This is a warning to all those who are yet to play Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club and want to work through the mystery unspoiled: do not watch Nintendo's latest trailer for the game.
Yesterday, Nintendo uploaded a new trailer for the 2024 mystery entitled 'What Lies in the Past' (we've linked it in that last sentence but won't be embedding it for obvious reasons). It's an innocent-looking title and, without any form of warning at the start, bar the age certification the Nintendo of America upload, you would be forgiven for thinking it's just another promo. Perhaps, at a stretch, the reveal of some upcoming DLC. But no, it's actually loaded with late-game content that you might want to avoid.
This was brought to our attention on BlueSky by both LuigiBlood and the wonderful Jon Cartwright, each clarifying that the trailer is snipping together moments from the end of the game. Admittedly, these snippets come without context, but it does show a lot more than you might want — particularly if you are already mid-way through the narrative.
In its defence, the Nintendo UK upload does state "(Warning: This video contains spoilers!)" in the YouTube description, but it's three lines deep and, notably, after the eShop link directing you to the Emio free demo. Hardly the most preemptive warning, eh?
For those who haven't been spoiled, we reckon Emio - The Smiling Man is well worth checking out. It's true that the core gameplay is a little slow and the dark marketing blew things a little out of proportion, but we still awarded it a 7/10 in our review praising the stellar writing and stating, "Once this troubling and intriguing story has its hooks in you [...] it's hard to put down".