Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (2008)

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future cover

Developer: LEVEL-5
Publisher: Nintendo of America, LEVEL-5
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Genres: Point-and-click, Puzzle, Visual Novel
Rating: 4.2 of 5, 95 player ratings
Main story: about 18 hours
Completionist: about 20 hours
Where to get it: Nintendo eShop

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More games like this Watch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

Charming puzzle-adventure where a gentleman detective and his young ward solve brain-teasers while unraveling an emotional mystery story.

cozypuzzle-heavymysterystory-drivenwholesomeslow-pacedcharming

About

As with previous Professor Layton games, Unwound Future is an adventure game where the player solves puzzles offered by local citizens to progress the story forward, through dialogue and around 32 minutes of full motion video. The player moves about the game through still images of locations. The player can use the DS touchscreen to tap on non-player characters to start a dialog or to obtain a puzzle, and also can search anywhere on the background for hint coins, with some areas needing to be tapped several times to reveal a secret hint coin or puzzle. Puzzles are brainteasers of many varieties, including visual, math, and logic. There is no time limit to solve puzzles, and the player can get up to 3 hints at a cost of one hint coin each; a new feature in Unwound Future is a "super hint", costing 2 coins, that can only be bought after the other 3 hints have been revealed, but that nearly reveals the puzzle's solution. If the player is correct in solving the puzzle, they gain a number of "Picarats", a form of currency within the game. Guessing the incorrect answer will reduce the number of picarats the player can get on subsequent attempts. Players can visit certain areas in order to play undiscovered or unsolved puzzles that are left behind as the story progresses.

Screenshots

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 1

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 2

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 3

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 4

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 5

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future screenshot 6

More games like this

More by LEVEL-5

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.