Well-played, Nintendo. In the wake of releasing an eerie and age-restricted teaser, the gaming giant has lifted the curtain on its mystery title: Emio – The Smiling Man. Not the new horror game that many were expecting, the latest Famicom Detective Club title will be a Switch exclusive when it bows in on 29 August.
It marks the first brand-new entry in the visual novel series in an astonishing 35 years, and sees Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto at the helm. “This is the first new Famicom Detective Club game in 30 years, and I was involved in everything,” he explained in a video . “[F]rom the foundations of the plot to small details of the script and cutscenes.”
In Emio – The Smiling Man, players step into the role of a detective tasked with solving a gruesome murder of a student, who was found with a paper bag with smiling face over his head. “This unsettling visage bears a striking resemblance to a recurring clue in a string of unsolved murders from 18 years ago, as well as Emio (the Smiling Man), a killer of urban legend who is said to grant his victims ‘a smile that will last forever'”, reads a snippet of the game’s synopsis.
“Has a serial killer returned, or is this the work of a copycat? Are these crimes inspired by the Smiling Man story, or the origin of it? These answers and more will be discovered as you investigate in Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club.”
The Cheshire grin motif was previously teased in 15 seconds of grainy footage starring a figure in a trench coat with a paper bag over their head, accompanied by camera cuts to disturbing images ranging from a Jack-o’-lantern cutout to a person’s hand that appears to be missing a finger.
The sleuthing adventure follows the Switch remakes of Famicom Detective: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, both of which were announced and released in 2021. The games first debuted in 1988 and 1989, respectively, to positive response from critics, but were only available in Japan at launch. Ayumi Tachibana, the protagonist from The Missing Heir, will return as a playable character in certain sections of Emio – The Smiling Man, due out on 29 August.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
