If the hints given by the Level-5 CEO are taken at face value, Professor Layton’s return was mainly due to Nintendo.
During a discussion at the Tokyo game Show in October 2023, Ahikiro Hino explained that he was basically done with the series and felt like he had reached a “beautiful” conclusion, so he had no desire to do another one. That is, until he received what he calls a “strong push from Company N.”
According to Hino, “some guys in the industry really wanted us to make a new game” and so, 12 years after hanging up his top hat, Professor Hershel Layton is dusting it off and teaming up again with his long-time apprentice Luke. on another adventure that tests your brain.
It’s no wonder why Nintendo would be so interested in seeing Professor Layton return, of course: although Level-5 published the series in Japan, Nintendo handled publishing duties in the rest of the world, and each game was a great success.
The early entries in particular were very popular and came at a time when the DS was receiving plaudits in the general press for its range of Brain Training games. We remember that the first games were sold out in the UK for decent periods of time and at last count, the entire series has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.
As you might have guessed from the title, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam sees Layton and Luke traveling to a completely new location with a steampunk aesthetic. The city in question is located in the United States and is called Steam Bison, where the arrival of advanced steam engines has sparked an industrial revolution of sorts (they’re lucky they named the city that, in retrospect).
According to the deliberately vague plot, after a “mysterious incident” occurs on Steam Bison, Luke contacts Layton and invites him to come over and see what’s going on. Level-5 has revealed that the game‘s villain is a ghost cowboy named Gunman King Joe, but other than that, the developer is holding firm on the details.
While we’re excited to see Professor Layton return after all these years, there are some questions that remain unanswered at this time. Firstly, will the game‘s puzzles live up to those of the original games?
The series’ puzzle designer, Akira Tago, died three years after the last game, and when a spin-off starring Layton’s daughter was released a year later with a new puzzle designer at the helm, critics criticized some of puzzles for having meaningless solutions. This time the puzzles are run by a group called QuizKnock, so it remains to be seen if they will live up to the hype.
Another potential hurdle is how the game will play on a TV: the DS and 3DS versions worked very well with a stylus, giving a real “interactive puzzle book” feel as players turned, tapped, and wrote down their answers. It has a touch screen, some people prefer to play on the dock and that might diminish that tactile sensation a bit.
Regardless, we’d rather Level-5 try it anyway than decide that Layton should stay retired forever, so when New World of Steam launches, you can be sure we’ll be there, thinking caps in hand .
