Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (2007)

LEVEL-5

Legacy Mobile Device · Nintendo DS

4.08 from 832 ratings

1921 members have it in their collection · 47 playing now · 388 backlogged · 252 wish listed

How long? Main story 14h · with extras 17h · 100% 17h (from 24 logged playthroughs)

Professor Layton may be a world-famous sleuth, but even he will need your assistance to crack these challenging puzzles. With Nintendo DS stylus in hand, it's time to muster up some mental might!
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Details

Developers
LEVEL-5
Publishers
Nintendo
Genres
Point-and-click, Puzzle, Visual Novel
Themes
Mystery
Franchises
Professor Layton
Series
Professor Layton

Release dates

  • Nov 29, 2007 (Japan) Nintendo DS
  • Aug 24, 2009 (North_America) Nintendo DS
  • Sep 24, 2009 (Australia) Nintendo DS
  • Sep 25, 2009 (Europe) Nintendo DS
  • Sep 08, 2011 (Asia) Nintendo DS
  • Dec 05, 2018 (Japan) Legacy Mobile Device
  • Jun 20, 2019 (North_America) Legacy Mobile Device
  • Jun 20, 2019 (Europe) Legacy Mobile Device

Also available on

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Rating distribution

5 stars
261
4 stars
401
3 stars
150
2 stars
17
1 star
3
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Community All Reviews Statuses

Twilit_Fox

Status Twilit_Fox Jan 20, 2025

The sound design in this just tickles my brain so much it's amazing. The little pop when you interact with something, even some of the "typing" sounds when people speak, the little coin jingle, I swear it hits a sweet spot

tegiebear

Status tegiebear Nov 11, 2024

Replayed this as it was my favorite game - sad to say I was a little clouded by nostalgia, I think. Not to say this game is horribly flawed, just the story was much...dumber???...than I remember.

maimegidola

Status maimegidola Jan 15, 2021

Yet another JRPG where most of its conflicts originally arose due to people bizarrely not talking to each other about important stuff.

I spent the last portion of the game internally screaming "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY SOMETHING TO THEM FFS". I feel like my patience for this weak sort of narrative has really gone down over the years ರ╭╮ರ

BMO

Status BMO Sep 24, 2020

I swear, puzzles are somehow tied into the economy of the Layton world. I met one character who wanted to exchange a puzzle for a train ticket. And there are other instances where puzzles seem to be perfectly viable payment for services rendered. This is a really bizarre world.

RemTheBathBoi

Status RemTheBathBoi Apr 19, 2019

Also it's super super annoying that the spot your differences has one picture that is LARGER than the other! So it often looks like you spotted a difference, but actually part of the photo is just cropped out!

RemTheBathBoi

Status RemTheBathBoi Apr 19, 2019

I like spot the differences puzzles, but the fact you have to do it three times in a row while waiting for the whole loading animation is super obnoxious. Why can't the game just let you select all three spots in one go?

PixelSlayers

Status PixelSlayers Mar 23, 2018

I've never played a Professor Layton game before... but I am having a ton of fun with this one! The puzzles are challenging, the story is fun, and the atmosphere is just delightful. Really a great game to play with a cup of hot cocoa after a long day at work!