Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club review

I’ll admit, I’ve by no means performed a Famicom Detective Membership sport earlier than – neither the originals, nor the latest remakes. Nonetheless, as an enormous fan of horror video games, visible novel video games, and detective video games, I had little doubt that they might be proper up my avenue. As such, when the chance to tackle this Emio – The Smiling Man overview arose, I used to be solely too desirous to hop on the case.

I’ll chorus from revealing any spoilers on this overview as, naturally, it’s a completely story-driven sport, that means it’s finest skilled firsthand with little to no prior data of the case, however I’ll begin with a quick overview of the narrative. I additionally wish to spotlight that, regardless of not taking part in the earlier video games within the sequence, I had no points choosing up the story right here. Nonetheless, I do wish to spotlight that this sport comprises scenes and subjects that some might discover distressing, together with suicide, violence, and blood, so please hold that in thoughts earlier than you strive it out for your self.

Following on from the earlier Famicom Detective Membership video games, Emio – The Smiling Man follows three non-public investigators from Utsugi Detective Company. There’s the hardworking, unnamed protagonist and his colleague Ayumi Tachibana, each of whom are 19-year-old assistant detectives, together with their boss Shunsuke Utsugi, an skilled 40-year-old non-public investigator and director of the company.

Police inspector Kimiharu Kamada reaches out to the Utsugi Detective Company to request help on a suspected homicide case, through which the physique of a 15-year-old junior excessive pupil known as Eisuke Sasaki was discovered close to a distant pump station. His obvious explanation for dying was asphyxiation with a rope-like object. However, in fact, that’s not all – when police found his physique, they discovered that the sufferer had a brown paper bag over his head with a crudely drawn smiley face on the entrance.

It seems that this case isn’t one-of-a-kind, both. Eighteen years in the past, there was a string of unsolved serial murders, the place the our bodies of three highschool women have been additionally discovered strangled, every with a paper bag over their heads sporting that very same smiley face.

These murders draw a parallel with the well-known city legend of Emio, in any other case referred to as The Smiling Man. On this legend, the Smiling Man seems in entrance of crying women, carrying a paper bag with a smiley face over his head. He tells the lady that they don’t have to cry anymore as a result of he’ll give them a smile that may final endlessly – then he murders them, leaving the victims with the identical sort of paper bag on their heads, smiley face and all. Sure, that’s a whole lot of paper baggage.

However how do the city legend, the murders from 18 years in the past, and Eisuke’s case line up? Is it the identical killer? If that’s the case, why is he returning now? Why a boy, when each the city legend and the earlier murders deal with feminine victims? Effectively, that’s as much as you to search out out. Switching between the unnamed protagonist and Ayumi at completely different factors, it’s essential to examine places, query topics, witnesses, and different people, and put collectively the items of the puzzle earlier than the Smiling Man strikes once more.

It’s an intriguing story with components that draw on each real-life and fictional instances I’ve heard prior to now, making it fairly grounded for essentially the most half whereas nonetheless sustaining an otherworldly air. There are many twists and turns to maintain you in your toes, and the suspense actually picks up within the latter half of the sport, sucking you in and offering you with an odd sense of accomplishment while you handle to piece issues collectively and join the dots.

Each the general narrative and the climax of the story definitely have their faults, nevertheless it gripped me nonetheless, evoking that ‘only one extra web page’ feeling that I get from a great ebook. And, once I lastly cracked the case and noticed the credit roll, the sport had yet one more shock for me, beckoning me again in for an additional spherical, which was a really nice shock.

Now, onto the gameplay. Emio – The Smiling Man could be very a lot a visible novel with some point-and-click sport components. Whereas it’s a bit extra concerned than some visible novels I’ve performed prior to now, don’t go into it anticipating a free-roaming detective journey sport – it’s all concerning the story, and the entire instruments at your disposal solely serve to progress that story additional.

Between the dialog sections, you’ve got entry to a command field with choices corresponding to ‘name/interact’, ‘ask/pay attention’, ‘look/study’, ‘use telephone’, ‘assume’, and ‘open pocket book’. You should utilize ‘look/study’ to examine your environment and different characters, ‘assume’ to have your character ponder what to do subsequent, and, in fact, ‘name/interact’ and ‘ask/pay attention’ to speak to different characters.

Typically, the gameplay loop locations you in a location with an goal, corresponding to discovering out extra a few particular subject or assembly up with a sure character, then provides you somewhat free reign. Whereas most conditions level you in the appropriate route by way of context clues, dialog hints, or highlighted phrases and phrases, generally it’s not solely clear what motion you want to carry out to progress. This doesn’t imply it’s difficult, although – in truth, Emio – The Smiling Man is an easy sport – it simply implies that generally you need to repeatedly cycle by means of a number of instructions or dialog choices till you get the specified final result.

On the plus aspect, this does generally lead to you catching little dialog traces and items of knowledge that aren’t essentially associated to the case, however assist flesh out the characters and world additional. Additionally, having to repeatedly prod and check out completely different approaches when questioning an interviewee does make sense in a means, as a whole lot of these characters are speaking about troublesome subjects. I imply, I’m certain actual detectives need to ask the identical factor again and again generally, too.

The characters are fairly various, and provide an excellent stage of depth. From the charming police detective Daisuke Kamihara to the pleasant ‘aunty’ in leopard print that you just meet on the road, each has their very own quirks and distinctive character. That is undoubtedly enhanced by the sensible Japanese voice performing, polished English textual content translation, and animated 2D sprites that by no means fail to mirror every character’s feelings completely.

Moreover, whereas a whole lot of the subject material is sort of darkish, Emio – The Smiling Man does an awesome job of injecting some humor and loads of allure into completely different conditions, which helps present reduction from the heavy plot whereas additionally increase a way of camaraderie between the characters on the story’s core. This additionally permits for just a few purple herrings alongside the way in which to maintain you guessing.

Each time you meet a brand new character or uncover a brand new piece of knowledge, you routinely add it to your pocket book. The pocket book is maybe one of many clearest and most well-executed that I’ve seen in a sport like this, that includes profiles for each character together with a photograph, full identify and age, and nearly each little element you hear about them. Crucial particulars are additionally underlined in purple, making it simpler so that you can select key data.

If that isn’t sufficient, there’s additionally a overview system, the place the unnamed protagonist and Ayumi meet up and go over their notes. Throughout a overview, your character makes an announcement with a lacking phrase, and the sport prompts you to fill within the clean. From right here, the sport both provides you a listing of choices to decide on between, opens your pocket book and asks you to pick out a personality profile or piece of knowledge, or invokes the Swap’s digital keyboard and has you sort out the reply. The latter might sound somewhat intimidating, nevertheless it’s often a one-word reply that you just’ll positively keep in mind in the event you’ve been paying consideration.

In the event you’re in search of a problem to check your detective expertise, you gained’t discover it right here. There aren’t any failstates, and in the event you get a solution improper, one of many characters will merely right you with no additional enter required. As such, the overview system is much less of a check and extra of a recap to make sure that you’re synthesizing all the knowledge and choosing up on the important thing elements of the case.

The controls in Emio – The Smiling Man are general very intuitive and simple to know, with the added bonus of a graphic exhibiting the button structure while you hit the + button. There are auto and skip modes that can assist you get by means of the dialog sooner or with minimal enter, a pressure skip the place you possibly can quick ahead by means of scenes, and a textual content log the place you possibly can reread dialog and even replay voice traces. There’s additionally the choice to cover the textual content log so you will get a great have a look at the artwork behind, which I actually recognize – particularly as a result of the textual content packing containers generally cowl characters’ faces and necessary visible particulars.

Nonetheless, I do really feel that neglecting touchscreen controls is a little bit of an oversight, particularly when within the point-and-click ‘look/study’ mode, as, whereas controlling the cursor with the joystick isn’t too dangerous on this sport, it lacks accuracy in the case of smaller particulars in handheld mode, and with the ability to faucet on the display can be a lot simpler.

That’s a small gripe, although, because the joystick-controlled cursor is healthier right here than in different video games I’ve performed – it strikes at a snug pace, stands out towards the background, and the pop-up that seems while you hover over an individual or interactable object is evident and simple to see.

One other good element is that Emio – The Smiling Man not solely provides a number of autosave slots with a dependable autosave system, but additionally boasts a number of handbook save slots. And, while you open the sport and cargo a save, it additionally provides you the choice to view a recap of the story to this point, which is nice in the event you take a break from the sport however don’t wish to begin over (or for these of us with a horrible reminiscence).

Visually, Emio – The Smiling Man maintains a pleasant stage of cohesion, conveying that modernized traditional really feel effectively. The aforementioned animated character sprites are easy, with daring colours and a traditional anime artwork type, however nonetheless ooze a whole lot of character. On high of this, the environmental artwork is attractive, with many lovely, sunny landscapes so that you can discover that distinction completely with the darkish, eerie settings and creepy flashbacks, making them really feel all of the extra impactful. In a means, the artwork really jogs my memory of Hayao Miyazaki’s work, with comparatively simplistic characters in entrance of extremely detailed environments making for a fairly putting visible type.

Past that, the menus are easy and daring, capturing the ‘retro’ really feel from the unique video games, and every part scales effectively in each docked and handheld modes. Moreover, attributable to it being a fairly easy sport in perform, it runs very easily on the Swap, with fast load occasions and no stutter or lag. As such, the flexibleness of the Swap makes it the proper platform for this sport, and I particularly cherished having the portability as an possibility once I wished to sneak in yet one more chapter earlier than mattress.

At a tough guess, I might say that Emio – The Smiling Man will take completionists round ten to fifteen hours to beat. For these of you who focus solely on foremost goals (or use a information to blast by means of every part) it can seemingly be a a lot shorter journey.

As a fan of visible novels, I positively assume its $49.99 / £39.99 value is on par with different video games on this style, particularly contemplating it’s totally voiced and options animations. Nonetheless, in contrast to many different visible novels, it does lack replayability past, maybe, a second playthrough to go over all the small print with the conclusion in thoughts.

So, would I like to recommend Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Membership? Effectively, that solely depends upon you. I personally had a whole lot of enjoyable with it and actually loved the gradual burn because the narrative steadily unfolded earlier than me. I additionally got here to like the characters (particularly my beloved Kamihara, what a cutie), and may definitely recognize the eye to element that went into its world. As such, my recommendation to you is that this – in the event you get pleasure from visible novels and gradual burn tales, try the demo on the Nintendo Retailer earlier than committing to a purchase order. As a result of, whereas the story of The Smiling Man is definitely one value telling, it will not be for everybody.

In the event you’re curious concerning the earlier video games within the sequence, make sure you try our Famicom Detective Membership overview overlaying the remakes of The Lacking Inheritor and The Lady Who Stands Behind. Or, in the event you favor your visible novels to land extra firmly within the horror style, make sure you try my Paranormasight overview or my Spirit Hunter: Dying Mark II overview.