Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Reviews
Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is a successful homage to the venerable series, which tells an enticing story despite its repetitive nature.
Emio - The Smiling Man has been hyped up a little too much in terms of how dark in tone the whole thing is. This is still silly, kooky stuff, just like its predecessors. The sometimes frustrating core mechanics also haven't seen any refinement this time around, which is a shame. And so it's left to some top-notch writing to save the day, which it just about does. Once this troubling and intriguing story has its hooks in you (remember there are three demos to try if you're unsure), it's hard to put down. And that, at the end of the day, is all Tantei Club fans will be looking for.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is a superbly told story, and is engaging from start to finish.
Emio – The Smiling: Famicom Detective Club is presented as an authentic detective experience with which Nintendo has met each and every one of the expectations. Both its plot, as well as the characters and its development, is a real joy for players who are fans of the genre of interactive visual novels. If the game already seemed attractive in its first appearance, as players start it, they will not be able to stop until they finish it. Will Emio be a simple legend or will he end up being a cruel murderer who we will have to stop so that the full weight of the law falls on him?
Review in Spanish | Read full review
It gives just what one expects. Few surprises in the gameplay, but quite a few in the plot, which is what it is about, in this case. Ideal for those who want a slow-paced adventure.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I can see why longtime Famicom Detective Club producer Yoshio Sakamoto was so excited to share the story of this game. Emio - The Smiling Man is an intriguing story that takes us on a deeply emotional journey. The characters, both old and new, are very fun and easy to follow as well, not to mention coming out great in their animations and dialogue. I wish Emio stretched its legs a bit in terms of gameplay, but I also can’t argue too much with a working system that’s mostly meant to be a vehicle for an engaging mystery. If this is the final Famicom Detective Club game, it’s a strong one to go out on, but I can't help but hope we get more Famicom Mystery Club with this game acting as a stepping stone to the series’ future.
Despite thin detective gameplay that may be light on actual deduction, Emio — The Smiling Man makes up for that with a slow-burn visual novel story that goes in completely unexpected directions. Its grisly tone and M-rating may feel surprising for a Nintendo game, but Emio meets young players at a level Nintendo is uniquely positioned to reach them at.
After the remake of the first two episodes of Famicom Detective Club I was really hoping for a return of the franchise, and Emio - The Smiling Man does not disappoint thanks to first-class art direction, an interesting plot and its retro soul.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In the end, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club successfully bridges the gap between classic and modern visual novel formats with ease. Because while, on the surface, it appears to share a lot in common with the revitalised Famicom Detective Club duology for Nintendo Switch from a few years back, there’s also some slightly new changes made to its mechanics and presentation that makes it ripe for relative newcomers to the genre. While it’s true that some lines of enquiry outstay their welcome and the correct dialogue action isn’t always made blatantly evident, the story of “Who is Emio?” didn’t disappoint me by the time the final credits rolled.
Emio - the Smiling Man has a good story to tell, held hostage by mechanics from the early days of Japanese interactive fiction that refuse to give way to fresher, more current game design ideas. It's a bit of a trial-and-error fairground and excessive verbiage, but if that doesn't scare you off (there's a demo to try out that might suit you) you'll be rewarded with an investigative tale of unquestionable value.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club really sneaks up on you. For much of its runtime the game is a likable, if somewhat by the book, throwback detective visual novel, but Nintendo swings big in terms of narrative in its final hours, ultimately delivering a story that’s much more daring, dark, and affecting than anything this franchise has delivered before. Whether you’re a visual novel nut or just in the mood for a good mystery with some teeth, Emio will leave you grinning.
The twists and turns captivate from start to finish and make you want to lift the veil behind the identity of the famous killer with the bag over his head.
Review in French | Read full review
While presenting the same structural conformation as the episodes published 30 years ago and without trying to correct the slight congenital distortions, Emio, the Smiling Man, offers a story robust and flowing enough to keep players glued for its entire duration, as long as you compromise with an old concept of gameplay in which the player's agency is reduced to a minimum, and which often results in a trivial cycle of trial and error.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is a great return to the novel graphic formula. A title that is not for everyone, but perfect for the fans of this kind of experiences.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Famicom Detective Club’s third entry will sate fans but isn’t compelling enough to bring in new players.
Nintendo and MAGES defy all expectations, delivering a grim murder mystery filled with heartbreaking characters and a tragic narrative that stands among the visual novel genre's best. Hopeful just as much as it is haunting, Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is a monumental feat of storytelling from Nintendo's long dormant adventure series.
More than just a blast from the past, Emio fully revitalizes the Famicom Detective Club series, making it better than ever before.
When you buy Emio: The Smiling Man, you get a solid visual novel with good detective work throughout the entire game. But I think the developers lost track of what they wanted when they mixed crime and drama storylines, and lost the crime along the way. Plus, the ending is weird, and characters are annoying.
Review in Polish | Read full review
While it doesn't reinvent the wheel, Emio - The Smiling Man succesfully uses drama and horror to great effect, crafting a story that's equal parts gripping and shocking.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club improves on the old-school mystery visual novel mechanics that the 2021 remakes refined, eliminating some of the trial-and-error frustration while keeping things focused on interviews with witnesses. While the mystery of Emio isn't my favourite of the series, it's still a mostly well-crafted story with gorgeously animated characters.