Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

27.11.2008
Critic 92/100
Users 84/100
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.
As Layton and Luke are invited to witness a demonstration of a time machine built by Dr. Alain Stahngun, the experiment goes awry, causing the disappearance of Stahngun and the prime minister, Bill Hawks. A week later, as numerous scientists have been reported missing, Layton and Luke receive a letter purporting to be from Luke ten years in the future, leading the two to a quaint clock shop in the London back alleys. Inside, the old couple show the two another time machine in the guise of a giant clock, and they find themselves in a drastically-changed quasi-steam punk London ten years from their present, where they meet the Future Luke. He explains that in this future, Layton has become the head of a mafia-like mob known as the Family and taken control of London, and decides to assist him. After briefly returning to the past to look up some files pertaining to an accident which claimed the life of his girlfriend, Claire, ten years ago, Layton and Luke return to the future London, inadvertently bringing Flora, Inspector Chelmey and his assistant Barton with him. As the group investigates the whereabouts of Future Layton, Luke is reminded that he will soon be moving with his parents.

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Part of collection:
Professor Layton (last 3 games)

10.12.2026

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam depicts the world one year after the events of "Professor Layton and the Unwound Future". Due to a mysterious incident in Steam Bison, a new adventure for Layton and Luke begins!

13.07.2020

After solving a multitude of curious conundrums, renowned archeologist Professor Layton receives a rather peculiar letter. The sender of this letter is none other than his assistant Luke...but from 10 years in the future! "Future Luke" has found himself in quite a predicament. The London he knows and loves has been thrown into absolute chaos. Initially thinking that Luke may have simply been pulling his leg with a harmless jest, the professor cannot help but recall the terrible events that occurred the previous week... The start of which was an unveiling ceremony of mankind's first time machine, attended by many prominent figures from throughout the nation. During a demonstration, the time machine went out of control and engulfed the audience in a terrible explosion. Several of the attendees mysteriously vanished into thin air, including Prime Minister Bill Hawks. Unable to shake the feeling that the time machine's explosion may somehow be connected, Professor Layton and Luke set off to the location mentioned in the letter, a clock shop on Midland Road in Baldwin, embarking on what might be the biggest mystery they have ever encountered.

08.11.2019

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy revamped as Deluxe Edition with multiple improved features! The game centers on Katrielle Layton, the daughter of famous archaeologist and puzzle-solver Professor Hershel Layton. With the help of her assistant Ernest Greeves, she solves cases in and around London, alongside a talking dog that, for reasons unknown, only the two of them can understand.

Part of franchise:
Professor Layton (last 3 games)

10.12.2026

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam depicts the world one year after the events of "Professor Layton and the Unwound Future". Due to a mysterious incident in Steam Bison, a new adventure for Layton and Luke begins!

08.11.2019

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy revamped as Deluxe Edition with multiple improved features! The game centers on Katrielle Layton, the daughter of famous archaeologist and puzzle-solver Professor Hershel Layton. With the help of her assistant Ernest Greeves, she solves cases in and around London, alongside a talking dog that, for reasons unknown, only the two of them can understand.

20.07.2017

Join Katrielle Layton, our new hero, as she becomes embroiled in a casual, quizzical quest, which has its roots in our hero’s search for her missing father, Professor Hershel Layton. You'll be whisked around London's famous landmarks, from the Houses of Parliament to Tower Bridge, following Kat, solving case after unlikely case, until she unwittingly uncovers the Millionaires' Conspiracy. The story begins with Katrielle setting up the Layton Detective Agency, determined to prove her worth and hoping the exposure will uncover clues about the missing professor's whereabouts. Help Kat discover clues, solve mysteries and original puzzles! Fashion-conscious players can also redecorate the agency and dress Katrielle in various outfits to suit the case at hand. With the most puzzles ever included in a Layton game, a colorful new cast, and an intriguing storyline that includes seven millionaires and one whopper of a conspiracy, will she ever be able to find her missing father?

Could be interesting

15.02.2007

In the curious village of St. Mystere, townsfolk speak to each other in riddles, lock their doors with sliding puzzles and hide their secrets within brainteasers. When a wealthy baron passes away, his will reveals an elusive treasure hidden someplace inside the village. Now it's up to Professor Layton to untangle St. Mystere's riddles and puzzles, find the hidden treasure, and crack the case.

29.11.2007

Professor Layton may be a world-famous sleuth, but even he will need your assistance to crack these challenging puzzles. With Nintendo DS stylus in hand, it's time to muster up some mental might!

16.02.2012

The second game in the Zero Escape series. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is a mystery/thriller visual novel. It is story focused with multiple endings that use player choices and puzzle rooms to progress. Additions to the game include an 'auto-advance text' mode, so players can listen to the voice acting without clicking through dialog, a memo function that allows players to note anything they feel is useful, and a flow chart that shows how alternate choices unfold. The in-game calculator has been removed.

26.11.2009

Last Specter is the fourth game in the Professor Layton series, and is a prequel that takes place three years before the first trilogy, detailing how Professor Layton met his apprentice, Luke Triton. The game includes over 170 puzzles. Professor Layton and the Last Specter also includes an additional role-playing game entitled Professor Layton's London Life, available from the start of the game. London Life, in which players interact with various characters from the series in a town called "Little London", was advertised to contain over 100 hours of content. London Life was removed from the European versions of the game in order to prevent a significant delay of the game's release for translation.

22.01.2007

Take control of an interactive mystery novel and discover the secrets of Hotel Dusk. Who is Kyle Hyde- and what really happened in Room 215? Take stylus in hand and navigate a tangled web of lies, betrayal, and murder to learn the answers.

14.01.2010

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West is an adventure video game developed by the now-defunct Cing and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the sequel to Hotel Dusk: Room 215, starring protagonist Kyle Hyde and placed one year after the events of its predecessor. The game has visual and audio styles similar to that of the first game. In Last Window, Kyle Hyde is living in the Cape West Apartments, Los Angeles, in 1980. The story of this sequel is separate from the first game, even though it includes some connections to it. Last Window was the last game developed by Cing before the company filed for bankruptcy on March 1, 2010.

12.01.2017

Welcome to a new world of Danganronpa, and prepare yourself for the biggest, most exhilarating episode yet. Set in a “psycho-cool” environment, a new cast of 16 characters find themselves kidnapped and imprisoned in a school. Inside, some will kill, some will die, and some will be punished. Reimagine what you thought high-stakes, fast-paced investigation was as you investigate twisted murder cases and condemn your new friends to death.

12.11.2010

Players control both Dr. David Styles and Samantha Everett in their bid to uncover the secrets and find out the truth. Gray Matter tackles questions concerning the nature of reality and the power of the human mind in constructing the world we take for granted.

28.04.1998

A psychological horror point-and-click adventure game in which a man wakes up in a near-deserted sanitarium after a car crash without any recollection of who he is or how he got there.

25.06.1993

Day of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion. The game's plot follows Bernard Bernoulli and his friends Hoagie and Laverne as they attempt to stop the evil Purple Tentacle — a sentient, disembodied tentacle — from taking over the world. The player takes control of the three and solves puzzles while using time travel to explore different periods of history. Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer co-led the game's development, their first time in such a role. The pair carried over a limited amount of elements from Maniac Mansion and forwent the character selection aspect to simplify development. Inspirations included Chuck Jones cartoons and the history of the United States. Day of the Tentacle is the eighth LucasArts title to use the SCUMM engine, and the company's first title to feature voice acting. The game was released simultaneously on floppy disk and CD-ROM to critical acclaim and commercial success. Critics focused on its cartoon-style visuals and comedic elements. Day of the Tentacle has featured regularly in lists of "top" games published more than two decades after its release, and aspects have been referenced in popular culture.