Detective Pikachu Returns Review

"Gotta Detect 'Em All!"

Campaign

October 31, 2023 at 4:00pm
By Jason Stettner

Following the events of the original game and also somewhat the movie in a fun joking tie-in. Detective Pikachu Returns once again pairs together Tim Goodman with his talkative detecting pal Pikachu. The two have a unique connection where they can understand each other which creates a unique skill set for allowing the two to solve crimes.

They can get the perspectives of Pokémon using Pikachu and regular people using Tim. It’s a dynamic duo and the connection the two share across the game really does help set the tone and emotional connection. They sort of are charming to see work together.

The general story here starts fairly simply with the two receiving a medal for previous heroics. Then everything goes wild and after a series of events they’re back to solving the various crimes or situations going on. Including the ongoing mystery of what happened to Tim’s father Harry.

The adventure takes you to various areas across Ryme City with what I would call very guided missions. You’re detecting sure, but it’s handheld and structured in such a way that it really does feel targeted towards the younger audience.

I honestly felt rather sleepy playing through the gameplay segments whereas I did find the concept and story structuring to be rather cool. It’s a neat differing take on Pokémon and I mostly wish things were more engaging or perhaps slightly more challenging to decipher. Though again, target audience wise it fits perfectly well with some laughs and out there moments between the two characters interacting.

Gameplay

While story is largely delivered in cutscenes you will chat with individuals and solve the mysterious crimes like any detective type game. You’ll go about gathering evidence, move through differing areas and then piece together what’s happened.

There are of course puzzles to solve, items to collect and some level of light interaction. It’s nothing too in-depth and I believe it would be very hard to get stuck playing this one. It really does hold your hand, practically playing itself. I did love the interactions with Pokémon though, there are ever so many of them present within the areas you visit.

They’re actually really detailed too, an element I wish the environment shared with them. The world feels rather static, boring and lightly dressed. I don’t necessarily expect cutting edge visuals from the Nintendo Switch platform but this left a lot to be desired visually. You do get a 1080p resolution at a frame rate of 30fps here with this one.

The Conclusion

Detective Pikachu Returns has some charm with its core characters and is a cute little detective story for the younger audience. If you’re outside of this one it will feel very slow to sit through and honestly come across as boring.

There’s just not much dynamically to what’s going on or how things are solved and even going swiftly through dialogue it just feels slow in pacing. I didn’t find the puzzles very engaging and while adorable, the humor was also geared more towards the younger ones.

The visuals left a lot to be desired outside of the Pokémon designs. There’s a truly stellar concept here, and I think if they were a little bit more ambitious with the concept we’d have a really great experience. So in general great for the younger ones that like Pikachu and want to be a detective. Really slow for the core gaming audience.

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Detective Pikachu Returns Review on Nintendo Switch
Review Code Provided by Nintendo

Rating Overall: 6.2