Last week, a follow-up Nintendo Switch game to the 2018 Detective Pikachu was reported to be approaching completion after an alleged developer for the game suggested it would be nearing release very soon. However, this sequel game might not be what fans of the world of Pokémon want or need right now.

The sequel to the Nintendo 3DS game was announced in 2019, but since then, very little about the sequel has been revealed by Nintendo, and many fans assumed that the game had stopped development. Of course, 2019 was the year that the film based on the video game was released in theaters as a perhaps unexpected hit, becoming the second highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time. The game, in comparison, failed to break one million sales when other Pokémon spin-offs like New Pokémon Snap and even Pokkén Tournament have all reached that milestone, as it had a difficult time finding an audience. Its successor will likely encounter the same problems.

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Detective Pikachu

While many fans thought that the first game was cute and charming, it received a lot of criticism for its gameplay and lack of difficulty. Many felt that the game's puzzles were far too easy for the average player and that the gameplay was simplistic and mediocre. Overall, this made for a game that was unchallenging to the point that it could be considered boring. It isn't a problem with the format of the game itself -- where, just like in the film, the player character, Tim, and the accompanying Detective Pikachu work together to solve various puzzles and unravel a mystery in Ryme City.

On the surface, the format is familiar for people who might have played other mystery-solving games like Ace Attorney or Danganronpa, which are even less complicated in terms of gameplay as these take the form of visual novels rather than Detective Pikachu's more interactive world of Ryme City. However, these games feature more complex mysteries to solve, which keep players engaged and interested as they are actually difficult and require a bit of thinking.

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With this in mind, Detective Pikachu's lack of interesting gameplay might have to do with the fact that it, like other Pokémon games and unlike other detective games, is meant for a huge range of audiences. This means that within a Pokémon game, the developers design the gameplay to have a low barrier of entry so that various audiences can jump in and play. However, other Pokémon games often have high skill caps, with older, more experienced gamers capable of making the games harder for themselves. This is what Detective Pikachu lacks. There is no way to make the mysteries any harder or the gameplay any more interesting, and because of that, most players will find the game rather uneventful.

The sequel will encounter the same issues. Pokémon is a family-friendly franchise focused on making games that appeal both to young children just learning to read as well as adults, so there's little chance that the upcoming sequel will do anything to risk making the game too hard for its younger audience.

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Detective Pikachu Bulbasaur

Not everything about the original game is so negative though -- there is one particular area where it shined. With its dynamic voice acting, fun cutscenes, witty writing, and interesting setting, the game's actual storytelling was the highlight. With all of its strengths being in the story itself, it perhaps makes sense that while the game largely was a failure, the film did so well. The world created in the 2019 Detective Pikachu film was interesting, unique, and captivating, and it was a great way of showing the world of Pokémon in a new light -- as one where humans and Pokémon can coexist in a more natural way than in the battle-focused main series games.

While details about this new Detective Pikachu have yet to be released, it seems so far that fans of the franchise can expect that it will play out similarly to the first game. It will likely feature an interesting storyline but simplistic gameplay, which could alienate a potential older audience. Just as the first game found much more success as a movie, it seems that a sequel film would do much better than a sequel game. However, though Legendary Pictures announced a sequel in 2019 even before the first film came out, the lack of updates since then points to the film being shelved indefinitely. However, with the announcement of Nintendo Pictures, the door might just be open for fans to get the Detective Pikachu sequel they truly want.