For fans of the Professor Layton series, the latest game, The Mystery Journal: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy, is a slight departure from previous entries. For one, it's not debuting on a Nintendo handheld, like most of the other games in the series. Instead, the logic puzzle game is releasing on mobile devices, specifically iOS and Android, first.
The second major departure is that players won't be playing as the crack professor himself, but rather his daughter, Katrielle. The game is set in London and follow's Layton's daughter Katrielle and her talking dog, Sherl… as well as her friends Emiliana and Ernest. When Profesor Hershel Layton goes missing, Katrielle goes searching for him, forcing her to complete various puzzles and yes, mysteries, along the way.
The move to mobile makes sense for Level-5 (the developers) for several reasons. The Layton series has always been a series that was easy to pick up, play a puzzle or two and then save and put down. Because of the Nintendo 3DS's touchscreen, moving to phones and tablet was a logical step, as opposed to systems like the XBOX and PS4, which don't feature a touch screen. Lastly, mobile games are the hottest and fastest growing gaming platform and if Level-5 wants to keep making money, and keep this franchise alive, this was only a natural evolution for this series.
Nintendo handheld fans shouldn't be worried though, as the game will also be released for the 3DS and 2DS in October of this year. As for mobile fans, you can download the game right now, but be forewarned, because this is basically a full 3DS/2DS handheld style game, you're going to pay a premium price for that level of quality. Layton's Mystery Journal: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy is selling for $15.99 ($16.96 for Android). Which may seem expensive for a mobile game, but it's priced similarly to SquareEnix games, like those in the Final Fantasy series. It's also about half the cost of the Nintendo version's of other Layton titles, which usually sell for $29.99 to $39.99. When you add in the fact that the developer says this game will feature more puzzles than any other game in the series and there are even daily puzzles that the app will download automatically, you're getting a lot of value for just $15.99/$16.96.
You can download the game for iTunes here for Android, you can click here.
