Game: Layton’s Mystery Journey Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy Deluxe Edition
Genre: Puzzle and Adventure Game
System: Nintendo Switch (non-deluxe version also available on Nintendo 3DS, Android, iOS)
Developers/Publishers: Level-5
Price: £34.99| €39.99| CA $49.99| US $39.99| AU $59.95
Age Rating: EU 7+, US E10+
Release Date: November 8th, 2019
No review code was used, I bought the game myself
The Best Version of the Game
The Professor Layton series has been confounding our minds with its oftentimes brain wracking puzzles since 2007. The last Layton game featuring himself and his trusty partner, Luke, was released in 2013. Four years later, his agency was handed down to his chirpy, fashionable, and sometimes distracted daughter, Katrielle Layton, in Layton’s Mystery Journey Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy. With three versions of this game across multiple platforms already out, the Deluxe Edition for Switch is by far the most comprehensive and stunning version of the game.
There’s quite a bit that this version of the game adds to the pre-existing renditions. First and foremost, there’s a plethora of new puzzles that appear either in the form of the daily puzzles that you can access from the main menu, as well as new puzzles added to the main storyline. The Deluxe version of the game also boasts the most puzzles in any of the previous Layton games, and has also refined the puzzles that appear in the mobile and 3DS version of the game. That in itself is pretty impressive. However, Level-5 took things a step further by including all the previous DLC already downloaded into the game, as well as, my favorite part, over 50 new outfits for Katrielle to prance around in. Lastly, the game also boasts being “enhanced” for the Nintendo Switch system. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what this means, but the animated vignette’s, gorgeous music, and clean visuals all perform quite well on both T.V and handheld mode.
There’s Work to be Done!
The game opens with a talking dog, appropriately named Sherl (after Sherlock Holmes, go figure), seeks Katrielle’s aid in uncovering his memories and the source of his transformation into a cute canine. Katrielle accepts the case and then immediately brushes it off as a more “interesting” case of the Big Ben’s missing clock hand falls to her lap. Thus, the game begins with Case 01: The Hand that Feeds, as you -Katrielle- try to uncover clues through point and click actions to gather information.
In all honesty, it did not take me very long to piece together the culprits of Katrielle’s first official job, however, the true complexity of the game comes not from the major plot driving cases, but the puzzles Katrielle and her assistant, Ernest, must solve along the way.
The puzzles range in difficulty. For quite a few of them, admittedly even the easy ones, I found myself scratching away at a notepad trying to solve them. Some of the puzzles have you trying to move objects into specific shapes, while others are convoluted math problems (even though they were simple arithmetic, I still found myself rather confused).
I have to admit, while most of the puzzles were easy to understand, there were a few in which I found the directions to be somewhat unfair, or at the very least, a kind of trick. For example, there was a puzzle early in the game that had the clock set to a particular time. The directions asked what was the least amount of spaces the hands of the clock would have to move to reach midnight. I kept getting the answer wrong and starting giving in to some hints, a useful feature included in every puzzle. The answer was zero, because if you let time pass naturally it would eventually reach midnight without you having to touch it. Needless to say, this answer had me a little peeved.
Singleplayer, but you’ll probably need some help
On the Switch version of the game, as well as on the 3DS and mobile versions, the game markets itself as a single-player game. Indeed, a second player could not grab a second joycon and play the role of, say, Ernest. However, as with all the previous Layton games, there are some puzzles that will have you asking for help. Personally, I kept my boyfriend close by to help with the math-related problems.
Every puzzle was different from the last, so we both had fun going back and forth trying to figure out how to solve them. Also, the first time I heard of a Layton game was many years prior. A friend had shoved her DS in my face asking for my help on how to cut a donut in half without going through the middle. For younger players, or for those not very good at puzzles, like me, you may find yourself playing this game with another. This is an aspect I enjoyed, as unlike other single-player video games that have you somewhat isolated in the world of the game, this one begs conversation with those around you.
If you’re worried that you don’t have a talking dog like Sherl to divulge the puzzle with, don’t fret. This game is definitely playable alone. As briefly mentioned before, each puzzle allows the use of hints. There are four hints, each progressively revealing more than the last. I found these hints to actually be quite useful in the sense that they were well-written and made the mechanics of the puzzle easy to understand. No puzzle is unsolvable—the hints make sure of that.
Bonus Features
This game has a lot of content. Not only is it chock-full of an assortment of puzzles accessible in the form of daily puzzles as well as those found in the main storyline, but there’s quite a bit of other content that players can access in the main menu. For long time fans of the series there is a Layton Museum that has images to collect from six of the main Layton games. There’s a puzzle index that tracks all your puzzle progress and allows you to replay puzzles that you’ve successfully completed, gave up on, and everything in-between. There’s also a bit of a post-game aspect called the Top Secret Files. Once you complete all the main cases in the game, you can use your picarats (points earned from completing puzzles) to unlock these super secret files. What’s inside them you ask? Well…that’s top secret of course!
Conclusion
Whether you are a long time fan of the Layton games, or a series beginner, like myself, the Deluxe Edition of Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy is bursting at the brim with a plethora of content. The story is fun, the characters are charming and upbeat, the puzzles really get you questioning your IQ, and the experience is an overall enjoyable one.
Final Verdict: I like it a Lot!
