Emio - The Smiling Man officially releases tomorrow, 29th August 2024. Developed by MAGES. and Nintendo, the surprise horror murder-mystery sequel was only announced weeks ago, and we're already getting ready to step back into the Famicom Detective Club.
Die-hard fans of the original Famicom Detective Club games — either via the originals or the 2021 remakes — will be eager to dive in, and likely already have thanks to that three-part demo. But what did the critics think?
Before diving into other reviews, how about taking the time to see what we thought? We awarded Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club a 7/10 here at Nintendo Life; we loved the writing and praised the silly humour, but found that it had one foot firmly in the past and the lack of modernisation might put some people off.
But that's just us, of course. Australian outlet Vooks awarded the game the top score of 5/5, with glowing impressions laced throughout the review: the reviewer even goes on to say that Emio - The Smiling man is "one of the best games I’ve ever played."
"Nothing can prepare you for Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. You might think you’re ready, but you’re not. It’s a whirlwind adventure that keeps you on your seat from the opening scene to the very end, and it’s one of the best games Nintendo has ever published."
High praise indeed. Digitally Downloaded was almost equally as glowing about Emio, scoring it a 4.5/5. Again, the writing was lauded, but the trial-and-error nature of the mystery was the only real knock against it:
"To say anything else about Emio would be doing you all a disservice, as it’s a winding, twisting mystery that is best enjoyed unspoiled. If you did play the remakes of the first two Famicom Detective Club titles then you’ll get more of the same here, just with modern standards of writing."
God is a Geek is another voice in the chorus that praises the story, awarding Emio with an 8.5/10. The drawback for them, however, is that while the game thinks it's scary, it might not be as scary as you're hoping:
"Emio is very clever at the way the story is delivered, and as many times as I thought I had solved things in advance, I was never quite right."
Siliconera highlighted the darker nature of the game compared to other Nintendo titles, although criticised the uneven pacing of the mystery, awarding a score of 8/10.
"It all complements well with the excellent but a bit unique storytelling. This tale is not for every Switch player, being a bit too dark at times, but it is highly rewarding for those it appeals to."
Game Reactor EU felt similarly to us about Emio - The Smiling Man. In their review (originally written in Spanish), they felt that the mechanics were dated, despite it being a modern title, but praised its existence:
And, with all my gripes and reservations about visual novels, Emio - The Smiling Man is a title that I'm grateful to have come out today. Especially because it brings back to the forefront, and with the backing of a great company like Nintendo, a genre that has always survived barely in the shadows of modern systems.
Last up for this round-up is Eurogamer's 3/5 review, and just like Game Reactor, it's the gameplay and dialogue-heavy nature that wore the experience down. But, like every other review mentions, the story is the star:
"When it comes to Emio - The Smiling Man though, we've been given a faithful adaptation of the past instalment's gameplay - perhaps too faithful, for a series which last got a new main entry in 1989 - wrapped inside a story about love, loss and the importance of recycling paper bags."
It's a pretty even spread, then. All things considered, if you're a fan of excellent writing, mysteries, or loved the previous games in the series, then Emio - The Smiling Man is for you. Just don't go in expecting a revolution.
The game is currently sitting at a 78 on Metacritic — for comparison's sake, The Girl Who Stands Behind and The Missing Heir are both sitting on 74.
Let us know what you thought of the demo so far, and whether you'll be picking up Emio tomorrow in the comments.
Comments 17
Lots of people seem to be saying "oh it's not NEARLY as dark as we were expecting" and I'm just wondering why people brought it upon themselves to expect that.
Besides, a game being dark is not the only reason I'm excited for this, but come on. Is a serial killer murder mystery with teen suicide and pools of blood REALLY not dark enough?
I haven't played the demo but I do have it preordered physically through Nintendo and they have yet to ship it, rip for release day but still excited.
As long as the game's just on par with the Girl Who Stands Behind it's gonna be a great time. Those two remakes might just be the very best "switch" games I've played under TOTK and maybe Mario Odyssey. Very much looking forward to it, even more now.
surprisingly good reviews yay!
man im so sad that game informer does exist anymore…
Seems about like what I expected out of the reviews - definitely not for everyone but if it is for you then you'll love it. Pretty much how I feel about the first two so I'm really eager.
Gamereactor is one word.
A rare instance of Nintendo Life's review of a Nintendo project scoring the game lower than most.
I still need to play the previous two titles, unfortunately it's not available physically and it's too expensive for me to take a gamble on and not being able to trade it in if I don't like it. Hopefully there's a sale on those soon.
I played through both of the earlier Switch remakes over the past month. As a fan of 90s PC adventure games they really clicked with me. The tweaks to modernise that I found in the demo have been great base level improvements. I know this has a niche audience but as someone who has loved the remakes I’m really happy with what has been shown so far in the demo and can’t wait to get dug into the rest of the game tomorrow.
All I needed to hear was if the story is good or not. Looking forward to it.
Just always, always remember that in the alternate universe where they updated the game machines the reviews would be the exact same score, only everyone would be complaining that the game betrayed the true fans by changing to much instead of the dated mechanics.
The only solace I take is that FDC was never going to be a series to light the world on fire, so I'll know for sure if I'm going to pursue this series after I get to the demos.
Did Eurogamer do a deep dive into the frame pacing? Hopeless website.
So, the main criticism for this new entry in an old series is that it plays like the other entires in this series. Admittedly, fair enough, it sounds like some modernisation could be useful. But, at the same time, it is Famicom detective club, not switch detective club. You’d expect it to feel like it’s an upgraded NES title. To expect otherwise may be a bit optimistic.
Does what it says on the tin
@IceClimbersMain People probably thought this was gonna be Corpse Party or something lol.
@UltimateOtaku91
It is available physically, in the UK at least.
@IceClimbersMain Maybe the teaser caused these expectations.
I think overall the reviews have convinced me to at least try the demo and see if it clicks. If it does, I'll definitely buy myself a physical copy!
It’s a little niche for sure. Honestly, I would argue that it’s done pretty well by the critics considering.
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