As the days grow longer and Halloween approaches, mystery-loving gamers have plenty of options during the spookiest season of the year. The current renaissance of the mystery game began with Emio – The Smiling Man, an unexpected new title in The Famicom Detective Club series. This was followed by Ace Attorney Investigations duology, featuring the long-awaited official English translation of the second game, The prosecutor's gambit. A third title, which unfortunately received minimal marketing, was a remake of a classic Japanese mystery title. Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: Frozen Memories of Okhotsk Disappearance, Tearful Figurine is best known both for its title mouth and for being written by Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii.
Attention to the mystery genre has gradually increased over the past few years; key events included the massive success of the indie detective title Disco Elysium, Nintendo's surprising remasters of the first two The Famicom Detective Club games again Chronicles of the Great Ace Attorney. Many indie studios contributed to this boom, releasing titles such as Duck Detective: Secret Salami, Case of the Golden Idol, and more.
Nintendo takes a dark turn with Emio – The Smiling Man
- Release date: August 29, 2024
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Nintendo surprised fans with a grainy found footage trailer, asking a simple question: “Who is Emio?” Theories ranged from a new survival horror IP to a silent hill spin-off, but few guessed the truth: the first new game from The Famicom Detective Club series in about 30 years. Hailed as one of Nintendo's darkest first party titles, Emio sees the Detective Club return to investigate a bizarre serial murder that appears to be linked to a chilling urban legend.
Although the first two games, The missing heir and The girl standing behind received remakes in 2021, fans generally regarded the series as a relic of the classic era of adventure games that would be a thing of the past. from Emio the release was a pleasant surprise and could indicate more The Famicom Detective Club the games are coming.
The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection completes the series
- Release date: September 6, 2024
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
while Ace Attorney Investigations saw an official English translation, its direct sequel, prosecutor's way never had. Theories about its lack of export ranged from mixed reviews for the first one Investigations the desire to promote the newest main title in the series since then, double destinies, rather than focusing on spin-offs. However, in 2024, the two games, which have the role of playing the popular recurring character of the prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, remastered and combined for the Nintendo Switch.
Now, for the first time, all the main series Ace Attorney titles are available in English. Capcom's plans for the future of the series remain unclear, but another main series is certainly not out of the question Ace Attorney game could be in the works, possibly bringing back Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, or Athena Cykes, or introducing a new protagonist entirely.
The Hokkaido serial murder case flew under the radar
- Release date: September 12, 2024
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC
Released with shockingly minimal marketing for Nintendo Switch and PC, The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case involves an unnamed player-controlled detective investigating a series of crimes scattered across Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture. Developed in 1984 by Yuji Horii, it was an independent sequel to Horii's 1983 detective game, The Portopia Serial Murder Case.
portopia, which was cited by Eiji Aonuma and Hideo Kojima as one of the most influential games ever made, received a disappointing relaunch with AI integration. It was used by Square Enix as a demo to showcase its AI capabilities, but was widely panned by critics and players. Fortunately, from Hokkaido The remaster is not AI-focused and is much more refined, with improvements such as a reworked command menu and voice dialogue. Mystery fans looking for something new and exciting to play should definitely check it out The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case, which they may have missed. In addition, we hope that these titles will lead to more remasters of classic mystery games and new releases within the genre in the near future.
