Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy (2017)

It's been a good long while since I played any of the actual Layton games, but even with that memory being rather faint I can confidently say that this one left me underwhelmed.

The chapters-with-self-contained-plots format that the story has felt like it stretched things too thin and could've been executed much better; even the final chapter which felt like it was the only one with any real significance felt pretty unremarkable in comparison to the Layton "lengthy engaging mystery which turns out to have a totally ridiculous and unbelievable explanation but still manages to feel heartfelt and genuine" standard. You also never get a resolution for two pretty major plot points which get introduced at the beginning of the story, namely why Professor Layton is missing and what the deal is with Sherl; while writing this review I have learned that apparently an anime series was made in place of a second game, so I guess I'll have to check that out to see whether and how well that's addressed.

The puzzles were generally a disappointment, as very few of them have any actual direct relevance to whatever is going on in the story when they come up (something the regular Layton games handled far better), and at least half of them forgo the process of actually letting you come up with any sort of clever and fun solution and are instead pretty egregious "figure out the 'gotcha' trick" lateral thinking puzzles whose logic gets very tiring very quickly. The ending of the game has a dedication to Akira Tago, who previously served as "puzzle master" for the series but died the year before this game's release, which is probably the most straightforward explanation for this dip in quality. The side minigame puzzles that unlock more levels as you progress through the game also waffle about quite a bit; Passers Buy was easily my favorite, Hound in the Pound was fairly enjoyable but the logic in it got ridiculous to the point that I gave up when I was about half done, Ideal Meal felt like a mess since you have no idea whether you've actually unlocked everything you need for each order when it's first made available and the clues to actually figure out the best choices are extremely vague.

The music is fine, but nothing really stood out to me outside of a new remix of "More London Streets" from Unwound Future and a couple of tracks that I heard during the game's ending and staff roll, even if the former felt drowned out by the dialogue going on at that point. The theme for the office screen that you hang out in between cases was nice too but ended up feeling recognizable just from the familiarity factor, being one of those "have you played the game" things that you're going to end up getting used to one way or another, like the NLA theme from Xenoblade X.

In the end, I was curious enough about this game before playing it that I at least feel some satisfaction in having done so, even if it did turn out to be more of a disappointment than anything.

I'm a huge fan of the Layton series, having played both the previous trilogies so I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with this game. I got it back when it was released in 2019 and ended up not completing it because I just didn't find it that fun. 2 years later and I decided to pick it up again. This time around, I managed to complete the main story and the majority of the puzzles but I can definitely now say that this is the weakest entry in the franchise.

As many people have mentioned, this game has, by far, the weakest puzzle library in the series. Many of the puzzles feel like trick questions or the answers are too simple for their Picarat difficulty. Additionally, the game breaks tradition and doesn't follow a single narrative. Instead, it tells 12 short stories, which are really predictable (outside of maybe the last two) and just aren't very entertaining. I thought the game was going to be centred around Katrielle's relationship with Layton but it's barely mentioned throughout the 20+ hour campaign (you'll have to look into the anime for more information). Katrielle's character also falls flat, feeling more like a know-it-all who just stumbles through the cases (but to be fair, she's a kid).

Overall, it definitely pales in comparison to the rest of the series but it's not a bad game for new (and probably younger) players who want to get acquainted with the series.

This game felt like a huge letdown and really played on the fact that the main character is a female (which is rather annoying - changing her outfit or the furniture does not really entice me). There are a couple major questions introduced in the beginning of the game that don't get answered, because it is implied that there will be more Katrielle games. The characters were mostly boring or lacked substance, and I am not sure if I really care for Katrielle's personality.

The game is set up that you solve individual cases. Each case is presented with an introduction, then you proceed to explore the scenes, find puzzles and hint coins, and find six major clues to solve the case. However, it is frustrating to realize that when you solve a case, more puzzle will appear in that case - forcing you to resolve the case all over again. You spend a lot of time clicking quickly through scenes just to move on to the next case.

The puzzles vary, but there is a luster lost by this game (considering it is the 7th Layton game, not including mobile and spin-offs). If you solve all the extras, there is 180 games total to solve. In addition, there is a real-life puzzle solving quest found here that you can continue being part of the promotional campaign. This probably appeals to hardcore puzzle solvers/completionists mostly.

I probably will continue getting the next game(s) mostly because I hate unanswered questions and MAYBE old favorite characters will come back? Who knows...