Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
2008
- point-and-click
- puzzle
- visual novel
- mystery
- single player
The story
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.
What it’s like
Hand-drawn storybook scenes rendered in soft, painterly pixel art, with warm ochre streetlamps, muted brick townscapes and a cool blue-grey palette that turns sepia in the flashbacks and near-future ruins. Still backgrounds sit quietly under a steady, unhurried framing, and the game's chiming piano and gentle orchestral strings carry the atmosphere, dropping to soft silence when you stop to think over a brainteaser. The vibe is cozy and curious with a faint undercurrent of wistfulness, the sort of gentle puzzle-box mystery that suits a rainy Sunday, a long train ride, or an evening with the handheld in bed. Pacing is leisurely and never punishing, since there is no timer, hints come in stages, and wrong answers only trim your rewards. Tension stays light, with brief cartoonish peril, a few talking animals and a mad scientist's antics rather than any real threat; there is no gore or sexual content, and any violence is mild and off-screen. The story follows a sharp-minded gentleman professor and his young apprentice as they piece together a time-travel puzzle, with warmth and banter at its center. It is for players who want clever problems, charming characters and a gentle, low-stakes adventure.
More games like Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Professor Layton and the Unwound Futureand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
