Emio is also quite a bit more modern, design-wise, than the remakes of the first two games, so if you really love it and want to go back after playing Emio, it might be a bit of a rough transition. That said, beyond a few references to past events here and there, Emio’s story seems to be largely self-contained, at least so far. 

You said Emio is a bit more modern? 

I did, and it’s better for it. One of the biggest complaints my colleague Paul had in our review of the Switch remakes is that the conversation design, which is at the core of the games, is a bit clunky. You’d spend a frustrating amount of time just exhausting every possible option without much direction, hoping you come across the right answer. Emio, instead, follows a much more logical thread, making it more obvious what you need to be doing and asking about as long as you’re paying attention.

It even highlights keywords as people speak that hint at your next line of questioning — you can turn this off if you want, but there’s little reason to do so. The result is a game that feels much more enjoyable, and where you feel like you’re putting your reasoning skills to good use without feeling like you have to be galaxy brained to figure out what the next move is. 

Is the music still good? 

Heck yeah it is. The music in Emio is fantastic. The original games had banger soundtracks too, but Emio takes it up a notch and really instills a great sense of tone. I’m not sure that this would be half the game it is without the music, so I’d highly recommend you turn the volume up or chuck some headphones on for this one. I mean, it’s still good without it, but it’s absolutely transcendent with it. 

Who is Emio? 

I can’t tell you that. 

Really? Come on, just a little hint? 

Nope, you’ll just have to figure it out for yourself when Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club is released on the Nintendo Switch on the 29th of August. Oh, and while you wait, make sure you check out our Aussie Bargain Roundup for Emio: The Smiling Man to find yourself a horrifyingly good deal.