Professor Layton and the Curious Village heads to iOS and Android today
The Professor Layton series is one that's been around for more than ten years at this point, and all the while, the vast majority of games in the series have been exclusive to the Nintendo DS family of handhelds. That's beginning to change, as Level-5 is bringing the very first game in the series – Professor Layton and the Curious Village – to iOS and Android around the world today.
Unlike some of the more recent entries in the series, Professor Layton and the Curious Village actually has a history on mobile devices. Its first stint on mobile phones occurred in 2008, but more recently, it made its iOS and Android debut in Japan back in June. Today, the game is launching on mobile worldwide, so if you never had a DS or 3DS to play some of the Layton games, this is a good chance to see where it all started.
Officially dubbed Layton: Curious Village in HD, you can expect some sharper visuals than what you saw in the original DS version. It seems that the game is played in portrait mode with the display divided into two separate images to emulate the DS's dual screens, which actually makes a ridiculous amount of sense.
It's unknown if this is the beginning of a trend for the much-loved puzzle series. The most recent entry in the series, Layton's Mystery Journey, launched on iOS and Android alongside the Japanese 3DS release, so it's always possible that Level-5 will opt to bring the other five titles in the mainline series to mobile as well. Whether or not that happens likely depends on how well Layton: Curious Village sells on iOS and Android.
Yes, that means you have to pay for this mobile release of Curious Village, with a price tag clocking in at $9.99 on both platforms. That actually isn't a bad deal considering the amount of content you get in the game, so this might be worth picking up if you're a fan of the series or otherwise enjoy puzzle games. You can grab it today from the iOS App Store [download] and the Google Play Store [download].