Detective Pikachu Returns has gone a little under the radar, and I can’t remember the last time that’s happened to a newly revealed Pokemon game. With the latest Nintendo Direct giving us four new Mario games, including a fan-favourite revival, the second Princess Peach game, and a departure from the stale New Mario art style that also introduced a playable Daisy, Mario was at the forefront. Pokemon, for once, played a supporting role to the main event. But that won’t last for long. As the dust settles, we’ll all remember that a new Detective Pikachu game was revealed, and we might have a few questions.
For a lot of fans, their central experience with Detective Pikachu will be the movie, and that gets a lot of things right. Detective Pikachu can talk (at least to the protagonist), which distinguishes him from the other Pokemon, and means the game plays out very differently. The trailer described Tim as “wearing his iconic red jacket”, and while that’s a stretch in itself, it’s true that the jacket is the only notable thing about him. Even though Pikachu talks, we have a mindless drone for a hero once again.
Lucy Stevens, the character played by Kathryn Newton in the movie, is slightly different and is called Emilia. The central plot beats (Mewtwo, R gas, Ryme City, good guy turns out to be bad guy) are similar, although Tim’s dad is not Pikachu in the game, and there’s no Psyduck whatsoever. Much like the movie, the central mystery is the whereabouts of Tim’s father Harry, but unlike the movie we never find him, with the game ending on Mewtwo telling Pikachu he is still alive and to continue the search. This mystery is once more wrapped up in Mewtwo and the conspiracy to unleash R gas.
If you’re going into it right from the movie, you should be fine. We all know how Pokemon games work. They’re beginner friendly. Unless you are the world’s biggest (only?) Lucy Stevens fan, you just need to know there’s no dad-Pikachu hybrid in the game, which was always kinda silly. I’d say prepare yourself for the lack of Psyduck, but after its starring role in the movie, I’d expect it to have a decent part in Returns.
So from a plot perspective, you’re fine. It’s a mystery game, but it’s not exactly The Houndoom of the Baskervilles. Gameplay wise, it’s also a different type of Pokemon experience, but one you’ll have played through many times before in other games. The central mystery is ‘what happened to Tim’s dad?’, but with that, there are smaller branching mysteries and side quests along the way. Like a watered down LA Noire, that means interacting with objects to piece together scenarios, and then chatting to people nearby to get the full picture.
It’s not like anything else in Pokemon, but the focused nature means the world is fleshed out in ways that are often left to our imagination in regular Pokemon games. You’ll have to think for yourself more often in Detective Pikachu, as it’s like Ace Attorney in that it gives you the tools to figure everything out, but it’s up to you when to use them, and how. It has a great sense of humour too - an early ‘crime scene’ sees us investigate a dead Aipom covered in macabre blood splatters. As we inspect it more closely, we find it just ate a lot of red berries and became very sleepy.
There are battles in the game, but they’re done via quicktime events and other button prompts rather than traditional turn-based move selection. If any heroes out there remember PokePark Wii, you’re not a million miles off.
In short, if you’re a Pokemon fan who missed the first Detective Pikachu game but want to dive into the sequel, don’t worry about what you’ve missed. The movie will fill you in, but Pikachu isn’t Harry. The experience will be both new and familiar, so go detect ‘em all.