A true gentlemen knows better than to outstay his welcome, and if Nintendo are to be believed, so to does Professor Layton. According to the Japanese developers, the upcoming Professor Layton game, which is due to hit Japan later this year, will be the final instalment in the much beloved Professor Layton series, marking the puzzling Professor's last outing. Which has us a little bit worried. If it really is Layton's last game, what are we going to do for our puzzling fix in future? Where will the series go next? Perhaps Luke will take the helm instead, or maybe we'll get a brand new franchise instead?
Layton, Luke and Emmy continue the search for the mysterious Azran artefacts they began in the previous game.
Either way, developers Level 5 have begun to lift the lid on Layton's sixth and allegedly final outing, revealing the now official title of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies, a name which will doubtlessly make sense to you if you've finished Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. The first true sequel to a Layton game, Layton and the Azran Legacies picks up where the last game left off, as Layton and his pals travel all over the globe, from London to the US and even Russia, on the search for a mysterious living mummy, who holds a clue that could help unlock the secrets of a lost civilisation - although as a Professor of Archaeology, we can't understand why Layton didn't choose Egypt first...
As a Layton game, you can be sure of brainteasers aplenty, with the seventh game set to stick true to the familiar mix of point and click gameplay, and hundreds of brain-bending logic puzzles that's made the series so successful. There's mazes that need to be illuminated by a series of lamps, wordy "I am older than X but two years younger than Y" style puzzles, and most likely half a dozen of those horrible chessboard puzzles where you need to divide the grid into sections of equal shape, size and area so that each has two black and two white pawns. With minigames aplenty, gorgeous anime cutscenes punctuating the action, and a gripping story that'll take you around the entire world, if Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies is even half the game Miracle Mask was, it'll be something very special indeed. Miracle Mask was one of the best games released last year (tied with LEGO Lord of the Rings), so it's safe to say we're eagerly awaiting the sequel.
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies hits Japanese 3DSs on the 28th of February - so we'd expect it to hit the UK around October time, if previous instalments are anything to go by. In the meantime, you can get a taste for some of the puzzles that are waiting for you in the trailer below - and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that this isn't really the last ever Layton game... We don't know what we'd do without the puzzling Professor in our lives - our what Nintendo would do without the main reason to buy a 3DS...
