Review TengoCalidad 2/5 · Jan 20, 2024
Bigger isn't always better
In 2019, the movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu was released. While it was a huge hit, most people didn't even know it was based on a 3Ds videogame from 2016, which ended in a huge cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved until seven years later, when the sequel Detective Pikachu Returns finally came out.
Being one of the three people who played …
In 2019, the movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu was released. While it was a huge hit, most people didn't even know it was based on a 3Ds videogame from 2016, which ended in a huge cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved until seven years later, when the sequel Detective Pikachu Returns finally came out.
Being one of the three people who played the original video game before the movie was out, I enjoyed it. As a point-and-click adventure game, it's extremely easy and basic, and it doesn't even compare to anything you could play on PC in the '90s, but as a Pokémon spin-off where you could explore scenarios where humans and pokémon interact in realistic settings, it is amazing.
Watching Pokémon working in a café shop, helping journalists in a TV studio, and exploring an island where an invasive pokémon endangers the lives of native species is an experience you can't get in any game of the franchise, and it feels so natural and immersive that you have to wonder why they never try anything like that before. The worldbuilding is easily the best part of the game, and it was so good that I didn't care about the non-existent difficulty, especially because the story was also entertaining, nothing revolutionary or complex, but it keeps you engaged until the end.
And the sequel... Is more or less the exact experience, but even bigger, as they have to justify the $40 price tag. Some of the new additions are great, like the ability to team up with another pokémon to use abilities needed to progress, and the local concerns, which are side quests that don't give anything aside from news articles in a newspaper you can read before each chapter, but as small optional missions they work well (aside from the quiz missions, going to the other extreme of the map to talk to a pokémon I've already talked to isn't as fun as it sounds).
The themes and messages are also surprisingly mature, as you get police corruption and abuse, the eradication of free will in a police state, characters traumatized by the death of a family member, a cutscene where the protagonist's father asks for a divorce, and much more. I was surprised many times at how serious the topics could become during the game, and even more surprised that they never felt out of place or forced, as they managed to introduce them in a way that felt natural and made perfect sense for the story.
However, my main problem is that the gameplay is as basic and easy as the first game, but because everything is larger, now you can feel how boring it can be. Point-and-click games need a great story or mystery to keep you engaged, as clicking objects in the background isn't necessarily the most exciting gameplay ever, and Detective Pikachu Returns has neither of them.
Most of the cases consist of a crime where the answer is obvious as soon as it starts, with hints that make the solution even more obvious, and you have to "investigate" for 1-2 hours while knowing the answer already, which, as you can guess, can be extremely boring at times.
The worldbuilding is still great, but when you have to endure dull gameplay and a million of cutscenes just to advance, it doesn't feel as good. I even had to play a case per day just to try to enjoy it more, but after a while, I realized I was just playing because I wanted to end the game, not because I was having fun.
And it's a shame because I wanted to enjoy it. I had been waiting for this game since 2018 when I played the first part, when it was finally announced I was hyped because I wanted to see how the story would end, even if the main plot twist was already revealed in the movie, and my expectations weren't that high, I just wanted a better version of what I already played, but instead, I got a drawn-out version that gets old before the third case begins.
I understand that being a Switch game it needed more content, but I think it would have been better if instead of being a $40 videogame, it was a $20 digital exclusive, a small project with the same length as the original one and new mechanics, because Game Freak isn't the studio that should create story-driven games like this.
In conclusion, I would only recommend playing this to people who liked the first part and want to finish the story, as there are millions of adventure games better than this.