Sure, it's not straight-up horror like the early trailers suggested, but still, Emio — The Smiling Man is one of the darkest games Nintendo has ever made. It's a murder mystery that doesn't skimp on the killings, and throws in a disturbing urban legend for good measure. But more than that, it's a great mystery on a platform that has slowly become an ideal home for them.
Like its predecessors, Emius The game plays like a visual novel, where your actions are determined by a series of verbs on a menu. This is how you “look” at a crime scene, or “ask” questions of a witness, or “review” your notes. Sometimes actions are contextual (you can’t talk to someone if no one is there), but there are almost always a few things you can do at any given time. If not, you can always “think.”
It's not the most elegant way to engage with the world, but it's functional. It also requires a lot of reading and repetition. Witnesses often have to be pressured by being asked the same questions over and over, and the only way to know what happened is to listen to people. That combination is something of an acquired taste, and also something that only really works with the right narrative, which is where Emius shines.
The game tells the story of a series of murders in which a killer carries a paper bag with a creepy smiley face on it and also puts one on his victims. At the beginning of the game, a recent murder seems to be related to a series of murders that occurred 18 years earlier and possibly also to an urban legend about a person named Emio who kills with almost identical methods. You play as a young assistant to a private investigator who works alongside the police to put the various pieces together.
Since there are so many moving parts and, at first, only vague theories holding them together, I had a lot of fun asking all the questions, watching, and checking. It's so satisfying when things fall into place. There are plenty of threads to pull on, taking the story into even darker and more disturbing directions as the scope becomes clearer. Even without the horror element, there's plenty to be scared about in Emius.
The game also joins a sizable roster of similar mysteries on Switch, which feel right at home due to their portable nature, like the video game equivalent of a good book. Famicom Detective Clubthere is Ace Lawyer, Murder in numberseither Coffee talkto name a few. Emius's gameplay may seem a little dated in comparison, but its central mystery keeps it alive.
Emio — The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is now available on Nintendo Switch.
