Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD

Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD (also known as Unwound Future) is an adventure puzzle game built on numerous puzzles. The HD version is the refreshed edition of the game published 10 years earlier on Nintendo DS and includes mobile devices with Android and iOS systems. The game itself is actually the third installment in a renowned series of games created by Level 5 studio. The game tells the story of Hershel Layton, professor of archaeology, and his assistant, Luke Triton, solving various, often criminal, riddles.

Plot

The main hero of the game is Hershel Layton, an archaeology professor from the fictional Gressenheller University. His 12-year-old assistant, Luke Triton, fascinated by the professor's work, helps him solve puzzles. The entire plot takes place in different corners of London, visited by us as the story progresses. The action of the game begins when Professor Layton and Luke receive a letter from Luke from the future. According to his report, over the next ten years London will plunge into chaos, and only we can prevent it. The case is linked to the activities of Dr Alain Stahngun, who went missing with Prime Minister Bill Hawks after a failed experiment. However, they are not the only ones missing - with time more and more scientists started to mysteriously disappear.

We learn the story of the game through dialogues with characters and solving available puzzles. Its structure corresponds to the scheme developed for the purposes of the series, according to which the professor takes action at the request of an acquaintance to discover more and more darker threads of the case being solved.

Mechanics

We find our way to the puzzles by exploring the next segments of the world. Locations were realized in the form of static pictures, between which we move by clicking on the place we are interested in. Then, if we want to pick up the item or talk to the NPC, we point it with an available stylus. Some of the interactions we perform lead to puzzles (there are over 200 in total) realized in the form of special mini-games. Depending on the puzzle, either logical reasoning or mathematical skills are more important. In case we can't handle anything, we can ask our comrade for help. The number of advice available is limited to 3 - it is not possible to know the exact description of the problem. To obtain a hint, payment is required in the form of a single coin, in the fictitious currency "Picarats". If we use all the tips, we have the opportunity to buy an additional one for two coins, that brings us closer to the solution. We collect coins by exploring available locations and clicking where we think there might be a good place to hide them. We also win them by solving puzzles, and the less wrong answers we give before choosing the correct one, the greater the reward.

We don't have to solve all the puzzles to finish the game. The part is sideways and only serves to earn extra money and learn new stories. During the game we can go back to all the locations to search them again to find Picarats or solve puzzles that we have not dealt with before. When we finish the main plot, additional challenges are unlocked, more difficult than those we face in the basic game. There is also a system for repeating once solved puzzles and giving them marks.

Technical aspects

Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD edition has been polished compared to the 2008 version in terms of the appearance of animations, puzzles and interlude scenes. The style of the graphic design has remained the same and it brings to mind French comic books.