Professor Layton and the Curious Village, the breakout Nintendo DS hit that helped shape the puzzle adventure genre and bring it to the mainstream, is now available on Android with additional content and upgraded graphics. Everything has been remastered from the ground up to look and sound up to par on the powerful mobile devices we now carry around, including upscaled graphics and remixed music. The new release also includes some FMV footage and other content that was not in the original game, including some that’s never been seen before in any form. Those who want to experience Professor Layton’s first legendary adventure again, as well as individuals who missed it the first time around, can find it available on the Google Play Store for $9.99.
For those who aren’t familiar with Professor Layton and his first adventure, the game sees you joining the titular professor, a respected archaeologist, on a journey with his apprentice, Luke, to the small village of St. Mystere. A wealthy widow tasks Layton and Luke with finding a missing family heirloom, the finder of whom is willed by the late baron to inherit his estate and fortune. As with most good stories, the already-strange and exciting happenings on the surface hide a more complex and sinister set of events which can be unraveled by completing various mysteries and puzzles.
A great many mobile games are designed to blend brain-teasing puzzles and hearty adventures with a rich storyline, and Capcom’s Ace Attorney series follow a somewhat similar formula, albeit with a larger focus on piecing together story beats and evidence, rather than outright puzzle-solving. There are other Layton games available on Android, though this is the first time that Android owners have had the opportunity to play the original game, outside of emulating it via DraStic or another Nintendo DS emulator. This is essentially a mystery novel, an adventure game and a puzzle game, all wrapped up in one smart, well-characterized package. If you’ve got a spare $10 and you tend to like whodunit mysteries, brain teasers, old-school adventure games and stories filled with charming characters that aren’t always quite what they seem, you’d be remiss to sit this one out.