Layton’s Mystery Journey: details on Episode 01, characters, more + screens
Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy is the first Layton game to be released in almost 4 years. It will be available on Jule 20th in Japan, with Europe and North America getting it a few months later (this Fall).
Yesterday, Level-5 finally shared some new details about the game, and to the surprise, the company chose to begin with… the beginning, and Episode 01. That first episode is called “Clockwork Sweets”, and is about the Elizabeth Tower in London. One of the hands of the clock gets stolen, and naturally, Katrielle Layton has to find it.
According to the testimony of a police officer that was patrolling nearby, the hand was safe as of 11.50PM before it was stolen. Since it was discovered that it was missing at about 6AM the next morning, that means the theft could have occured at any time during a 6 hour window.
You wouldn’t think that a missing clock hand was such a big deal, but everything becomes a big deal when it involves the Ambassador of another country! Ambassador Melarco is expected to visit London the following day, where he will receive a pendant shaped like the Elizabeth Tower as a sign of goodwill.
As you can imagine, if the clock is still missing its hands, it will have a negative impact on the country’s reputation. That’s why Katrielle Layton not only has to find the stolen clock hand, she also has to do so before the press conference with the ambassador begins. Inspector Aspoiro, from Scotland Yard, is the one to request that Katrielle Layton investigates.
Level-5 then explains that the “Millionaires” in the title refers to: it’s the “Seven Millionaires of London”, special characters that are key to the game (they wouldn’t be mentioned in the very title, otherwise!).
Here’s two of them:
- Ridley Fremens: the Mayor of London, and one of the millionaires (who succeeded her father as one) She’s a pretty tough person, who respects order, but who seems to be restraining herself. She has big plans to liven up London, with her Riverside Festival;
- Clerk Gospec: a 65 year-old man who manages various entertainment facilities (such as theaters), and the owner of the Rabbit Star Theater (that belongs to his company). He takes interest in Katrielle Layton after hearing about her from Fremens, and he asks her to investigate an incident that happened at that very theater.
Level-5 also introduces two “regular” characters that appear in Episode 01 of Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy… the Yanchatta Brothers (who happen to be twins, and 27 years old):
- Marc: works as a mechanic on the Elizabeth Tower;
- Reggie: works as a confectioner at London’s Yanchatta Confectionery.
Next, we have some details about the gameplay proper, which is definitely going to feel familiar to fans of the series. You go to various places, in order to investigate. You can examine suspicious or interesting spots using a magnifying glass: this allows you to find some information to solve incidents, but also collect the usual Insight Coins and Collectibles, and of course puzzles to solve.
When the magnifying glasses turns orange, that means there’s something to check out, let it be a character to talk to or a puzzle to find. Of course, you can still use Insight Coins to reveal puzzles, if you have a hard time finding them. Of course, you can zoom, which allows you to see things you couldn’t before. If there’s a collectible, the magnifying class starts puffing out smoke.
In order to progress the story, you need to get enough investigation points: you can see how many you have, and how many you need to find, at the top right corner of the bottom screen.
Naturally, the “traditional” bag is back: it holds all the information you’ve gathered during your investigations. If you want, you can also try solving the puzzles you’ve already solved there.
Finally, Level-5 details one of the mini-games found in Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy, called “The Ideal Dinner”. You have to listen to the request of patrons, and determine what they like and don’t like by listening to people, and then serve them the ideal dinner. A dinner is made of hors d’oeuvres, soup, a main course, and dessert.
Naturally, as you progress through the story, you unlock new clients and dishes.
Finally, here’s plenty of screenshots for Episode 01, some of the puzzles, and the mini-game described above (along with artworks for some of the characters):
