Professor Layton and the New World of Steam got a new trailer at TGS… and also adelay announcement.

It’s not a huge surprise; getting this late into 2025 without a release date made it seem pretty likely it was no longer set for this year.

On the other hand, I still rememberbeing disappointed that it probably wouldn’t be out in 2023, and since then its 2024 release window has been pushed to 2025 and now 2026.

(Let’s just hope this isn’t a repeat of the Inazuma Eleven situation, with its constant delays.)

All right, with the delay news out of the way, let’s take a look at the new trailer.

The trailer doesn’t have subtitles yet, although the description says they will be added later.

As it is, we get some great new shots of Layton and Luke, and we also get to see some gameplay. It’s a short segment, but it looks very Layton – visiting a location from the map, tapping a character to get a puzzle, etc. Unfortunately, there isn’t much new shown.

The music choice is also… unique, and I cracked up listening to it. A Professor Layton rap was not on my bingo card.

There also was a playable TGS demo, and some players have uploaded videos, such as this one:

For me, the demo footage was great to see, because it really feels like Layton. There were some concerns when it was first announced, but it doesn’t look like they’ve made any drastic changes to the gameplay we know and love.

I’m looking forward to Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, although I can’t help but worry about it with all these delays. Still, Fantasy Life i saw numerous delays as well and came out to great reviews (I haven’t played it yet), so maybe the same will happen here.

What do you think of the latest New World of Steam videos?

With Professor Layton and the New World of Steam not due out until 2025, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it.

If you’ve seen any of my comments on it before, you know I’m both excited and nervous about finally getting a new Professor Layton game.

When I got into the Professor Layton series, it skyrocketed to the top of my list. It was one of my few “immediate preorder” series, a series I had so much faith in I would immediately preorder any new entry.

Then came Layton’s Mystery Journey, which I had…mixed feelings about.

So now, nearly 7 years later, my feelings about Professor Layton and the New World of Steam aren’t “of course it’ll be great, it’s a Professor Layton game” so much as “please be good, please be good, please be good…”

With that in mind, here are my top 5 hopes for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam.

5. A Stylus

This is the most inconsequential of my hopes, but it still deserves to be mentioned. The Professor Layton series started out on the DS and then moved to the 3DS, both of which come with a stylus to use on the touchscreen. With its puzzle-based gameplay, Professor Layton is a series that expects you to write on the touchscreen.

Even in the brief New World of Steamgameplay demonstration, you can see how a stylus would help.

But unlike the DS and 3DS, the Switch doesn’t come with its own stylus. When Layton’s Mystery Journey got ported to the Switch, players had to either adapt to controlling it without a stylus or use their own. Since New World of Steam is a brand-new entry, I can’t help but hope they’ll include a stylus with it to make that a bit easier.

4. Normal Professor Layton Structure

The normal Professor Layton game structure is simple. You visit a new area and tap around the screen looking for hint coins, hidden puzzles, and dialogue, you solve puzzles (some required and some optional), and then you progress the story and repeat the process. At certain points, you’ll be blocked from progressing if you haven’t solved enough puzzles, and of course, more puzzles will appear at different points of the game.

I still don’t quite know what to make about the claim that New World of Steam’s city will develop as you solve more puzzles, but I hope it doesn’t mark a meaningful departure from the usual structure. Switching to a city-development focus, for example… doesn’t sound good.

But it might just be a fancy way of describing the usual story progression,or some sort of side activity, so I have my fingers crossed that the game will follow the standard Professor Layton structure after all.

Oh, and now that I mentioned it, having a mini-game or two to break up the flow is a fun series’ tradition I hope New World of Steam maintains as well.

3. An Absurd Twist

This is a Professor Layton game. I want the story to culminate in an absurd plot twist that turns everything on its head, that manages to survive suspension of disbelief solely because emotions are running so high that you’ll forgive it a few leaps in logic. That’s what Professor Layton gamesdo.

We know very little about New World of Steam’s story so far, except that Layton goes to Steam Bison in America to help Luke solve a mystery. Whatever that mystery is, I hope it’s seemingly impossible only to eventually be explained with a “logical” explanation even harder to believe than the original mystery.

Yes, sometimes Professor Layton twists push suspension of disbelief too far, like in the case of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, where the ending disappointed me so much it nearly soured myoverall thoughts on the game, but the lack of stakes in Layton’s Mystery Journey made me realize I’ll take that sort of insanely illogical twist that you can tell the writers were passionate about over that game’s style of low-stakes, low-energy storytelling any day.

I’ve waited this many years for a new Professor Layton game. I need the big twist to be appropriately over-the-top.

2. Good Puzzles

This is the part that could make or break the game. Professor Layton is a puzzle series, so the puzzle quality is hugely important.Akira Tago, the “puzzle master,” passed away prior to Layton Mystery Journey, and the puzzles suffered for it.

A group called QuizKnock has been brought in to design New World of Steam’s puzzles, so I have my fingers crossed it will be a return to form. I’ve seen positive impressions of their puzzles online, so here’s hoping it feels like the style of Professor Layton puzzles we know and love.

1. Excellent Storytelling

But if there’s one thing I’m even more nervous about than the quality of the puzzles, it’s the quality of the story.

I’ve touched upon this with my previous points already, but Layton’s Mystery Journey had such a low-stakes, disconnected story that it didn’t win me over like the other stories in the series. Professor Layton puzzles are fun and addicting, but it was the stories that really made the series one of my favorites. They might be ridiculous at times, but they’re always heartfelt and emotional.

I want that style of storytelling to come back. I want New World of Steam to have the sort of story where, no matter what the rest of it ends up being like, I can recommend it to people for that alone.

Right now, we don’t know much about the characters aside from the fact that both Professor Layton and Luke will be back, and we don’t know what the mystery is about. But I hope they’ve written another heartfelt story that will have me dying to know what will happen next.

Conclusion

If all of these things come to pass, New World of Steam will be another favorite. All I really want is a return to form – one that will make the Professor Layton series leap to the top of my list once again.

What are your hopes for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam?

What’s this? An actual official Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright reference, you say?

With the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy coming out in just over a month, Capcom has been releasing a short trailer for each case in the trilogy, narrated by the characters.

We’re now up to the second case in Spirit of Justice, The Magical Turnabout, and thepromo video starts by presenting Trucy’s magic show. In it, they mention the spell “Granwyrm.”

Now unless I’ve forgotten an existing reference, Granwyrm is never actually mentioned in Spirit of Justice. No, that’s a reference to one of the much-overlooked Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in which the spell Granwyrm plays an important role.

Of all the Ace Attorney games, the crossover is the one I least expect to get a remaster. It’s not up to Capcom alone but also Level-5, and even the mainline Professor Layton games haven’t been given the attention Ace Attorney has. Mobile ports of the original trilogy are the only remasters available. Back when the 3DS eShop was open, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright never even went on sale. So despite mygrowing hopes for an Investigations duology, I really don’t expect to see Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright again.

On the other hand, Capcom also acknowledged the crossover with the20th anniversary artwork, where a handful of characters were included, so that together with this reference shows they at least aren’t trying to ignore it. And since the Professor Layton series is making a return, the crossover’s chances look marginally better now, at least.

I have such mixed feelings about Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright. Back when I played it, I said it was “almost perfect,” but my dislike for the ending left me remembering it more negatively.

However, I’ve softened toward it since then. Mydisappointment with Layton’s Mystery Journey made me realize I much prefer insane storytelling with a plot twist that introduces a thousand plot holes but feels like the writers put their whole heart into it, over the dull low-stakes storytelling that took up most of Layton’s Mystery Journey. I want the next Professor Layton plot to go crazy again, and that gave me new appreciation for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright.

So if it was remastered, I’ve course I’d buy it. I’d love to see it make a return and be easier for new fans to play, since right now the only option is tracking down a physical copy, and prices had skyrocketed even before the 3DS eShop shut down.

Do I think Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney will be remastered? Not really. Would I like it to happen? Absolutely. Either way, it was still nice to see it be officially referenced!