Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy (Mobile) Review

Lady Layton Takes the Case!

The puzzle-loving Professor Layton first appeared on the Nintendo DS in 2007, where he unraveled the mystery of a curious village. Since then, Level-5 released new installments on an almost yearly basis before coming to a halt after the sixth game. At last, the time has come to pass the mantle to Katrielle Layton, the peppy daughter of the esteemed professor who has since been missing in action. Although Katrielle’s tenure launched as a budget price mobile game (with the Nintendo 3DS version coming later), Layton’s Mystery Journey is every bit a full Layton game, with a few caveats.

Check out the video version for more puzzles and accents!

The stories in Layton games are notorious for having outlandish premises that culminate into unbelievable conclusions. Unlike Professor Layton’s lengthy adventures, Layton’s Mystery Journey is broken up into multiple episodic cases, some of which can be played in any order. They follow the budding detective Katrielle, a delightful and lovable character who shares her father’s love for puzzles, her assistant Ernest, and talking dog, Sherl O.C. Kholmes (get it?). Yes, there is a talking dog but surprisingly, that’s the most preposterous part of the story. The individual cases are dull and trade the crazy finales of the professor’s entries for more humdrum conclusions. The plot twists are still contrived, but they don’t have the satisfying payoffs that the original games had.

Katrielle Layton is a delightful character! So is the talking dog!

In each case, you’ll interact with the environment by tapping on a screen designed after the 3DS’ split-screen interface. Occasionally, you’ll uncover clues related to the mystery, whether robbery, murder, or other standard crimes, which are a far cry from Professor Layton’s deadly Pandora’s Boxes and time travel shenanigans. When you collect clues, they are placed into a six-piece jigsaw puzzle, which feels like an underwhelming mechanic considering that this franchise is known for its devious brain teasers. Once you collect all six clues, Katrielle solves the case. I would have loved to have to complete the puzzle myself or play through a sequence to reveal the perpetrator. Instead, a short cutscene features Kat providing the player with all the answers. There is an overarching plot but you wouldn’t know it until the final hour. The threads that were supposed to tie the game together came too little too late to make an impact.

K.

The Layton series, however, thrives on its puzzles and this game is filled with mindbenders to solve. Despite the individual cases being shorter, they offer an abundance of puzzles – nearly 200, which is well above the standard count. Due to the sad passing of previous puzzle master Akira Tago, Layton’s Mystery Journey has a new designer Kuniaki Iwanami. As a result, the brain teasers feel different, with an uneven emphasis on wordplay and deceitful riddles over block puzzles and spatial reasoning.

There remains a variety of question types, but I quickly grew tired of anything that asked “what is the minimum number of ___?” or “who is lying?” Otherwise, I found most puzzles clever, without being overly frustrating. Aside from a select few awkwardly written questions that purposefully leave out key information, I had little issue solving most brain teasers. For the more difficult problems, you can use hint coins, which you can find while searching for story clues. The only penalty for getting a wrong solution is the loss of Picarats, essentially your puzzle points that do nothing other than unlock goodies postgame.

Here’s a puzzle: What is the minimum number of puzzles that ask for the minimum anything?

Each of the dozen cases took me roughly an hour, and most of that time was spent on deciphering difficult puzzles. As is series tradition, there are downloadable daily puzzles and super hard puzzles to increase the game’s replay value. New to the series is paid DLC, which nets you new costumes and puzzles, neither of which I found necessary. There are also some extra minigames, including preparing meals based on clients’ preferences, placing jewelry on display to convince customers to purchase it, and moving Sherl the dog through a block maze. Out of the three, I didn’t enjoy the meal game and only moderately liked the other two.

Layton games are also known for sporting beautiful art and a soundtrack made up with a rich flavor of accordion and violin music. Katrielle’s tale includes plenty of both, and they’re pleasant to the senses. A-1 Pictures has done a phenomenal job bringing the characters to life with its wonderfully animated cutscenes. Several fully-voiced segments add to the charm.

Katrielle’s cutscenes retain that special brand of beautiful ridiculosity.

Conclusion

Layton’s Mystery Journey may have a new protagonist and mobile interface, but it keeps the series’ trademark style alive. The episodic cases are hardly compelling, but the puzzles reign supreme, even if some of them are awkwardly worded. Fans will feel right at home with this fully-featured installment. If you haven’t yet experienced a Layton game, however, I would sooner recommend any of the six original Professor Layton entries or even the crossover with defense attorney Phoenix Wright. I want to see more of the delightful Katrielle, but I hope her next game either gives us something new or at least gives us more compelling cases in the future.

Score: 7/10

A review copy was used for this article. This review was originally written for Darkstation.

What are your thoughts on the Professor Layton series? Are you looking forward to following Katrielle’s cases or do you want more adventures with the top-hatted Professor? What’s your favorite Layton game? Do you have a puzzle for me?!

Please share any thoughts, questions, or PUZZLES in the comments section below! Thank you for reading and watching!