Behind the teaser of Nintendo’s mysterious horror game was the first new game in the Famicom Detective Club series in 35 years

Following last week’s teaser, Nintendo has unveiled its “grown-up” horror game about the “smiling man.” Contrary to assumptions, this turned out to be not the development of the Polish Bloober Team, but something completely different.

Image source: Nintendo

In 1988 and 1989, two games in the Famicom Detective Club series of detective adventures were released on the Famicom console in Japan. In 2021, they reached Western players for the first time in the remake format for Nintendo Switch.

35 years after the release of the last serialized part, the franchise will be replenished with a new release. The game is called Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club and will go on sale for Switch on August 29th for $50.

The plot of the new game revolves around a series of murders reminiscent of the urban legend about Emio, a maniac who placed a bag with a smiley face on his victims’ heads.

In the role of a member of the Utsugi detective agency, players, along with characters familiar from previous parts, will have to help the police unravel the mystery of unsolved murders from 18 years ago and get to the bottom of the truth about new crimes.

They promise a tense story of suspicion, isolation and fragility, an interactive drama with interesting characters, and the opportunity (for the first time in the series) to take control of Ayumi Tachibana.

The screenwriter of the first parts, Yoshio Sakamoto, is responsible for the plot of Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. In the message attached above, he hints that the new game will have a controversial ending.