Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Capping off Professor Layton's original trilogy, I went into Unwound Future with expectations set higher than I ever had for the previous two entries. I anticipated there would be improvements to the puzzles and UI similar to the way Diabolical Box improved upon Curious Village, but I was more excited about the story. I had heard that this was a game that could really tug at your heartstrings, and I love it when media makes me feel, so I was more than ready. However, I was surprised when Unwound Future ended up delivering stronger-than-anticipated puzzles, but a cheesier-than-expected narrative. The result was still excellent, and it was definitely my favorite Layton game that I've played so far, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be.

First off, Unwound Future easily had the best puzzle variety of the whole original trilogy. I think I could count on one hand how many times I noticed a puzzle repeat concepts within both Unwound Future itself and the series as a whole. Repeating puzzle designs, even if the difficulty noticably increases, never does a great job of catching my attention. Puzzles like that tend to get more groans than excitement from me (especially the slide puzzles. Oh. My. Gosh.), but I noticed pretty early on how infrequently I felt that disappointment in this game. The puzzles themselves weren't necessarily anything more special than before, but the variety helped to improve the experience a great deal. The story didn't undergo as drastic of an improvement as the puzzles, but it was still good enough to keep me motivated throughout my playthrough.

Unwound Future's narrative stands out from that of the first two games in how it ties in Layton's history. Before this, we didn't actually know much about the professor or his motivations, but that gets rectified through a surprisingly tragic set of flashbacks, giving him a sort of origin story. These looks into Layton's past were each a treat to encounter, but I didn't find that the rest of the narrative really matched them in quality. I didn't mind the rest of the story, and it was generally on par with the previous games, it just didn't carry the same emotional weight for a few reasons. Chief among them was just how cheesy the story got near the end. It was almost like a soap opera with romantic rivalries, people back from the dead, and huge plot holes. If you don't think critically about it, Unwound Future tells a powerful tale about love and forgiveness, but dwelling on it like I did might take away a little bit of that power.

Even with my feelings about how the narrative was executed, I really enjoyed my whole time with Unwound Future, and I thought it was an excellent conclusion for Professor Layton's first trilogy. It was really neat learning about Layton's actual motivation for being a gentleman, and the puzzle variety was nearly perfect. I could've done with a little more realism in the plot, or at least an improved explanation for some of the bigger jumps, but it wasn't bad, just a little disappointing. Overall, Unwound Future was a great time, and I'm more excited than ever for The New World of Steam to continue Layton's story. 

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