Tag: nintendo

Animal Crossing New Horizons – Being Outside Whilst Staying Inside:

Posted on by in Gaming, Real Life

Much like every person on the planet with a Nintendo Switch, I have been playing a lot of Animal Crossing New Horizons over the last month and a half. As it’s release date was scheduled for after my show season was over (for those who don’t know, I was production manager for a play for my university’s drama society), I’d pre-ordered it as a treat, to play as a wind down from the rewarding but incredibly stressful, show weeks. Thankfully, my show went without a hitch but the other play I was doing lighting for, had to stop due to the lockdown measures. So, New Horizons became my isolation game.

WHAT A HECKIN GOOD BOI

I have talked about Animal Crossing before on the site, with it being the second ever article posted on Mind Games (mind blowing, I know). So, if I repeat myself at all, I apologise! However, in traditional Mind Games fashion – there is more I would like to say. Specifically, about how New Horizons has kept me (moderately) sane during these trying times. If you will indulge me dear reader, by enjoying what is probably the thousandth article you have seen posted about the game. I may be no Eurogamer but hopefully something I say will strike a chord with you.

More than anything, what New Horizons provides for me is a sense of normality. Even if we were not in the middle of a world-wide pandemic, my world is at a turning point. I am graduating from university, starting a new job, and moving to a new place. Everything in my life is changing and that is a terrifying thought. So, having a game with a set routine, simple mechanics, and plenty of opportunities to make the island my own, is a great source of comfort.

This guy has been my nemesis since Wild World and I swear to Isabelle, I’ll sink his ship.

When I get up each day, I get my cereal and a fresh mug of coffee. I will watch whatever YouTube videos tickle my fancy, be that livestreams that I missed or compilations from my favourite shows. Then, I boot up Animal Crossing. I will grab the four fossils, hunt down the money rock and freshly grown money tree (who knew that there was a magic money tree), check for any visitors (or invaders like Redd) and water my flower fields. If I am missing any bugs or fish then I will go for a wander, tool in hand. Afterwards, I go about the rest of my day – maybe returning to my island in the evening once my work is done.

It becomes a constant. Others see it as tedious and repetitive, a game with no real end goal or objective – not worth the time investment. To me, it is a life ring that I cling to in a storm. In the words of the Lutece twins from Bioshock Infinite, it is all a matter of perspective. What I see will always be different to what you see. It is when you accept these different viewpoints, that you see the truth value of games like Animal Crossing in trying times like this.

Who needs to wait till Halloween for true horror, when Zipper is here.

Obviously, I am not the most social individual. At university, it means that I tend to avoid the traditional activities, such as club nights, pub crawls and various raves. I would rather meet a friend for coffee and go our separate ways afterwards. A couple of my closest friends have mastered the art of co-existing with me. We could be in the same room for hours, doing our own thing and neither of us will feel the need to fill the silence with awkward chatter.

The multiplayer aspect of Animal Crossing leans into the concept of co-existing. Often, I will visit a friend’s island and we will do our own thing. Be that fishing, harvesting fruit or wandering around getting to know all their villagers (and making them love you more in two minutes than the person who has known them for WEEKS). You get to talk to and enjoy the company of those friends that maybe you are in a different country from or those you cannot see due to the ongoing lockdown. It is not as good as the real thing, but people are finding creative ways to spend time with their loved ones using the capitalist raccoon’s island paradises.

WAKE UP BLATHERS I’VE GOT ANOTHER FOSSIL FOR YOU

The terraforming aspect of the game is remarkably therapeutic. Getting to mould and change your island into something that you feel genuinely proud of, is an incredibly satisfying feeling. Plus, you get to fix those weird cliff edges and oddly shaped ponds that your island starts out with. For those who cannot leave the house for the foreseeable future and those who live in an area without much greenery to enjoy in those brief daily walks for exercise purposes, getting to mould an ideal outside world, brings a little bit of joy that may be missing in their days.

Anyways, those are just a few thoughts I have had about New Horizons. I am keeping this piece short as I have a lot of university work to finish off and I do not want to repeat myself too much! I will post some pictures of my island once I finish the grand rebuilding process (scheduled for AFTER my dissertation is finished) on my Twitter so go follow me – @OurMindGames / @CaitlinRC

See you all soon,

CaitlinRC.

Pokémon Ranger – RIP My Touchscreen:

Posted on by in Gaming

The first Nintendo game that I ever played, was, like many kids, a Pokémon game. However, I wasn’t playing a ten-year-old child out traveling the world and making creatures fight one another. I was a Ranger, out protecting the people and Pokémon of the world I lived in. For those of you who haven’t heard of the Pokémon Ranger series, first off, you are missing out. This game series is great fun and really puts the focus on getting to know the world around you and helping the people in it.

Instead of training Pokémon, you “capture” them which is essentially a minigame in which you draw circles around the creature in question to calm it down. Once calm, it’ll happily help you with a task before heading back out into the wild, unharmed and happy. Different Pokémon can help you with different tasks such as helping you up cliffs, cutting down trees and powering various electrical switches.

As you start the game, you proceed through the usual menus of picking your name, gender, and appearance, etc. However, the only Pokémon you will have by your side throughout the entire game is either a Minun or a Plusle, aka the cutest little beings ever and if anyone ever hurts them, I’ll destroy the entire universe. After a quick tutorial on how to “capture” Pokémon, your character is made a fully-fledged Ranger and you fly off to the base to receive your first mission. The game’s story is split up into a series of missions that have you traveling around the region helping citizens and rescuing as many Pokémon as you can.

LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE. LOOK AT THEM.

I know this will sound cheesy, but the Ranger series is really all about the power of friendship. It strips back everything you know about the Pokémon franchise, taking away all the TM’s and advanced tactics that seem so common in the main series, leaving you with a single tool at your disposal. Most of your missions involve an injured, panicked or scared Pokemon putting themselves or others in danger. With the help of those around you, you can bring peace and resolve the situation. The more missions you complete, the more missions open to you and the more challenging Pokemon you can tame. The “enemies” in the game are the goofiest possible, the Go-Rock Squad. They are basically a group of evil musicians that wander around angering the Pokemon with their… unique methods.

The Ranger series is a trilogy of games, mostly sticking to the tried and trusted formulae. The stories all follow a Ranger trying to protect the people and Pokemon of their homeland and immerse you in the world. You don’t feel like a passing stranger in the Ranger games, wherever you go people recognize your character like a Ranger and will happily chat with you, even asking you to help with their own problems in later games through side quests. By removing the battling system completely, the game’s focus on its story and character really flourishes and I highly recommend the series, alongside the Mystery Dungeon games which have some twists in there that shocked little Caitlin to their core.

There is an element of “catching them all” for the completionist like myself but instead of having 200 Pokemon in a computer, you have a “Fiore Browser”, which lists acts like the Pokedex from the main series but instead of listing statistics and natures, it tells you how the Pokemon can assist you during captures e.g. slowing down the target, making your capture more effective, etc, and what their “Field Move” is – such as cutting down a tree.

These guys are extra, with a capital E.

In the first game alone, there are 213 different Pokemon to encounter and capture, with enough variety in the process for you not to get bored. You can have a few Pokemon in your party at once and utilize their abilities to help you on your missions, never willingly putting any Pokemon or person in harm’s way, in comparison to the ridiculously violent 10-year olds. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Although you can only have one “partner” Pokemon at a time in the games, you do get a Pichu playing the Ukulele as your partner in the third game so… best game series of all time, everyone goes home and stop trying, you can’t beat perfection.

Anyways, that’s all I really had to say about the Pokemon Ranger games. My good friend (spacelady who made our fantastic logo), reminded me of how much I love this series so here we are. Apologies that it’s shorter than usual, it’s the last week of my placement so everything is a little bit all over the place.

As always, like, comment and follow the site both here and on Twitter – @OurMindGames. I recently got accepted for a press pass to EGX in October so I can’t wait to bring you all amazing content from the convention!

Thanks,

CaitlinRC.

Super Mario Odyssey – Over The Moon For Moons:

Posted on by in Gaming

When we think of video games and their well-known mascots, 99% of people’s minds will go to the infamous plumber, Mario. Whether he’s flying through space or adventuring through Bowser’s internal organs, this moustachioed man can be found everywhere. I didn’t really have much experience with the Mario games personally. My main experience with them was Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS and even then, I mostly used it to play the awesome minigames with my cousins and my sister whenever we were together (just saying, I normally won). Mario games always felt a little bit lacking in the story department and repetitive with its mechanics. So, apart from the Mario & Luigi games which took a leaf out of Mario RPG’s book, and Mario Galaxy (because space is cool), my focus wasn’t on the red plumber.

When I got my Switch, I realised that I could get it cheaper if I got Mario Odyssey as well. So, I decided to go for it, thinking if anything, I’d have a fun time playing it even if I never came back to it. Plus, I was curious what it would be like to possess the minds of living creatures and make them dance to my will like puppets on strings. Plus, each possessed creature gets a version of Mario’s moustache, which is far too funny an opportunity to pass up. So, I booted up the game for the first time and was greeted by Mario’s goofy face, though thankfully in a slightly more appealing way than Super Mario 64 because that loading screen was bloody terrifying.

First things first, Mario Odyssey basically every commendation it receives and if you get the chance, it is a Mario game worth playing. It works as a good entry point into the series and really shows off the capabilities of the console, making use of the motion controls of the Joy-Cons which are a major upgrade from the controls of the Nintendo Wii. It’s charming, with an awesome soundtrack and a series of stunning levels that rewards players for thinking outside the box. Plus, with so many Moons to collect, there’s a strong urge to search every single nook and cranny of each level to ensure you haven’t missed anything. Especially when that level is so stuffed full of collectables that I guarantee it’ll burst if you put anything else in there.

Not sure anyone wanted to see this but… thanks Nintendo?

What a slightly smaller subset of people will have noticed, is the strong parallels between Nintendo’s Mario Odyssey and that of another famous Odyssey – written by Homer, the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two epics follow the story of the Greek hero, Odysseus, through his actions in the Trojan war and his journey home after the war ended, with victory going to the Greek’s, after the infamous Trojan horse incident. However, like any good story, the journey home was not smooth sailing and it took him ten long years to return to his wife and son, who he had left behind on the island of Ithaca. If you’ve never read these two great epics and have even a slight interest in mythology, go read it because you gain a deeper understanding about the word “odyssey” and it’s meaning in modern life.

It’s clear that Nintendo’s creation takes a few pages out of Homer’s writings, with some tweaks of their own. The entire main story of Mario Odyssey has you travelling around the world, chasing after Bowser and Peach, who always seems just one step away from you. Much like Odysseus, you travel from land to land, having to resolve the resident’s various issues and killing the occasional monstrosity as you go. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of your journey; another minor inconvenience occurs like a cyclops, being shot out of the sky by a giant cannon or a furious god of the sea drowning most of your crew members. Both Odysseus and Mario continue their journey, not for fame or glory, but to see their loved ones again, even if it means travelling to the underworld, fighting a giant dragon or disguising themselves as a hunk of meat? (What even Nintendo, what even.)

One thing that I truly love about both Homer’s Odyssey and Nintendo’s game, is that it allows you to envision travelling the world in someone else’s shoes, without ever having to leave your home. A lot of people will be saying, why don’t you go travel the world then if you love it so much? The answer to that, like the answer to many of my issues, is that of mental health. I can’t think of a single mental health condition that wouldn’t hinder you in some way from enjoying your travels. Be it having an anxiety attack in an airport, not having your support network with you when you have a depressive episode, facing your phobias by yourself or not being able to eat because to you and your mind, it is inedible. We don’t think about these things until they are suddenly blocking our path but it’s something every person with a mental health condition or a physical ailment must consider, every time they go outside.

Friendly reminder, Cappy can render you unable to control your body as you are forced to watch it be controlled by a maniac plumber.

A good explanation of this is my thought process when I go to a coffee shop to study. My anxiety demands I take the same, safe route that I have committed to memory. As I walk, I wear my noise-cancelling headphones to block out the overwhelming stimuli around me, be that passing conversation, traffic or just some very angry seagulls. Once I get there, I order, retrieve my coffee and go sit upstairs in a corner, where I can see everyone who is going up or down the stairs. I am, what you would call, naturally paranoid. Tiny changes in the environment, be it a chair moving or a conversation suddenly falling silent, can set off my anxiety. That anxiety leads to self-loathing which leads to depression which leads to flashbacks and nightmares, which sets off my PTS. It’s a cycle of damage that if I don’t take precautions with, could ruin my afternoon or even the rest of the month for me. Now, imagine that level of thought, having to be applied to travelling abroad. It’s a terrifying overload of information, is it not?

Games that incorporate travel and exploration as a big part of their narrative can be a major boon to those of us who might never be able to experience that for ourselves. In Mario’s case, the simplistic nature of the game also makes it more accessible. There’s a two-player mode for those with young children or those who struggle to use the Joy Con’s tiny controllers due to physical ailments  (trust me they can be a nightmare), though the game does punish you slightly for using the two-player mode, since it refuses to let you take part in various minigames, blocking off a lot of the game’s content which is a bummer.

This whole sequence was traumatic if I’m honest.

Anyways, I’ve rambled on long enough about this and if we’re not careful, I’ll be talking about mythology for the next 10,000 articles on this blog. Considering talking about card games or the Drawn To Life series from the Nintendo DS (yes I did just finish both games over the course of a four day weekend, no you should get a life). Let me know any suggestions down below and remember to comment, like and follow the site to keep up to date on all my posts!

Till next week,

CaitlinRC.

The Legend of Zelda, Breath of The Wild – Everything Is A Weapon If You Try Hard Enough:

Posted on by in Gaming

I’ll admit, my experience with the Zelda series has been a tad of a rocky one. My first experience of it was through the rather… interesting gameplay experience of The Phantom Hourglass. Or as young Caitlin remembers it, the utter anarchy that was The Temple of The Ocean King in the days where I didn’t realise, I could look up a walkthrough instead of just smashing my head against my DS for hours on end. To this day I still haven’t finished that game. Though I am a pro at the multiplayer minigame, where you chase your friend around as a series of phantoms (yes, this is how we spent our bus journeys on school trips).

A little while later, I tried Spirit Tracks and was immediately furious because WHY AM I ON A TRAIN NINTENDO THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Thankfully, my next two games were the 3DS remasters of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask so I finally got to experience what everyone was on about when they raved about the Zelda franchise. I was then quite excited when they announced BOTW because it’d be the first Zelda game that I got to experience alongside the rest of the world, rather than having my playthroughs tainted by my friend’s opinions.

So, I saved up money from my job and spare bits from my maintenance loan (#Student Life) to buy a Nintendo Switch with Breath of The Wild. My mum described my face as I turned it on for the first time as a “child in a sweet shop with pocket money to spend”. Anytime I get to experience a new piece of technology that fascinates me, I revert to my five-year-old self. It’s apparently quite funny to watch (according to my family). During our nine-hour car ride up to visit our family in Edinburgh, I sat on my Switch and booted up the game, excited to lose myself in it as the countryside whipped past my window.

I have never been so angry at a train and I’ve been on Southern Rail.

I’m going to talk about a few mechanics that I really enjoyed, as well as the atmosphere and vibe that the game gave me but I’m not going to spoil any of the storyline. Obviously, a few familiar locations crop up as this is Nintendo and they’re the kings of recycling content (*cough* Mario *cough*) but anything you haven’t heard of before won’t be mentioned because there are always a few people who haven’t had the chance to experience it yet because consoles are expensive dammit.

Most people talk about the grand unveiling of the land in the tutorial, where Link steps out and stares out at the expansive wilderness. As beautiful as that is, something that caught my attention throughout the game was the voice acting. For those who don’t know, I do voice acting on the side as a hobby – helping with fan projects and contributing my voice where I can. So, to play an entry in a game series that has never really been touched by the voice acting community (no Link’s screams do not count), where the first thing you hear is a desperate call for you to rise and face your destiny, is phenomenal for someone like me. I can’t help but appreciate the nuance of each of the VA’s performances, the range of emotion and wisdom you can hear, as well as the personal touches each of them brings to the game.

Like voice acting, the soundtrack can make or break your experience of a game. I know I say this a lot but considering it’s all you hear for however long the campaign is, never mind any additional content, it needs to be good. I can confidently say that like many of the entries in the series, the music does not disappoint. From original compositions to twists on fan favourites, this game has a sound for everything. I can’t think of a single point where I deliberately turned off the music because I didn’t want to listen to it. When the endless stream of videos online that show off the music has over a million views a piece, you have done something right (or horribly wrong if you didn’t intend it)

For anyone who is curious, Patricia Summersett voiced Zelda in Breath Of The Wild – She has been behind many voices in gaming and films, including Hope Jensen from AC Rogue!

Every Zelda game has a “signature mechanic” – be that the Temple of The Ocean King, Rewinding Time or Kinstone merging. Breath of The Wild, though drastically different from many instalments in the franchise, does have a signature mechanic in the form of the Sheikah Slate. This magical I-Pad wannabe is one of the only things that DOESN’T BREAK. You can view your map on it, mark key locations, track your various quests and make use of the runes aka let’s kill everything with SCIENCE. One thing I will point out though is why on earth we are dropping what looks like some kind of magical water on this clearly advanced mechanical creation, I know Link can get rice but I doubt Ganon is going to sit and wait whilst you dry it out.

The runes available to you (after the tutorial) and their uses are:

  • Remote Bomb (Round) – When in doubt, blow it up with a bomb. Explosions are your friend, if you aren’t standing right next to it. The round ones can roll downhill and ruin the dinner of the enemies below you.
  • Remote Bomb (Cube) – Also good for blowing things up but doesn’t roll, making them better for when you’re being chased and can drop them behind you. Try not to mix the two of them up, I’ve blown myself off a mountain by accident far more times that I wish to confess.
  • Magnesis – Allows you to pick up and manipulate magnetic objects, mainly used for solving puzzles. Or if you’re my friend, picking up a metal block and using it to whack every enemy in his radius like a magic wrecking ball.
  • Stasis – Using this, you can temporarily stop time of a specific object e.g. that giant boulder that’s about to crush you. Sadly, you can’t slow down time and have Link do his best Neo impersonation, but if you hit a stopped object enough, when time resumes it will fly off and probably ruin some architecture.
  • Cryonis – Channel your inner Katara and bend the water into ice blocks that you can use to cross rivers, act as barriers against jerks throwing projectiles and raise treasure chests out of the water like the all powerful being that Link wishes he could be.

There’s also a camera if you want Link to become Instagram famous. It’d probably be the closest Link would get to talking and communicating with those around him.

Link is probably thinking about lunch. I know I would be.

Breath of The Wild is a vast, open-world experience. Once you’ve completed the tutorial, you can do anything and go anywhere you like – though I don’t recommend it. Want to climb a mountain in your underwear? Go for it. Have an urge to hit Ganon in the face with a mop? Try it. This game is one that rewards you for exploration and trying things, there is no defined way to do anything. If you meet the base objectives, it doesn’t care how you get there. Much like Skyrim, you are thrown into this massive expanse of a world and just left to it. Now that can seem scary to a lot of people because it can get overwhelming but the sense of freedom the game provides you with is a real breath of fresh air for the series, considering the NPC, problem, dungeon, reward cycle can get old very quickly.

If cooking in real life was as simple as cooking in Breath of The Wild, my student diet wouldn’t mostly consist of cereal, pasta and grapes. All you must do, is throw some ingredients into a cooking pot (available at most stables and in various towns/villages) and listen to the happy music until your meal is ready. Obviously, there is some finesse to it, as different combinations of ingredients will have different effects and rarer ingredients/recipes will have a stronger impact but the system for all of them is the same. Just don’t mix monster bits and regular food, keep the normal ingredients for meals and the monster bits for elixirs. Plus, some side quests require you to cook specific meals so it’s a nice respite from the various combat encounters you face on your adventure.

If you’ve never experienced a Legend of Zelda game before or are just unsure about whether you’d enjoy it compared with the other entries in the series, give it a shot if you can. Even after completing the main story, I went back and travelled around the world on my horse, completing side quests, battling monsters and hunting down every shrine in the game because those missing heart containers were taunting me. It’s also a very good entry point for newcomers as there’s no real reliance on prior knowledge. After exposition grandad explains what tragedy befell the world whilst you were in your weird waterbed, whether you unlock the backstory is up to you. If you want to learn the truth and search for hidden lore, it’s there for you. If you want to run around burning everything to the ground like some demented pyromaniac, go for it. Just don’t blame me if you catch alight.

Meet Exposition Grandad/Tutorial Elder/That Creepy Guy Who Keeps Following Me/JUST GIVE ME THE PARAGLIDER

What game would you like me to cover next? Leave your suggestion in the comments! If you enjoy my articles, hit that follow button and go follow my twitter @OurMindGames to keep up to date with my various antics. I often do polls on there to determine future content so don’t miss out on having your say!

Until next week,

CaitlinRC

Professor Layton – This Article Reminds Me of A Puzzle

Posted on by in Gaming

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a massive fan of the Professor Layton games. As a kid, I was always (and still am) a major nerd when it comes to puzzles. Logic puzzles, riddles, you name it. So, when wandering through a game store, looking for something to spend my birthday money on, I spotted Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I read the back, saw the word “puzzles” and was instantly excited – running over to my mum and showing her with a massive grin on my face.

The puzzles, the story, the characters and the music are all a part of what makes this series so impactful to people like me. It reminds me of Agatha Christie, just with a bit less murder and trauma (though Miracle Mask STILL MAKES ME CRY). It was a passion I shared with one of my closest friends, Olivia. We used to sit and watch the cutscenes during lunchtimes, chat about the characters and share inside jokes that others had no clue about. To this day, we still share the occasional meme about it.

To this day I still frequently come back and play through the games again. It’s interesting to see which puzzles I find easier now that I’m older. For example, I’m a lot better at sliding block puzzles nowadays than I was as a kid – I cannot tell you how high the move counter was back when I was eleven, mainly because I think it stopped when you got to 999. I’m still horrific at visualising what a cube should look like when you fold up the given net but that’s why we have walkthroughs.

My brain cannot cope with these types of puzzles

The Layton games take a lesson from the Star Wars films, where the first three games are not canonically the first in the timeline. Once the creators realised the popularity of the games and the loyalty of it’s fanbase, they created the prequel trilogy which delved into the past of the character’s, explaining how Luke and Layton met, what Layton’s past was like and introducing fan favourite Emmy (aka my ninja wife). Each of the six main games are brilliantly written, with emotional interactions and dramatic twists throughout, all pieced together by the brilliant mind of gaming’s favourite gentleman.

Here’s a CaitlinRC synopsis of each of the games, in canonical order:

  1. Spectre’s Call – Introduces Emmy, you get to meet Luke in the days before his time with Layton – features sadness, soul resounding music, rooftop jumping crows, corrupt police, a whole lot of mist, Emmy’s quest for sweets and giant over the top mechanical creations (LOOKING AT YOU DESCOLE)
  • Miracle Mask – A more Layton focused game, we switch between his teen years with his best friend and the present day – with carnival shenanigans, Luke on a feisty donkey, EMOTIONS, the robot revolution, a terrible storybook, the blame game, Indiana Jones but cooler and child endangerment.
  • Azran Legacy – Ties up many of the loose ends in the series, with a world travelling adventure with our favourite envoy of ancient civilisations Aurora who just needs LOVE AND HUGS OK. Probably the most emotional of all the games – with BETRAYAL, the most dramatic egg hunt ever, terrible parenting, A VERY TRAUMATIC FINALE, bridal vanishing acts, Duck Layton and snowmen.
  • Curious Village – Probably the hardest game in terms of puzzles but also very heart warming. You meet Don Paolo aka Oh God Its Him Again and get to spend time with sweetheart Flora, featuring – cat chasing, Tetris Hotel Edition, WHY DOES THIS VILLAGE HAVE A DRAWBRIDGE, angry Ferris wheels, far too many chess puzzles, sewer exploration and Layton having the most dramatic escapes ever.
  • Pandora’s Box – Probably the oddest out of the games, considering some of the twists and turns but still an intriguing story and good moments of suspense, following the myth of Pandora’s Box and trying to uncover what its true nature is. Featuring – angsty vampire grandad, the weirdest train ride ever, disturbing disguises, treasure hunting, THAT HAMSTER, Layton being a badass, a very odd baby and dramatic revelations over tea.
  • Lost Future – Time travelling hijinks, future versions of themselves and a whole lot of emotional upheaval. Thrown into Future London, Layton and Luke try to track down the missing prime minister and scientists, whilst avoiding the eye of “Evil Layton”. Featuring – furious rabbits, far too many stairs, STOP HURTING LAYTON HE DESERVES HAPPINESS GODDAMIT, angry youths, the destruction of London, ridiculous massive robots like what the hell where did you get all the resources for it and crying in a river.
Why are Layton villains always so extra?

There are also three additional games in the Layton universe, that take place separately – Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, Layton Brothers Mystery Room and Layton’s Mystery Journey. There is also a feature film based around Layton which is genuinely good (surprising I know) called Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva. Layton vs Phoenix follows an intriguing story with courtroom segments and puzzle segments whilst Mystery Room is a series of condensed cases in a more “investigative style” following Layton’s son Alfendi and his … strange alter ego. Meanwhile, Mystery Journey follows Layton’s daughter Katrielle, who is searching for her father through establishing a detective agency and solving cases.

Although the games have not yet been ported from the DS/3DS consoles, a few of them are available on mobile – which you should give a shot if you haven’t experienced the series before. Mystery Room is a good starting point, it gives off a Sherlock Holmes vibe whilst staying true to the Layton narrative. Plus, the first few cases are free so if you don’t like it, then your bank account doesn’t need to worry!

A well-designed game series is one you can come back to and enjoy it more each time you play it. I’ve played through all the games more times that I can count but manage to discover something new every single time. Whether its character dialogue providing subtle hints to future events or quiet references to past games, it is clear how much love and care the developers put into these games. Every puzzle, every spoken line, every chord of the music, it is all given the attention it deserves to make these games shine. (Though Layton’s appearance in PL vs PW is a tad unsettling)

Note to self: Don’t stand between Layton and the truth.

I can’t exactly explain why, but the Layton games have always brought a sense of calm and peace to me, even when my anxiety is running rampant. I often listen to the soundtracks to cope with my panic attacks, focusing on the music and the memories it evokes in order to slow my heartbeat and breathing back to a normal pace. I’ve built up an association between the series and my happy memories, to the point where I know even talking about the games can put a smile on my face.

We should aspire for our lives to have a positive impact. Be it through spreading a message, raising awareness or just bringing joy to people, if your work can make the world around you a better place then you have lived life to the fullest. Humans are inherently social and cooperative creatures, forming unbreakable bonds with friends and family members, sharing experiences be they good or bad. For me, the Layton games have been that source of light. It’s something I can share with my friend. It’s given me so many good memories and provided me with a coping mechanism for the anxiety I’ve fought all my life.

I could ramble on for hours about these games, but I think you should experience them for yourselves. Try any of them and let me know what you think of them, as well as any games you would like me to talk about in a future article! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch the cutscenes from Miracle Mask and cry like the grown adult I am.

If you play any of the Layton games, play this one.

Be sure to like, comment and follow the site for updates on all future content 😊

See you soon,

CaitlinRC (@OurMindGames)