Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy

While the story leaves a little to be desired, Layton’s Mystery still makes for an enjoyable entry into the puzzling series. A likable cast of characters persists despite featuring an entirely new crew and the ending manages to hint at a continuation for the series branching off from this title with a plot to draw players in. Those new to the series can easily hop in without needing to have knowledge of the previous stories, but it does make some welcome nods to previous endeavors Layton has gone through. Any puzzle fan should dive right into this title when they get the chance and look forward to what Layton’s Mystery Journey brings next.

A bright and breezy reboot that sticks with the same blend of tricky puzzles and charming animation.

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy feels rather comforting, the video game equivalent of a warm blanket. For the most part it reverts to the core formula of the Professor Layton games, albeit with a new cast and by dividing the narrative into mostly lighthearted, charming 'cases'. All it lacks is the confidence to fully embrace its new setting, stopping short of expanding upon some of its ideas. That said, it still delivers the series' unique blend of storytelling and lots of puzzles with aplomb. It'll have fans and newcomers scratching their heads and smiling at the same time; here's hoping it's not Layton's final mystery.

Quotation forthcoming.

While the storytelling is sub-par for Layton standards, the puzzle design is what you can expect from the long running franchise.

There's nothing new compared to the original smartphone versione, but It still works pretty well and will make the fans happy.

Although I hope her next adventure stands on its own a little more, Katrielle has proven herself worthy of the Layton name, and then some. [Issue #31 – January/February 2018, p. 27E]

Laytons daughter is a fun addition to this beautifully designed series, but she does talk a lot. Thankfully there are many puzzles to distract you from that.

Yet another Layton game. This game with new characters like Lady Layton plays exactly like you expect it from a Layton game. It is very humorous, got awesome puzzles and there are a lot of new cases to explore. It just misses an overwhelming story.

Not many surprises here, but Layton's returns is still as entertaining as always. If you've enjoyed the series in the past, there's no reason why you shouldn't play this one.

I enjoyed my time with Layton's Mystery Journey. The puzzles and investigative work are enjoyable as usual, but that special sauce from previous Layton titles has been left out. The stage for a grander mystery is nowhere to be seen and the game stumbles to find its identity. That being said, the scenes found here are highly replayable and offer additional content if you decide to return. All of this results in a game that can be picked by anyone, but Layton's fans will need time to adapt.

The Layton franchise is back with an interesting spin off that, despite not introducing some important innovations, keeps the appeal of the main episodes of this saga with its feeling and good puzzles. Overall, this is a good entry in the series, but it feels not as remarkable as its predecessors.

Layton's Mystery Journey is a mediocre game at best, with uneventful mysteries and anticlimactic plot twists. As a returning veteran, it almost doesn't feel like a Layton game at all.

Layton's Mystery Journey is the point of change for the popular adventure/ puzzle series. Even though Level-5 tried hard to retain the essence of the franchise we can’t overlook the unnecessary repetition of many puzzles and the fact that Kat is not as a charming character as her father was.

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's Conspiracy is a good installment in the series even if we would have loved a more breathtaking main quest, but on the other hand the content is pretty impressive.

Layton’s Mystery Journey is an entertaining game for fans that did not play the mobile version and newcomers alike, that will approach the series with a much more "pop" main character. Anyway, it's the most weak title in the series, specifically story-wise. A real shame.

Gameplay is basically the same as we are used to.

After six successful games and a brilliant spin off, the Layton saga begins anew with this episode, but the end result it's not on par with the quality level we were used to. It's simpler, a little shorter and, more than this, it's double the price if compared to the identical mobile version.

Carried by the Layton family's experience in mystery, Katrielle starts her detective career with modern resolutions, such as the episodic investigation proceedings. But the cases and their protagonists ultimately lack depth, while the whole plot looks like a long introduction. The puzzles and mini games also appear less inspired, or bold, since Kat solves the most relevant riddles by herself anyway. Let's hope that she's keeping more tricks in her hat for the upcoming adventures.

The Layton legacy continues with an endearing new lead and lots of new puzzles, but relatively few new ideas.

Layton's Mystery Journey is a lot of fun, and Katrielle is just a better character than her father is, but this journey is a lot more predictable and less memorable than the Professor's best.

This is a game with a great variety of quality puzzles, an interesting plot and whose audiovisual environment is bursting with quality, even if the difficulty level is not on par with that of previous games in the series.

This is a good puzzle game with fun characters and beautiful surroundings, but the level of the old Layton games is still a lot better. The quality of the puzzles has decreased and the story simply does not stick.

Another portion of puzzles and riddles for those who want to meditate a bit about games. Maybe with a little worse repertoire and characters, but still funny enough and colorful. [Issue#279]

Having to drone through shallow plots and mysteries that the player figures out ages before Katrielle does just left me wanting to skip directly to the next puzzle or go back and play a much better Layton game. As mentioned, the puzzles and world are as marvelous as ever but I just can’t see myself recommending it to anyone who hasn’t already exhausted every other Professor Layton game first, especially when the physical copy is releasing at twice the price of the mobile version. I hate that I didn’t properly enjoy this entry and will just continue to hope that more Layton games (and movies please!) will come in the future. After all – a true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved.

Kat may be a Layton but she's far from the Layton everyone knows and loves. Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy feels more like a pale imitation with glimpses of the greatness that has come before. There's a ton of potential here and the adventure is still enjoyable, but just falls short. It holds a lot of promise for the future, at least, and the story wraps up with plenty of questions unanswered. Level-5 is clearly ready to keep this story going; however, hopefully it is with something much better and more deserving of the series' lineage.

Factor in the rather obtuse nature of the puzzling and the uninspiring cast and you’ll find that there’s a lot to be disappointed with in this return for the famed puzzle series.