Summary
Despite the lack of an prescribed reveal , theNintendo Switch 2is wide expected to secrete in 2025 , and it might just make it to market before the Switch biz that I ’m most excited about does . Seven years out from its launch , the Switch has had a long and respectable life , and the games that have discharge in that window let in some of my all - metre favorites , likeThe Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild . One franchise that means a lot to me , however , has spent most of that time wait in the wings .
The serial in dubiousness isProfessor Layton , which is place to finally receive a new Switch entry in 2025 . AlthoughProfessor Laytongames get along out at a steady pace for a good portion of the DS and 3DS ’s lifespan , things dry out up once the Switch hit the market , and the only Layton game to unloose on the console table to date was a port of the 3DS spin - offLayton ’s Mystery Journey : Katrielle and the Millionaire ’s Conspiracy . Professor Layton and the New World of Steamwas finally denote in 2023 , but developer Level-5 has still hardly shown any gameplay .
The Nintendo Switch is a outstanding system , but it ’s importantly lacking in one central regard that I want the Switch ’s heir to directly address .
Custom Image by Ben Brosofsky
The Professor Layton Series Is Like Nothing Else
Endlessly Charming & Just Odd Enough
My love for the Professor Layton games started with the first introduction , Professor Layton and the Curious Village , which my mom somehow learned about upon release and bought for me before I had ever even heard of it . In this instance , her curation could n’t have been better . The intriguing town of St. Mystere draw me in immediately , and the variety of teaser and fascinating ensemble of off - kilter characters kept me hooked .
Professor Laytongames do n’t lock quite like any otherpuzzle titles on the marketplace , although they ’ve had some seemly enough emulator . On a surface level , the formula could easily be clunky . The overall structure resembles a marriage between optic novel and point - and - clack adventures , but there is n’t much challenge to be found in navigating their rich environment . The meat of the serial lies in the brain - teasers that pop up in absurdly shoe - horned ways , whether NPCs throw them at the Professor , or something merely reminds him of a mystifier that he can use to challenge his young apprentice .
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a fashionable , complex puzzle game , and picking asunder its secrets is well deserving the sweat of figuring out what goes where .
I , for one , am always happy to suspend my disbelief for the sake ofProfessor Layton ’s charms . The franchise knows that it ’s idiotic and revel in it . Every plot has a plot of land crook or grand reveal that ranges from mildly silly to ambitiously delirious , and some of the bighearted ones follow to my head unbidden at veritable interval . Professor Laytonis never afraid to completely commit to an melodic theme , and it throw it impossible for the series to ever feel milquetoast or call in .
I Want To Believe In The Next Professor Layton Game
New World Of Steam Has Some Challenges To Overcome
So far , I really have no idea if I should actually be excited forProfessor Layton and the New World of Steam . The game faces several uphill conflict , perhaps the most obvious of which is thetransition from the DS to the Switch . AlthoughKatrielle and the Millionaire ’s Conspiracymade the saltation , there ’s no denying that the franchise was utterly suitable to the threefold - filmdom format in a style that few thing were , and the belated arrival of an original Switch title feels like a concession to the post - DS marketplace rather than a natural evolution .
There ’s also the question of whether the team behind the game can write a story and craft teaser that reach preceding heights . Diving back into another tale with the Professor does dredge up a narrative that was already essentially completed , and a jump to a fictionalized American place setting break away the hazard of losing some of the charm . The original mystifier passkey Akira Tago passed away in 2016 at the age of 90 , and his emblematic work was a caboodle of what made the original two trilogies so great .
This time , the puzzle group QuizKnock is taking the rein , a modification from Akira Tago ’s successor Kuniaki Iwanami inKatrielle .
All the same , I ca n’t help but be optimistic about a seventh mainlineProfessor Laytongame . It ’s something that long seemed like it would never happen in any grand physique , especially when a " Layton 7 " was once in maturation as a loosely have-to doe with nomadic title , a undertaking that never in reality came to realisation . Despite the change in consoles , the abbreviated snippet of gameplay that ’s been exhibit does more or less amaze to the intimate winning formula , so Level-5 is n’t attempt to make the series into something it ’s not .
I ’m still tender of forward-looking Animal Crossing game , but the matter that I have it away most about the series is n’t really there any longer , and I leave out it a lot .
More than anything else , I ’m just a soft touch forProfessor Layton . I have every biz , a Japanese nontextual matter Scripture forProfessor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney , and a promotional Rubik ’s Cube forProfessor Layton and the Unwound Future(an official Rubik ’s , no less , without the cheap feel and scratchy crook found in my off - brandMario Kart 8 Deluxeone ) . A new deed is obviously an inevitable improver to my collection , and one that I ’ll be jumping into the moment it ’s made useable .
The Switch 2 Could Come Out Before New World Of Steam
2025 Will Be A Busy Nintendo Year
Professor Laytonhas a short ton of fans , but it is n’t one of the biggest franchises out there , and I am a flake worried that its sacking could end up being lose in the shuffle next yr . If the Switch 2 does slay the market first , newfangled first - political party claim for the systemare bound to draw more attention . Plenty of people will stick to the original Switch for a while , and reported backward compatibility should make it playable on both system , butit ’s not go to face off very well against something like a new 3DMarioplatformer .
WhetherProfessor Laytonand the New World of Steammanages to renovate the serial for another trilogy or not , I ’m felicitous enough to take what I can get . Indie games tend to keep things tonic , but genuinely off - beat titles from mid - sized to major studio can be laborious to come by these days , and there are none that I love more thanProfessor Layton . It ’s just a piffling uncivilized that it ’s take this long , especially if theNintendo shift 2beats it to store shelves .
