Lady Layton Details Revealed, Announced for the West

So, we announced last week that Professor Layton was making a grand return to the gaming world by way of his not-Fiora daughter in Lady Layton. Pretty exciting news as far as I was concerned, but the trailer, unfortunately, was in Japanese, and there was no word on the game ever being brought stateside. Thankfully, that changed over the weekend, and Level-5 has not only announced the game will be coming to the west, fully-translated, they also provided a bit more information about the game as well.

So, here's what level 5 has to say about Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone's Conspiracy-
 

As one of LEVEL-5’s masterpieces, the PROFESSOR LAYTON™ series of puzzle adventure games has sold more than 15.5 million units worldwide to date. Its newest official sequel, Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy -- available on Nintendo 3DS/Android/iOS -- was announced to be released in Spring 2017 in Japan. Not only will the main character switch from “Professor Layton” (Hershel Layton) to “Kat” (Katrielle Layton), many of its characters will be brand new. The story will focus less on dynamic problem-solving and more on solving multiple mystery cases observed in the everyday lives of Londoners, which will bring a faster tempo and more comical tone to the series. It will be more familiar -- and funnier -- than ever, while maintaining an adventurous quality. The creators of the puzzles and brain-teasers, the core element of the series, will also be new. Please look forward to the new PROFESSOR LAYTON™ series, targeting a Western release in 2017.

So, not a lot by way of plot, but it does tell us a few things. For example: it says MANY of the characters will be brand new, not ALL of them, so we can look forward to seeing at least a few returning faces, like maybe old-guy Layton. It seems like there won't be one big mystery to solve, which is fine by me, because as much as I love Professor Layton, the 'climatic reveal' has historically always been something utterly insane that you could have never guessed. For example, in the third game, instead of time travel, a guy built an entire futuristic duplicate of London under the city, populated it with actors, and constructed a giant death machine because he lost his parents in an explosion as a kid.

That reached a point where I would have found literal time travel more believable.

Anyway. It also said it will focus more on humor, which I find a little confusing since Professor Layton never really branded itself as a 'funny' game, but I guess with the talking dog I can see why they're trying to go in that direction.

Regardless. Looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait for next year so I can get my hands on this next puzzling adventure.