Never Have I reviewed a game with a longer name! Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy is a decent game with the same quality of puzzles as other games in the series, but with an underwhelming story that made it a slog to get through at times.
Remember, this review reflects my experience and therefore everyone else’s as well. If you disagree with any point I bring in this post, then you should reflect on your opinion until you agree with me as I am correct and you are wrong. Thank you for reading!
Story
The game is split into 12 cases which Katrielle, Ernest, and a talking dog Sherl work together to solve. None of the cases were excellent and some were outright bad. Mostly, they didn’t have an impact on me; they were all kind of dull. There is very little connection between the cases other than recurring characters. In the final chapter, the crew uncovers a conspiracy between how the seven dragons gained their wealth. This plot line had potential, but this conspiracy was not mentioned until the final chapter where it was solved in. The whole thing felt tacked on and the way the story resolves with everyone being all chummy with each other is not satisfying.
There are also 2 major mysteries that the team is supposedly investigating: the disappearance of Hershel Layton, and how Kat and Ernest can understand their dog Sherl. Unfortunately, in all of the 12 cases, zero progress is made towards either of these mysteries. I think focusing on either of these mysteries more than the daily troubles of the seven dragons would have made a more compelling story.
Puzzles
The puzzles in this game are decent. It’s been a while since I played another Layton game, but I think they are up to snuff for the most part. As always, there is some level of horseshit in many of the puzzles, but this is just what you have to expect when playing one of these games.
The minigames are not my favorites in the series, but they are adequate. ‘Ideal Meal’ didn’t interest me, but I think it looks alright. ‘Passers Buy’ is a puzzle game for which I still don’t fully understand the rules, even after playing all the levels. The behavior of the customers is hard to predict, but there just aren’t that many possible inputs for the player to choose from, so I ended up kind of guessing on a lot of the levels. ‘Hound in the Pound’ is the best one. I like how moving the colored blocks changes the stage layout due to the rolling boulders. It really makes you have to plan out a route in detail.
Some of my favorite puzzles from this game include #059 Sleeping Sand, #103 Fathom the Depths, #131 Box of Flowers, and #147 In Plain Sight.
Score
I don’t have too much to say about this game. It is just another Professor Layton game with hardly any story. It might be filler for the series, but the puzzles are fun and it isn’t too painful to get through.