When Detective Pikachu hit the 3DS in 2016, we’d never seen anything quite like it in the vast collection of Pokemon games. Its casual whodunit story was an easy solve, but it was cute, colorful, and most importantly, different. And yet, now that Detective Pikachu and his tiny herringbone hat have returned, it doesn’t feel as exciting as its predecessor. In fact, there’s a lot about the mystery solving that’s arguably a step backwards. It’s somehow easier than the first one, which makes a lot of the moment-to-moment play feel long-winded and a bit frustrating, especially if you’re more than 10 years old. It’s still a pleasing, colorful, sweet adventure, and the story comes to a mostly satisfying conclusion of the Detective Pikachu saga, but its greatest mystery is what went on behind the scenes that resulted in some of these baffling decisions in the story and mechanics.
Since it’s been a good while, it was wise for this sequel to be written so that you didn’t need to play the first Detective Pikachu (or seen the movie, for that matter) to hop into Returns – Pikachu recaps the first game in the very beginning with his trusty cup of coffee by his side. The world is still feeling the effects of the events from the first game, where Tim Goodman and the titular detective helped stop the spread of R, a drug that caused Pokemon to go berserk. However, things seem to be ramping up again in Ryme City, where Pokemon are once again acting strangely and a mystery is brewing in the background as you solve other cases. Plus, there’s the matter of figuring out what happened to Tim’s father and Pikachu’s partner, Harry.
Unlike in the first game, where R was introduced early and the mystery involved who was behind it, Detective Pikachu Returns tries something different. It introduces a lot of parts early on without specifically revealing the purpose of the puzzling objects at its center, and then takes its time explaining their meaning. Without getting into too many details, a priceless gem is stolen, but then that stone becomes central to the larger events, but its true purpose remains unknown for most of my estimated 17-hour runtime. Even though there are a lot of other moving parts, it’s not too complicated to figure out their places in the plot, and it’s still satisfying to watch them come together. It’s a bit predictable, though, and you’ll very likely figure it out way before the characters do.
Detective Pikachu Returns does manage to pull off a few surprises by subverting some obvious mystery tropes around butlers perpetrating crimes, and alliances shift unexpectedly. But it’s still a story where the most obvious suspect in each case is likely the culprit, and the ending you expect is what you typically get.
As I mentioned, this is a family-oriented visual novel, so none of the cases are too complex. In fact, it seems like Nintendo has taken it down a notch from the first one, which was already clearly targeted at younger players. Gone are many of the more complicated puzzles and how the clues and evidence are laid out. Previously, you had to sometimes approach an investigation by picking apart a conversation and highlighting a word, or having to decipher symbols that even Detective Pikachu won’t reveal the answer to. Gathering clues in Detective Pikachu Returns is even more straightforward: you collect them and then Pikachu prompts you to deduce what they mean together in your new case notebook. For example, you’ll wander around Ryme City collecting testimony from witnesses or looking closer at certain crime scenes for anything amiss, but it’s unlikely you’ll interact with any of the evidence beyond that. You also get optional side quests where you can help out people and pokemon, and while they’re not necessary for the plot, they’re usually good for a laugh – the exception being a quiz professor who, all too often, has you backtracking to interact with Pokemon in the area to solve her relatively easy riddles.
I occasionally got tripped up when I wasn’t paying close attention to a conversation that had gone on too long, but for the most part, the clues are presented and then explained almost immediately. Is there a diagram that shows a person lifting a Pokemon up to unlock a door? You’ll probably have to lift up Pikachu to unlock a door. Did a bunch of Pokemon report that they fell asleep after eating breakfast? That’s probably important to remember. And if you don't get it correct the first time, you aren’t punished for your mistake – you just try again until you get it right. Returns doesn’t really have puzzles, but rather a series of testimonies you have to collect and keep track of. Pikachu, Tim, and the rest of the characters need every piece of evidence to have realizations, so like the last game, you’re forced to break down your entire thought process in the notebook.
It’s not that it’s that difficult to keep everything organized, just inconvenient. Previously, you could view your notes and make deductions on the second of the two 3DS screens even if you were in a conversation; on the Switch’s single screen you have to jump into menus to view them instead. This might not sound like a huge change, but it does mean that you’re unlikely to look at evidence as you go. Granted, you probably won’t need to look at your notes much since most answers to questions are more obvious than Tim or Pikachu realize, but I only hopped into the menu when I had found every clue and Pikachu said it was time to start deducing. It was also just not fun to look at. At least the first game’s notebook featured Tim’s line drawings and looked like a yellow-lined piece of paper. Now, it just looks like a generic video game menu covered in tiny polaroids.
The get-out-of-jail-free card is that all of this simplicity is fine if you’re making a game for younger players. People who are looking for a laidback time also might not mind it. But at the same time, Detective Pikachu Returns is kind of a dark story. The first one didn’t shy away from some mature storytelling moments, and it’s not outside the Pokemon franchise’s purview to feature pokemon getting kidnapped, trafficked, or tortured, but I was taken aback when I realized where Returns was going. Without revealing what happens in the second half, it goes to some places I wasn’t expecting to see in a game that’s ostensibly for children. It doesn’t handle a lot of its themes delicately either, but then again, Pokemon isn’t exactly known for its nuance. It just makes you wonder: who is this for? Why would they make the gameplay simpler and the story darker?
Another one of the biggest disappointments with Detective Pikachu Returns is its art style. Pokemon games aren’t renowned for being gorgeous or intricate, especially over the past couple generations, but Returns looks more like a 3DS game than the original did, and that actually was a 3DS game. It’s especially lacking when it comes to facial animations – each character has maybe two expressions and they’re both neutral, which can be a problem when tragic or dire events are happening. It’s tough to get invested in the actual high stakes of the story when Tim just looks slightly shocked.
But you’re likely not playing a Pokemon game for dazzling sights, and at the very least, this is still an improvement over the first one. The lines are cleaner, the colors are brighter, and the character movement is smoother. The animations are even detailed when they need to be.. Pikachu, for example, has an adorable little run where his head leans back and his whole body juts forward, which made me giggle every time he hustled around the screen. There are moments where he rides around on the backs of other pokemon to solve puzzles and get through previously cut-off areas, and the way the artists chose to integrate him with each is unique to that pokemon’s features. At the very least, Detective Pikachu Returns has moments where it’s visually charming, and a couple where it can even elicit laughs.
Like with the first one, the pokemon are why you play, and there are so many to discover here including return favorites like Mewtwo and others from across the spectrum of rarity and types. Some you just get to talk to, but others are a big help, and most manage to stand out despite little screentime. And because the Pokemon series has always been about how pokemon are special in their own unique ways, each one has their own abilities to lend. Growlithe, which is one of the first you get to hang out with, has a keen sense of smell that lets her find objects or other pokemon, while Darmanitan can break down rocks and other barriers while you ride around in the fluff on his head. Pikachu is the most special of all, of course. That hasn’t changed. The story is about him, after all, so it only makes sense that he gets the best scenes and dialogue. It’s a joy whenever he gets one of his “bolts of brilliance” and has to strike a pose or when he gets snarky.
Even with just a couple short conversations, Detective Pikachu Returns manages to flesh out its world at least a little bit by imbuing random pokemon with personality and a desire for connection or happiness. The human characters, sadly, don’t get the same treatment. Tim is as dull as ever, just following around Pikachu and commenting on events with a straight face. We meet new characters like Rachel, who tags along on many of your investigations, but she too mostly just follows you around and doesn’t contribute much else at all.
Detective Pikachu Returns is overall, though, a Pokemon game, so maybe it’s fine that the humans are no more animated than a block of wood. And it nails the tenets of the series. It’s about friendship, community, generosity, and making the world better for pokemon as well as humans. It might sound trite, but sometimes that’s nice to see.
