Professor Layton and the Curious Child
Words by Liam Horgan
It starts with a letter, like all good mysteries. A letter addressed to you the player. The letter is from your old friend Luke Triton. He is recounting his adventure in a mysterious village with his teacher and friend, Professor Hershel Layton. The story begins, this is the tale of Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
Released on the Nintendo DS by Level-5 in 2007/2008 (depending on your location), the mystery, puzzle, adventure game was a smash hit for both Level-5 and Nintendo. The game sold over a million copies alone in Japan and just over 3.5 million worldwide.
Partially inspired by the equally thrilling Ace Attorney series, the Professor Layton games tell the tales of the eponymous Layton and his allies as they unveil mystery after mystery. The puzzle-based gameplay, like Ace Attorney, involves the player controlling the movement of Layton and Luke as they progress through the story solving various puzzles, riddles and conundrums that they encounter along the way. The puzzles ranged from simplistic to more difficult, each one an achievement in itself to solve especially if you were playing as a child, which I was. Every character had a riddle, and every riddle unlocked more story, and it was a blast to play. The Layton series was such a hit that the series has spawned 6 main titles and three spin off games. The original trilogy was one of the best titles on the Nintendo DS with each title featuring an entertaining mystery adventure. While later games in the Layton series would confuse the original canon somewhat, the first (and in my opinion best) trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart. From the foggy streets of the mysterious St. Mystere to the mysterious heights of Future London, the Layton games always offered up iconic locations and epic adventure.
The Layton games featured beautifully animated cutscenes which brought the game’s characters and the anachronistic world to life. Animated by studio P.A., these scenes were a joy to unlock. It would be remiss of me to not mention the iconic score by composer Tomohito Nishiura. Layton’s theme will always be recognizable to me and brings back memories of the very first time I stepped into the world of Luke and Professor Layton.
The iconic theme music.
It’s easy to write Layton off as a Sherlock Holmes knock off, and while there are similarities with Conan Doyle’s great detective, I believe he stands out as a unique character outright. Styled as an English gentleman, Layton is a reserved but optimistic protagonist. His belief in the good of others, coupled with his respectful nature creates an endearing figure. This is not the ‘high functioning sociopath’ often shown in modern Sherlock-style figures. No, this is an old-fashioned man with a detective nature. Replacing Watson is the young Luke Triton. Seemingly embodying every Victorian era child actor on the west end, Luke’s can-do attitude and naive nature is a perfect foil to Layton.
While the Layton games always went in obscure directions, never seemingly ending where you’d expect, they were a staple media of my childhood. I enjoyed puzzles and riddles and the Layton stories really made me feel like I’d achieved something as a child. The sweet success you would get from getting the right answer in a particularly hard riddle was worth all the blood, sweat and tears (or in my case, hint-coin collecting and frustration).
To this day, fans like myself still wish for a port of the series to the Nintendo Switch, and while there are spin off games, they lack the je ne sais quoi that the first trilogy had. Regardless of whether a port of the original trilogy comes to pass, the Professor Layton games will forever be an iconic series that fills me with joy. Even nowadays, I can’t resist a good brain teaser or riddle when I see it and perhaps, I have the professor to thank for that. After all, in his own words “A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved!”.
