Emio – The Smiling Man review: Nintendo gets dark

Sure, it is not a pure horror film, as the first teasers suggested, but still Emio – The smiling man is one of the darkest games Nintendo has ever made. It's a crime thriller that doesn't skimp on murder, and throws in a disturbing urban legend for good measure. But more than that, it's just a really great crime game on a platform that's increasingly become an ideal home for Nintendo.

Like its predecessors Emio plays out like a visual novel, where your actions are determined by a series of verbs in a menu. So you “look at” a crime scene, “ask” a witness questions, or “review” your notes. Sometimes the 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 still “think.”

It's not the most elegant way of engaging with the world, but it works. It also requires a lot of reading and repetition. You often have to pester witnesses by asking them the same questions over and over, and the only way to find out what happened is to listen to people. This combination takes some getting used to, and only works with the right narrative – and here it depends on what happened. Emio shines.

The game tells the story of a series of murders involving a killer who carries a paper bag with a creepy smiley face on it and forces the same bag on his victims. As the game begins, a recent murder seems to be connected to a series of murders from 18 years ago, and may also tie into an urban legend about a person named Emio who kills using almost identical methods. You play as a young assistant to a private detective, working with the police to put the various pieces of the puzzle together.

Because there are so many moving parts and – at first – only loose theories holding them together, I had a lot of fun asking, watching and checking. It's very satisfying when things fall into place. There are many threads to pull that take the story in even darker and more disturbing directions as the scope becomes clearer. Even without the horror element, there's plenty to get scared about in Emio.

The game also joins a considerable number of similar crime thrillers on the Switch, which feel right at home due to their portable nature, like the video game equivalent of a good book. Outside of Famicom Detective Clubthere are Ace Attorney, Murder by numbersor Coffee chatto name just a few. EmioThe gameplay of may seem a little dated in comparison, but is sustained by the central mystery.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is now available on Nintendo Switch.