Who is Emio? Nintendo teases an uncharacteristically unsettling game - what we know so far

Nintendo has rather unexpectedly dropped an unsettling trailer for what appears to be a new horror game called Emio.

Nintendo is more renowned for making family-friendly games - Mario, Zelda and Pokemon, all roll off the tongue.

But the Japanese video games brand seems to have moved away from that with a teaser trailer of its latest game titled Emio.

Nintendo teased it on social media with the hashtag #WhoIsEmio on July 10.

In some countries, the trailer starts with a warning it "contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing".

The trailer shows a grainy shot with a person menacingly appearing part way through standing in front of a light casting a dramatic shadow on the background behind them.

The character is dressed in a trench coat with a paper bag over their head and a drawn-on smiley face.

The shot lingers on this character before close-ups of the person are then seen in flashes along with shots of a similar character wearing similar clothing but with a different kind of smiley face on their bag towards the end.

Japanese text at the end of the video translates to 'smiling man'.

A Nintendo Australia YouTube trailer seems to have given some indication of what players can expect.

According to Australia's Classification Board, it is rated MA15+ and will include "strong themes, violence and suicide references".

A separate rating said the title contains "violence, cruelty, domestic abuse and suicide themes".

Nintendo has offered no further information about Emio at the time of writing - there is currently no news of a release date or anything about gameplay or potential storyline.

It's not even known if the game is a first or third-party title but there is speculation that Bloober Team, behind games such as the remake of Silent Hill 2, could be the developer as it announced it is working on a new game for Nintendo called Project M.

Other rumours suggest it could be a marketing stunt for the successor to the Nintendo Switch however that seems unlikely.

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