You may be surprised to learn that before playing Detective Pikachu Returns, I had never played the original Detective Pikachu, even though I had heard it was pretty good. I was going through a weird phase where anything outside of the “traditional” Pokémon games just didn’t interest me. I was very much under the impression that anything different would be of inferior quality. That attitude has definitely changed after Pokémon Scarlet/Violet.
My only experience with Detective Pikachu came from a pretty solid film adaptation that mostly covered the events of the first game, albeit taking some creative liberties—Detective Pikachu Returns actually makes jokes about this. Diving into this mystery-solving Pokémon game has been a mostly fun experience, essentially boiling down to “Baby’s First Phoenix Wright,” and that’s okay.
Picking up after the events of the first game, Detective Pikachu Returns finds Tim Goodman and the titular Pikachu embroiled in a mystery involving a particularly rare jewel named the Aurora Gem. However, Tim and Pikachu stumble into something greater as this caper becomes more than an issue of Grand Larceny when it becomes clear that someone is using a device to control Pokémon and this may be connected to Mewtwo and Tim’s missing father.
“Seeing Pokémon as actual characters and not just tools to be used makes Detective Pikachu Returns’ story more captivating, and its world feels so much more fleshed out and lived in.”
Obviously, saying any more would spoil the fun of the mystery, but it’s a solid plot that—despite being a tad predictable—keeps you involved and pressing forward. I think if this were any other old game, it might teeter on boring, but I think being set in the world of Pokémon is exactly what gives Detective Pikachu Returns a lot more charm and personality.
As I said, I’ve recently maintained the opinion that Pokémon really is at its best when it’s experimenting with its concepts in more linear, story-driven ways. Seeing Pokémon as actual characters and not just tools to be used makes Detective Pikachu Returns’ story more captivating, and its world feels so much more fleshed out and lived in.
The gameplay is a bit on the simple side, but it works for what it is. Together, Tim and Pikachu talk to suspects to gather information in order to piece together answers to the various mysteries. At times, Pikachu will team up with different Pokémon in order to complete objectives that feeble humans simply could not. It’s a little simple point-and-click with some basic Phoenix Wright elements mixed in.
I imagine this game is definitely targeted at a younger audience—despite some bizarrely adult themes at times—otherwise, an older audience might find its gameplay somewhat boring. Personally, while I never found myself hating the game, I never felt fully challenged, and often, I was solving things long before the game allowed me to. How much you get out of Detective Pikachu Returns will really depend on how much you love Pokémon.
“While I never found myself hating the game, I never felt fully challenged, and often, I was solving things long before the game allowed me to.”
Visually, Detective Pikachu Returns is a bit of a mixed bag. While all the Pokémon look great—remaining true to their original style and eschewing some of the more “realistic” details later games would implement—I never really loved the visual style of the first game, particularly where the humans were involved. Detective Pikachu Returns intensifies this problem with all of the humans looking either too exaggerated or weirdly uncanny. I can’t help but wish that they used a visual style that was closer to the anime or even the mainline games themselves.
However, that aside, the game maintains a fun, colourful aesthetic that does lend it some Saturday Morning Cartoon vibes. There are a lot of little details around Ryme City that really make it come to life, and the way Pokémon are integrated seamlessly into the world makes it feel all the more genuine.
Audio is also a bit of a mixed bag. While it’s always funny to hear Pikachu talk with a low-pitched, gritty detective voice, a lot of the other characters sound a bit tired and unnatural as if everyone is bored with the material they have to work with. Again, the Pokémon fare better than the humans as each Pokémon is given a distinct voice rather than their mainline “cries,” and they all have a lot of personality and charm.
Furthermore, while the soundtrack does feature a varied assortment of music, most of which is jazzy and adds to the detective vibe, some of the tracks are a bit underwhelming and overused. There’s a genuine lack of simple character sounds—expect to hear Tim’s “excuse me” after almost every piece of written dialogue.
Despite some flaws, I enjoyed Detective Pikachu Returns—especially since my last foray into the genre was the dreadful Master Detective Archives: RAINCODE. It’s simple and fun and definitely doesn’t belabour the player with tedious monotony. As I said earlier, how much you enjoy it may depend on your love of the Pokémon franchise, but if you’re a fan of the original, the film or just want a new Pokémon experience, I’d say this is worth a look.
