New Nintendo Switch Game Is One of Its Highest Rated Exclusives of 2024

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club reached the Nintendo Switch, with its initial reviews being overwhelmingly positive. In fact, its early critical reception has been so strong that the game is already one of the highest-rated Switch exclusives of 2024.

Following a few cryptic teasers, Nintendo officially announced Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club in July 2024. The game itself is the fourth entry in the Framicom Detective Club series of murder mystery visual novels. It was released as a Nintendo Switch exclusive on Thursday, August 29.

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By  Dominik Bošnjak

Emio – The Smiling Man Debuts to Strong Reviews

The game launched to an immensely positive critical reception, as underlined by the fact that it presently boasts a "Strong" rating on OpenCritic. That label is derived from its aggregate score of 79 and a 71% reviewer recommendation rate. This makes Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club one of the highest-rated Nintendo Switch exclusives of 2024. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil are so far the only two Switch-only titles that have been released since the turn of the year and managed to get an even stronger critical reception.

Whether this positive review buzz translates to strong sales remains to be seen. Nintendo, for its part, appears to be aware of the niche appeal of visual novels, which is why it went through the effort of making not one but three Emio – The Smiling Man demos, which have later been combined into a single trial version of the game that is now available on the eShop. The three-part demo encompasses the visual novel's prologue and first three chapters, thus offering a fairly comprehensive preview of the game. For reference, Emio – The Smiling Man has 12 chapters in total, which take just as many hours to complete on average, according to crowdsourced data compiled by HowLongToBeat.

Top 10 Highest-Rated Nintendo Switch Exclusives of 2024 (So Far)

While Emio – The Smiling Man is currently the third highest-rated Switch-only game of 2024, it may not retain its spot by year's end. A few big Switch exclusives are still slated for release in the final third of 2024, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom on September 26.

The new Zelda game will then be followed by Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario and Luigi: Brothership, which are scheduled to debut on October 17 and November 7, respectively. Given Nintendo's track record, all of these upcoming titles have the potential to score even better than Emio – The Smiling Man, especially considering their comparatively broader mainstream appeal.

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Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club

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OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 64%

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Released

August 29, 2024

ESRB

M (Mature) for Blood, Language, and Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Engine

game engine

Franchise

Famicom Detective Club

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Who is Emio – The Smiling Man?
Solve the tragic death of a student, where a creepy clue recalls cold cases from the past and an urban legend about a killer with a disturbing modus operandi.

“I can give you a smile that will last forever”
Student Eisuke Sasaki has been found dead in a chilling fashion, with a smiley-faced paper bag 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 the urban legend Emio, a.k.a. The Smiling Man, a serial killer said to grant his victims “a permanent smile.”

Does the Smiling Man really exist…or is a new culprit continuing his legacy?

As a member of the Utsugi Detective Agency, you’ve been tasked with investigating the events that led to Eisuke Sasaki’s death. Along the way, scrutinize the clues and testimonies you gather for potential connections to the gruesome events of the past.
 

Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch

Genre(s)

Adventure, Simulation

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