While adventure games have been a big part of the American entertainment landscape since the earliest days of the PC revolution, the related but distinct art form of the visual novel has been largely relegated to the Japanese marketplace. On the rare occasion when visual novels manage to cross over here in the West, they tend to do so by combining some of the light puzzling and mystery-solving of adventure games with a novel’s more extensive, straight-ahead storytelling.
But, as fans of titles like Danganronpa and Doki Doki Literature Club! can surely attest, the best way to help a visual novel-style game make it in America is to inject a little horror into the proceedings.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, the third title in the Nintendo Switch library to bear the Famicom Detective Club moniker, does just that. While America’s first two FDC titles weren’t exactly afraid to steep their storytelling in murder and suspense, Emio leads with a kind of eerie surreality. Its central focus is a horrific urban legend, which is sure to appeal to those immersed in creepypasta culture.
Emio – The Smiling Man begins as the body of Eisuke Sasaki, a 15-year-old student, is found in a remote, wooded area. While disturbing in its own right, the details of this murder, particularly the cause of death (strangulation) and the paper bag found covering the victim’s head, seemingly link it to a trio of deaths that occurred 18 years prior.
Still, there are discrepancies; the previous victims were all young women, and why would a killer go dormant for nearly two decades only to return to his old stomping grounds? But that dreadful bag—complete with a crude smiley face scrawled on it—simply can’t be a coincidence.
Neither can its relation to a local legend, that of the titular Emio. But which came first, the real-life spree killer or the resident boogie man?
In short order, the local authorities call in the Utsugi Detective Agency to help get to the bottom of these seemingly supernatural shenanigans. You alternately take control of your own player character and fellow assistant detective Ayumi Tachibana as you explore the crime scene, interview persons of interest, and explore the sinister goings-on around this and the previous crimes.
Along the way you get help (and the occasional hindrance) from a colorful cast of characters, like police duo Junko Kuze and her bumbling partner Daisuke Kamihara, your boss Mr. Utsugi, and various other odd residents. Classmates, for example, have intimate knowledge of young Eisuke, while a number of those on the police force actually participated in the previous case—some in ways that you might find surprising.
To get to the bottom of this mystery, players will travel to various locales, interview witnesses, and troll for clues. All of this using an ever-present menu of simple text commands. Call/Engage allows you to approach a character, Ask/Listen questions them for clues and forgotten details, and Look/Examine lets you eyeball both them and your environment.
As you progress, other commands become available like Use Phone (assuming you remembered to charge the damn things), Think to analyze all the details you’ve recently learned, and Open Notebook to view your growing collection of case files. At the end of each day/chapter, you’ll also have the opportunity to Review, which is sort of an office-wide info dump where you, Ayumi, and your employer compare notes.
Unlike the other command options, which typically let you choose a prompt to elicit yet another string of text from your interviewee, the Review process quizzes the player about what they’ve learned, challenging them to pick a correct response from a multiple-choice list or type in the correct answer manually.
The best (and very likely the most limiting) aspect of this is that Emio – The Smiling Man is very, very forgiving, letting you try again if you totally whiff what should otherwise be a very easy hunch to follow. This also makes the game feel particularly linear—like you’re just a passenger riding on a train with a long-since predetermined destination.
That simple point-and-click interface can also make things seem rote and repetitive. No matter the situation of the characters at play, you’ll find yourself using the Ask/Examine command over and over until your subject no longer has anything new to share. Then you’ll cycle through the other options—Think, Open Notebook, Look/Examine—until you dislodge some final piece of ephemera or are allowed to move on to your next destination.
True, it can be a slog at times, but the thing that kept me coming back was the fact that the story itself is genuinely entertaining. The writing, particularly the oodles of character dialog (with corresponding Japanese voice acting) is great, even when the environments or outcomes seem a little too same-y.
There is action, tension, and even a few scares, but what Emio really focuses on is the fascinating feelings and conflicting perspectives of its expansive cast. In the end, this means that the experience is a bit less metaphysical than its much-lauded teaser trailer may have implied, but that’s ok too. It’s a grown-up story for grown-up gamers, which is also indicated by its M rating from the ESRB.
While it’s no Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the plot does hinge on child murder. Coupled with some swear words peppered in and more than a couple of creepy adults in the mix, I reckon that M-rating is warranted even if the game’s overall presentation is limited to anime-style visuals and lots (and lots!) of reading.
Thankfully, the game always keeps the Save/Quit Investigation command close at hand, so you can duck out of those marathon interviews if you start to lose interest or need to attend to non-Smiling-Man matters here in the real world.
If you’re not sure this old-school visual novel thing is for you, Nintendo has provided a substantial demo that ably captures the look, feel, and flow of Emio. You can check it out for free before deciding whether or not to add it to your pre-Halloween playlist.
While not for everyone, I really enjoy this style of gameplay—especially as a contrast to the RPG and action-heavy fare that I tend to spend most of my time with. (Full disclosure: I just purchased the Castlevania Dominus Collection, so that’s what I’ll be doing next several weeks.) Moreover, Emio understands what it is to a fault, using all the trappings of both murder mystery and visual storytelling to great effect.
As I mentioned in my preview, my suggestions for getting the most out of Emio – The Smiling Man involve keeping an eye on the environment and its characters, working deliberately through each interaction’s Ask/Listen list, and leaning heavily on the “Observations?” prompt.
And don’t be afraid to tap out (using that conveniently located Save command) if you feel stuck or get frustrated. While the narrative is a matter of life and death, the game is supposed to be fun and engaging. I certainly found it so.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is available via the Nintendo eShop and retailers everywhere this Thursday, August 29 with an MSRP of $49.99.
Review materials provided by Nintendo of America. This post contains affiliate links. I can give you a smile that will last forever.
