Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club | Switch Review

Anyone born in the Western Hemisphere in the last 65 years has almost certainly encountered Charles Schulz’s Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. From syndicated comic strips to the annual, borderline mandatory holiday specials, the franchise is practically baked into our DNA. Even the mid-2010s theatrical film managed to prove there was still real heart and charm left in the tank. Video games, however, have been more hit-or-miss, with Snoopy and the Great Mystery Club being the latest attempt. Developed by Cradle Games and published by GameMill Entertainment, it’s a Peanuts adaptation overflowing with charm and nostalgia, but not enough to fully disguise its shortcomings.

Good Grief

At the outset, Snoopy and the Great Mystery Club is a low-stakes, kid-friendly mystery that puts charm first and narrative second. There are four cases to solve, and all of them are completely innocuous. If you were expecting L.A. Noire with Peanuts, you’re in for a very different kind of detective work; one case, for example, asks players to figure out who ate Snoopy’s food. You play as Snoopy, leading your party through these simple mysteries. These characters mostly exist to let you chat with the other kids, move the story along, and gently nudge you toward your next objective.

While the story captures the classic Peanuts charm, the dialogue feels true to the characters, and the humor lands in cozy, familiar ways, the novelty wears thin fairly quickly. The mysteries are extremely simple, and with only four cases, there’s little to keep older players invested once the initial cuteness fades. It’s the kind of story that will hold a child’s attention and charm them from start to finish, but adult gamers who grew up with Snoopy and the gang may find it shallow and repetitive. The narrative rarely surprises, and most story beats exist simply to move you from one scene to the next.

Snoop Dogg

Snoopy can change costumes, each granting a different ability, though you’ll spend about 90% of the game in the default Detective Snoopy outfit. Decked out in a tweed jacket and Sherlock Holmes–style hat, Detective Snoopy comes with a spyglass that can highlight objects of interest or track footprints to follow characters. Other costumes offer fun utility: Pirate Snoopy can dig for hidden items with a shovel, and Gardening Snoopy wields a leaf blower that clears piles of leaves to reveal objects or open blocked paths. As the game progresses, you unlock additional costumes and abilities, which allow you to access new areas that were previously blocked. Progression is entirely gear-gated, with each costume’s unique tools opening up parts of the world you couldn’t reach before.

That said, the way cases unfold quickly becomes tedious. Starting a case often kicks off a chain of favors: one character will help—but only if you do something for them, which leads to another kid with a new request, and so on. It’s an ever-evolving daisy chain of quid pro quos that has you running all over town until the original mystery feels almost forgotten. No amount of Charlie Brown charm can make up for that repetitive setup.

At least the game offers some distractions in the form of minigames, though none require much in the way of skill. You’ve got simple challenges like kicking the football with timed button prompts, soapbox races where all you do is slalom left and right through gates, and a final Pilot Snoopy sequence chasing the Red Baron, flying through rings. They’re cute diversions, but don’t expect any real challenge.

Charlie’s Blues

On the Nintendo Switch, Snoopy and the Great Mystery Club runs smoothly and looks sharp without demanding much from the hardware. The visuals stick to a colorful, cel-shaded style that feels like a living Peanuts comic strip—simple, clean, and instantly recognizable. Character models are expressive enough to convey personality, and the environments, while not complex, are detailed in ways that feel charming rather than empty. The animation is subtle but effective, whether it’s Snoopy tiptoeing across town or the kids gesturing during dialogue.

Audio is where the game truly shines. Every line is fully voice acted, and the cast nails the classic Peanuts personalities, which makes interacting with the gang more engaging than reading text alone. The music leans on light jazz piano in the style of Vince Guaraldi, unintrusive but consistently nostalgic, reinforcing the cozy, low-stakes tone of the game. Even small touches, like background sounds in town or the clatter of a football being kicked, add to the immersion. While neither the graphics nor audio break new ground, together they create a faithful, comfortable Peanuts atmosphere that feels authentic and inviting.

The Doctor Is In

Snoopy and the Great Mystery Club is charming and faithful to the Peanuts universe, but it rarely rises above being a simple, kid-friendly adventure. The story is light and the mysteries are easy, and the chain of favors you run around completing can quickly feel repetitive, even with the series’ trademark humor sprinkled in. Costumes and their unique abilities add some variety, and gear-gated progression gives a sense of purpose to unlocking new areas, but neither mechanic ever becomes particularly engaging or challenging. Minigames offer a brief change of pace, though they require little skill and don’t add much beyond novelty. The graphics are clean and colorful, evoking the comic strip style perfectly, and the fully voiced cast paired with subtle Guaraldi-style jazz helps capture the Peanuts atmosphere.

Overall, it’s a cozy, nostalgic experience that younger players or diehard fans will likely enjoy, but adult gamers seeking deeper gameplay or more meaningful storytelling will find it shallow. Fun and polished, yes…but ultimately unremarkable.

To hear me talk more about Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club be sure to listen to the October 22nd, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:19:22 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.