Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy - Review
It has been a few years since we last had a Professor Layton game and while his daughter Katrielle landed on the 3DS a few years back now, I never got around to playing the recent entry in the Layton series, now that it has jumped onto Switch, I gave it a shot and was intrigued but also let down, let me explain why.
The stories of the past games have always been a little far-fetched, playing on notions of myths and such, so to be given a story about a missing person, it is rather grounded in comparison. Of course, the missing person is Professor Hershel Layton himself, star of the original games and top hat enthusiast, with his daughter Katrielle set to find him. She is not quite the star detective that her father was and can easily get side-tracked, even if she manages to solve the puzzle in the end, along for the right is her self-appointed side kick/assistant Ernest and the talking dog Sherl. We first meet Sherl, as a dog without a name as he honestly can’t recall it and while currently a dog, he is not sure he is one, but as the Layton Detective Agency claims to be able to solve any mystery, he seeks assistance and finds Katrielle. Sherl is our guide into the world, he asks the questions we might want to ask, about who a character is or what they are doing, it is a nice touch, but before the question of who Sherl really is, can be asked properly, a case unfolds.
This is perhaps the largest departure from the series past, where each of the main cases was attributed to a single plot point in the game’s main narrative, here though, each case is a self-contained story, with slight touches to the main story line. The first case is all about Big Ben and as the game is set in London, it feels rather nice to start off on something that highlights the games setting. Anyone who has played any of the games in the series, will understand what is to happen, you will explore a number of locations, moving the camera around a space, tapping on everything you possibly can. The game does help you out, as you move the cursor around, assuming you are not using touch, the icon will change to reflect if something is of interest or not. Regardless, tapping on everything will provide you with either information, a hint coin or a new puzzle to solve, some of those last ones will come from people in the scene, that are unrelated to the case at hand.
Puzzles are the bread and butter of the Layton series and when the original puzzle master Akira Tago passed away, many thought the series would be left as it was, but Kuniaki Iwanami stepped up and delivered some fresh puzzles and some very old ones. The problem is that Iwanami is providing a solid base for newcomers, which means that those who have been with the series for a while, will see a lot of the same puzzles pop up from those games, even with a new skin attached. Some of the puzzles are blandly easy, while some take a while to figure out the word play in them, making them more like riddles than standard puzzles. Of course, solving individual puzzles is only a small portion of each case, the overall case needs to be solved as well, the catch with this though is that there is very little room to explore now and by that I mean that as long as you speak with the people on screen, you will be given all the answers and the case will be solved, sure there is a little mystery to be had until you get to that point, but you can’t point your finger at the butler whenever you want.
If the there is one tell-tale sign that you are playing a Layton game, then that is with the visuals, the characters and the world all have a special look to them. The game still sports that here, but as the game is the deluxe version, they have been plussed up a little bit more, the in-game characters now sport a much smoother look overall. The locations that you explore are also wonderfully presented, there is a charm about them all and discovering any secret that might be around is worth doing, just based on the visual appeal alone. Perhaps the only thing that did not gel with me on the visual side of things is the addition of outfits for Katrielle and while there is nothing wrong with the function of an outfit change, it just felt out of place against the backdrop of the cases that she was working, some of the outfits also don’t seem to mesh well with the games projected theming.
Another area that has a good presentation is the games audio and much like the original games there is a wealth of voice acting to enjoy, but just like the older games, the voice work will only be present for major scenes, talking to people whilst investigating a case is usually handled by text. The musical score is on brand for the series, with a lot of the melodies and themes having a finger in what the series has done previously, but still manages to deliver something fresh. All combined, it is a solid treat for the ears, I just hope if there is more, they fully voice the entire game.
Being able to discover new puzzles, whilst you investigate mysteries across London is a real treat and with plenty of puzzles, not related to the actual story, the game has over 500 puzzles to attempt to beat after all, the game will keep you coming back a lot. To put it in perspective, one a puzzle a day will see you playing the game for over two and a half years. The problems that the game has stems from the fact that they have streamlined the bulk of it, leaving you to just tapping on a screen with the hope of getting lucky and moving the story forward. The fun of discovery is no found here and while the individual cases and the overall mystery are entertaining, the game feels hollow due to its hand holding nature, but that only applies to the main story, the games puzzles can be just as devious as ever.
Review code provided by Nintendo
