Level-5 published a first look at the new Professor Layton, over six months after first announcing the puzzle game at a Nintendo Direct, and it looks promising. The Professor Layton and the New World of Steam trailer shows Layton and his protege Luke reunited once more after an unspecified amount of time passed since the end of Unwound Future, but rather than focusing on story beats, the trailer highlights what Layton does best – puzzles.
Or, a puzzle, to be more exact. Luke and Layton need to enter an eccentric genius’ workshop by finding the right door in a sea of fakes. An interesting and potentially exciting difference between this and previous Layton puzzles is that it takes place in the environment around the duo.
Puzzles usually take you to a separate screen that only sometimes bears relevance to the area you’re in, and while that approach allows for more flexibility in puzzle design, it certainly doesn’t lead to the kind of immersive experience you’d (presumably) get if the entire world was a puzzle.
Luke takes notes directly on-screen in this puzzle, instead of having to activate a separate memo overlay first. That makes sense given the lack of dual-screen platforms since Nintendo retired the 3DS. Level-5 hasn’t actually said what console or devices New World of Steam will release on, though considering it debuted during a Nintendo Direct, the Switch is a pretty safe choice. The studio launched a few Layton games for mobile devices, so it may launch on Android and iOS as well.
Professor Layton and the New World of Steam is planned for release sometime in 2025.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
