Virtue's Last Reward (2012)

Virtue's Last Reward (2012) is the second installation in Spike Chunsoft's Zero Escape mystery and adventure visual novel game series. Much like its predecessor, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, the game deals with pseudo-science and puzzles as its core elements. In this game the main character has to play a killing / survival game named the [Nonary Game] along with eight other characters. The player has to go through different 'paths' of the same limited story by going back to earlier parts of the story where the player made a choice, and going through each of the choices until they all reach to one conclusion; the constant bad or alternative endings change how the rest of the game plays out. VLR is also about twice as long as 999, and being a VN, it's of course heavily text-based.

Zero Escape Trilogy

PART 1 (999) | PART 2 (VLR) | PART 3 (ZTD)

The Story

December 25, 2028. A 20-something year-old man named Sigma, the main character of the story, can be seen sitting in his car until sleeping gas fills it up. The last thing Sigma sees is a figure with a gas mask and a raincoat standing on the streets, just like what the victims in the first Zero Escape series saw. Later on, Sigma wakes up in what seems to be a worn-down elevator. Along with him, there's a woman named Phi whom he'd never met before, neither has she met him, however, the woman knows without a question what Sigma's name is. Both Sigma and Phi have bracelets on their wrists that they can't seem to get off no matter how hard they try.
Not long after, a screen that's above the elevator buttons starts to work and a rabbit appears on it claiming to be Zero the Third / Zero III. "The king of this kingdom," telling the two of them that he, Zero, is going to give them a game to play known as the [Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition]. The elevator that the two of them are on is going to fall soon, Zero claims, and disappears. In order to escape, they have to solve how to escape from the deadly room.

Sigma and Phi meet up with a group of other people. They all have wristwatches / bracelets on them that showcase numbers; all of them showing the number three and a word below them. The color of the "3" is different for each individual or a group, however. And yes, there are colors of three based on whether they are 'solo,' meaning alone, or as a 'pair' in the [Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition].

Zero III, the rabbit on a screen, appears in front of the group and identifies itself as an AI (Artificial Intelligence) being ran by a quantum computer, also, the one who created it, the real Zero, is apparently one of the nine in the group right now, faking to be a participant.
The rabbit tells the group that there are rules in order to escape [Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition] you have to go past the door with number [9] on it, which happens to be right in front of everyone in the room at the beginning of the game. However, obviously it's not going to be that easy. The "3" 's that are on everyone's wristwatch are known as Bracelet Points (BP's), and in order to go past the door with the number nine on it, the participants are required to get 9 or more BP's.
The way to get BP's is to go inside [Ambidex Rooms] that are the 'elevators' that they came from, however they are now locked. In order to get through ambidex rooms, the group has to split and go through three different colored doors. The 'Chromatic Doors' (CD)'s / Secondary Doors in order to find the way to enter the [Ambidex Rooms]. The doors open by themselves after a certain amount of time, and if the characters push the buttons on their bracelets, they can see the time that's remaining until the CD's open.
The doors can be entered by a limit of about three different people. By combining their wristwatch's colors, they can get a color that matches the door's. If they do that, they can enter the Secondary/Chromatic Doors. For example, red + blue = magenta.

Ambidex Edition of the [Nonary Game] requires people or a pair that have gone through the Chromatic Doors to battle against each other by choosing whether or not the other person that they went through CD's with can be considered an Ally, or someone to be Betrayed. This decision will either raise your BP or lower it, and do the opposite of what happened to you, to the other person/duo.

If one breaks the rules of the game or doesn't want to play the [Nonary Game], they will be penalized with death that is caused by deadly needles that come from the wristwatches. Break the rules and you get put to sleep by a drug named Soporil from the needles of the wristwatches, and nine minutes later the deadly poison gets injected.

Thoughts

Virtue's Last Reward is definitely filled with a lot of good but a lot of bad as well. The writing of the game felt proper enough, most of it was competent and there was definitely far less plot holes that I could notice (can't say I noticed any, only some discrepancies between actions of characters in some paths, but those can be explained easily) in comparison to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. The game was filled with more substance as well than its predecessor as the puzzle parts of the game where you have to find your way out of the chromatic doors are filled with more than just puzzles; there's information about the world and characters as well as the survivor game the characters were in.

The cast of characters of VLR are not that much better than in 999. While that previous game was kind of stopped by the infodump moments about seemingly random worldbuilding elements that appear in that game, VLR is stopped by each of the character explaining their purpose and motivations for doing what they do, I guess. It gets really annoying at times when you try to go through the game and have to get to feel each of the character the same way instead of see them act different ways. I thought that we'd get to see different sides to the characters but instead I got nothing special. The amnesia plot once again had a twist behind it but I was not that surprised by it to be honest.

The terrorist organisation that plays a heavy part in VLR's story is massively disappointing; as I played I made theories about Brother, the leader of that assumedly villainous organisation, but as the game reached towards its ending, I quickly realized: That plotline never ends in this game. The fact that they repeated the plot with a terrorist in the group of the game's cast led me to believe that the organization would play a bigger role, but instead the game just repeated the same plot countless times for no real reason.
And that's not all, characters such as Sigma, what really went down with the old lady in the past, or even the little boy Quark... All of them seem kind of... Oddly handled and empty. They tried to throw some reasons for why the characters were chosen to be part of the [Nonary Game] but it was never showed why exactly they were as necessary as they were made out to be. It's just all talk but no walk, felt almost like excuses from the authors, felt as if they didn't really manage to make up any relevant reasons behind their existence.

From the very beginning of the story, the plot deals with a certain old woman without a bracelet. No one knows who he is, but she's found dead in one of the AB rooms that two characters came from. She was murdered after being stabbed by an unknown assailant that hides in the group along with Zero, their kidnapper, and the woman's death is the only one that cannot be changed throughout the game, so it's the core idea that kicks everything off. In the end I was not too happy or surprised by all the things that revealed what the deal with the old lady was, but some parts did make me raise my eyebrows.

However, aside from the old lady, the game barely, once again, has enough tension going on. The mystery and adventure aspects of the game were not gripping in the slightest due to the game repeating far too much. Seriously. This is the part that I want to talk about the most. The game annoyed me damn too much for its repetitive nature. I thought 999 had it at a decline from some parts almost being a repetition, but VLR is definitely in the high negatives from it. The authors could have come up with a lot more to excuse the game being two times longer than 999, but instead the paths you choose are all just incredibly similar to each other, some revealing bigger things you'd not expect to see until the end, but nothing enough to make the journey itself feel worthwhile. It is an adventure game as well after all, and the adventure was disappointing as all hell. I don't dislike episodic content or call those 'repetitive,' I dislike authors copying and pasting content and try to pass it as new content or important content due to some timeline nonsense. Rather than trying to be clever, try to make the whole thing more enjoyable.

It's not hard to get to the truth of the story because of how the limited amount of focused deaths happen in the game, because the game, once again, is too short in its timeline (despite being a lengthy game, the story doesn't advance very far). 999 I believe was more surprising to me personally at the end, although not that much more. 999 was also forced to be 9 hours, however VLR did not have such a limitation; you can imagine my surprise when I had to play through the same exact monotonous and annoying paths constantly that end at the white door parts in order to get all of the endings. Sigh... I just want to say that the game could have stretched beyond those rather than stop at them. The fact that the player gets to the final door right in the beginning of the game made me hope that the door gets further and further away from them; that did not happen. Characters go through the game constantly throughout all of the numerous different endings of the [Nonary Game] and rarely any of them are entertaining enough to warrant all those different endings (though that's an important part of the plotline itself to have numerous paths to go through...).

Lastly, the change of colors as well as the solos/pairs of the participants' bracelets gives a nice change to the game from the absolute numbers that won't change that were in the first game, but they also make the game feel a bit too... limitless, I'd say. Rules and limitations exist in this game that are still very similar to the first game, but these kind of give too much freedom to the writers to make up stuff along the way. Zero III even says that the assignments are all random without rules at the beginning of the game, which is not cool for the player. But the fact that the Chromatic Doors (CD's) work similarly to the first [Nonary Game] but instead of number combinations, the characters have to utilize color combinations, is pretty neat.

To wrap it all up, while the game had a lot of good writing in it, it never really managed to go past 999 for me aside from not being as filled with plot holes. The artful aesthetics are completely gone in this game in comparison to 999. The characters felt blander. The long length of VLR did not do any favours to it either; it's hella monotonous. The ridiculous amounts of repetitive content and dragged out feel that the game oozes really killed my interest in it, and most of the mysteries were repeated far too many times. I also felt that the character plotlines may have been far more open-ended in reality than what the writers intended, which, if true, would be terrible because the game felt like it took an eternity to finish. I think I disliked this more than the previous game. Sad.

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

"We even saw a whole new side to Luke and the professor. Truly, Raymond, it's a pity you weren't there to witness it."
- Desmond Sycamore [Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy]

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (2013) by Level-5 promises the series' fans a grand finale to end the journey of Hershel Layton with. Azran Legacy is the final game of the second trilogy of this popular puzzle-mystery and adventure point-and-click game series. Katrielle Layton is of course now a thing but this game basically wraps the series up in more ways than one, even the theme songs for this game can bring some nostalgia to the player, such as when visiting London and hearing the London theme once more.

Up until this point, the told legends of the great Azran civilization which existed a million years ago have been spread throughout the Professor Layton series, specifically through the archaeological findings our professor makes at the end of the Last Specter, the Miracle Mask and even the Eternal Diva, which is a Layton movie that I should make a post about some day. All of the great findings Professor Hershel Layton, his side-kick Luke Triton and his assistant Emmy Altava have made have been created by the legendary Azran, so the civilization's existence holds a very important part in the Layton universe, so much so that even the addition of an archaeologist who never appears in the story, Donald Rutledge, and his 'Ancient Histories' books which explain Rutledge's findings of the Azran in the game series, are an impressive addition to fleshing out the world of Professor Layton, as it shows that there're other impressive people who have accomplished much when it comes to being an archaeologist. 'Ancient Histories' depicts the ancient story of Azran more than anything else in the world according to our main character.
Now, since Azran Legacy is by far the longest game in the series, in more ways than one, so I have to consider writing this blog post in a more fitting way as well by splitting parts of this review up. Talking about fleshing the world out, the newspaper-related sidequests in this game give a nice sense of time progression and worldbuilding to the series as well. The sidequests really fit the theme of building a lively world that this game was going for.

As the name says, the game reveals the story of the Azran, and it's actually unlike any other Layton game ever created. The story kicks into high gear right off the bat as the antagonist organisation Targent makes their move toward getting their hands on the Azran's secrets, and the emissary of Azran is found. Targent take control of every piece of Azran area that have been found by Layton in the last two games and even the Layton movie 'the Eternal Diva.' The game from the very beginning to the very end feels like an ending chapter of the other Layton games; it's packed with content and action, which is the game's greatest strength and also its greatest weakness, as the pacing can be at times far too quick for its own good - especially at the end, as the game does not wrap up the best way it could when you consider how much potential there is for it to reach even further heights.

Azran Legacy thrives on its constant use of worldbuilding.

 Layton, Luke and Emmy meet up with many other archaeologists in this game, the curly-haired professor Desmond Sycamore being one of them. Desmond ends up becoming a main cast character in this game surprisingly as he helps Layton and co. travel around the world with his airship and trusty butler Raymond. Some of Desmond's back-and-forth with Layton that deal with different archaeological matters is nice to watch at times, as despite Layton being an archaeologist, he's never really had what you could call a 'rival' - although Desmond is no rival either, he's closest to it that Layton's had in his working career. Sycamore, Layton, Luke, Emmy and a new character named Aurora - a million-year-old girl from the Azran era, are the main characters of this story which takes the cast around the world in search for the five Azran eggs, or otherwise known as Aurora stones, which help Aurora to remember her past during Azran era. Once the five Aura stones have been collected together, the legends say the possesser of those stones can use them as a key to unlock what they call the Azran Legacy, a legendary thing that could bloom the humanity enter into a new era that has not been seen since the age of the Azran.

And as I mentioned earlier, the game's antagonist is a group familiar from the previous game called Targent, a somewhat violent and extremely powerful military organization run by an archaeologist known as Bronev. Targent are after Aurora and the Azran eggs as Layton and co. travel the world from a desert area to the icy Froenborg to the jungle where an unmapped village lie, and so on. 

The Azran Legacy had the ingredients to be like an early 2000's Disney film, as the vibe I got from the story of Azran was very similar to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, so it was building up to be an enjoyable story with neat presentation and ok characters, but man, the creators took these elements and created something special that was consistent and packed with great writing from the beginning to the end.
While Miracle Mask had the flashback part, where it split the story between Layton's past and present, be a new and fresh addition to the franchise that was completely different from the earlier games but still the rest of the game was pretty on and off, the Azran Legacy on the other hand is completely different from any other Layton game in its story structure.

Layton and Sycamore debating about ancient texts.

One of the best things about this game is that you have to constantly pay attention to the dialogue, there is rarely any fluff in the dialogue compared to the other Layton games. If you press the button  two times at a quick succession, you might have missed important plot points already. The amount of characters that the game deals with also has a part to play with that as the main cast in this game consists of five characters aside from the usual three, and each of the characters reveal something new about their backstory or play a heavy part in this game's storyline, especially Layton himself as this game's characters have heavy ties to him, that at the end reveal some pretty heavy plot twists about Layton. That ending part with the multiple revelations should have been dragged out three times longer, as it lacked feeling that was in, say, The Unwound Future. That isn't to say that this game does not offer powerful emotions, it certainly does, there's just a lot to go on as the pacing of the game is so fast when you count the amount of ideas it tackles.  

So - Azran Legacy's story is the direct build-up from the previous games of the trilogy and the movie. The game is more 'grand' in scale than any other Layton project so far as well. The archeological finds of Professor Hershel Layton's; the "Golden Garden" of the Last Specter, the "City of Harmony" of the Eternal Diva and finally the "Infinite Vault" of the Miracle Mask, are at the beginning of this game revealed to all belong to the Azran civilization from over a million years ago.

All in all, the Azran Legacy is closest to a 'great' Layton game that there has been. I personally like the Unwound Future the most, but when it comes to a well-written story and characters, this one is the best due to how well it can handle them all at the same time. If only the game`s pacing was not as quick, it could have been my favourite Layton game. The characters are written really well in Azran Legacy. Layton's intelligence doesn't shine as amazingly as in the past three games, but he's still getting some time to shine such as in chapter three.
The player gets to know Aurora and professor Sycamore alot in this game as they travel with Layton, Luke and Emmy. Layton and Luke get to meet their parents in this game again as they appear here and there, which is neat.
The story of the game plays out much different from any other Layton game. It's action packed, both character and story driven more than the earlier games as well. Aurora is an interesting element in the series from the standpoint that she's almost like a fantasy creature, an element of ultimate archeological find in a Layton game, a series where these huge things are usually revealed at the end of the story. Azran Legacy is a story that was built up from the huge events of the earlier story, and that makes it also feel much more grand, and make no mistake, the story really is "grand." Its scale is world-wide as Layton and co. get to adventure with Aurora, an Azran citizen from million years ago, as they go against Targent.

The soundtrack of the game is great however there are simply not enough tracks for how grand the game is. 


The Prologue

Icy town of Froenborg

The game starts with Luke reading a letter where it reads that a certain person claims to have found a real "living mummy." Professor Hershel Layton along with his assistants Emmy Altava and Luke Triton board a luxurious air balloon-ship known as Bostonius.

Raymond, the butler of a man named professor Desmond Sycamore, an archaeologist himself much like our main character, arrives inside to check professor Layton's identity for sure - with a puzzle, of course, before they leave off. The puzzle is simple: "find out the destination of where they're headed." Layton cracks it no problem and they head towards the snowy town of Froenborg through the air.

Emmy narrates that it would be a grand journey that would take them all across the world as well as the last adventure she would share with professor Layton.

Chapter 1: Frozen in Time

The group heads towards professor Sycamore to confirm the find of the living mummy. A girl named Prima tells them that suspicious looking soldiers have been gathering around the town of Froenborg recently. The suspicious men can be seen talking about "capturing the target." Prof. Sycamore is said to be investigating a cave north of Froenborg so the group decides to go get him from there before the shady characters get there. As the fate has it, the cave entrance is blocked by an unbreakable ice wall and the group has to figure out a way in.
Inside the cave Sycamore can be seen and the living mummy is inside there as well. Both Layton and Sycamore claim that this would be the greatest archeological find ever: A young girl inside an ice possibly older than a million years old sleeping inside some sort of cryogenic sleep; she's somehow alive...! As the ice is broken and the girl wakes up from her slumber, a man and a group of armed people arrive to take her. Layton and co. go on the aircraft and start a fast paced battle through the skies that lasts quite a while. It's unlike anything seen in professor Layton games so far. As you manage to catch up to the enemy ship containing the mystery girl, Layton and Luke decide to board it. As they get to the girl once more - the big boss appears. His name is Leon Bronev, an archaeologist. The chapter ends as Layton, Luke and the mystery girl jump out of the ship on a rope and fly to the ground at rather high impact, the girl drops from Layton's hands a little before they do.

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Girl

Fighting against Targent while flying in the air by Bostonius.

Professor Sycamore and Emmy land on their flying ship and arrive to where Luke and Layton landed. Sycamore explains that the forest is called Lake Kodh, named Siren Lake by the locals due to it supposedly holding malevolent spirits.
Town of Kodh. Professor Sycamore believes that the mysterious girl led the group to the town in order to lead them towards an Azran relic that she is looking for. The town is known for its heavy number of accidents - aircraft malfunctions, which could be caused by the Azran relic hidden somewhere in the town.
As the soldiers arrive at the town and Layton's group spy on them in secret, professor Sycamore explains that the soldier men of the villains belong to a group named Targent, bent on unlocking the power of Azran, so they have to find the girl before Targent does. A local fisherman claims that a girl is walking on water and with a puzzle you can get to her in the same way by walking across ice cubes. In the middle of the lake the girl opens up a waterfall in the middle of the lake and it shows the ruins of Azran.

The girl calls herself Aurora, an emissary of the Azran. Her mission is to pass on the Azran Legacy to 'pure people,' but after saying that her demeanor changes and she can't remember anything about what she had said. After solving a puzzle in the Azran Chamber, Layton and Sycamore decide that they are to find the five keys that exist around the world - Aurora calls them the Aura Stones capable of storing the power of Azran. After getting to the ship sneakily with Aurora, as professor Sycamore had fixed the engine of the aircraft by then, the group head onwards to try and get the Azran keys/Aura Stones. Time to continue the journey around the world - starting with London, the place where Hershel now lives and works at the university of Gressenheller.

Chapter 3: A Day Out in London 

A few days later. In the HQ of Scotland Yard's (the famous police force of London) archives. We see inspector Grosky (from the earlier two games) talk with Carmichael, his superior, about Targent. We learn that they are a paramilityary organization that is active in all parts of the world, with moles everywhere from politicians to the police force. Even though their criminal activities are open to the police, their motives are not. To catch Targent, Chief Carmichael asks inspector Grosky to unearth the mole of Targent inside Scotland Yard.
As Grosky does his thing in S.Y., we head onto Layton's residence. Emmy, Layton and professor Sycamore talk about five places around the world where they can find the Azran stones as Luke and Aurora talk about shopping places around London, for necessary items such as tea will be required on the adventure when the group tries to get their hands on the Azran stones.

Outside, Layton and Emmy spot Dean Delmona, Layton's boss, as well as inspector Grosky who is hurrying around, apparently on a case. As Grosky can't solve many cases without Layton's help, Emmy pushes Layton to go and help the inspector.

One cool part in this chapter is that we can meet Brenda Triton, Luke's mother, in London as well. After solving a puzzle from her, Luke notices that Aurora has disappeared, gone towards the museum.

At the museum, inspector Grosky runs at Layton, but instead of trying to ask for help, he just runs away. This act of top-secret confidentiality makes Layton question the situation. Aurora can be easily found as well near the museum. Aurora wants to go in the building, but there's a "special closure." The guarding policeman tells Layton and Aurora that there has been a robbery as the police investigation is going on.

As the group can't enter the museum at this point in time, Emmy decides that it would be better to go to a fashion shop and get Aurora new clothes as people keep pointing out her 'rags,' so she stands out a bit.

After getting Aurora normal school girl's clothes (no skirt though), the group decides that it would be time to go back to Bostonius where professor Sycamore is waiting, though after Layton sees Grosky, they decide to go after him.

Grosky is in a sticky situation as the antagonist criminal organization Targent had sent hitmen after his life. Emmy saves Grosky from getting his head shot by one of the hitmen, but even after that, the inspector is not willing to share the information about his top-secret case.

London Aerodome is where the flying ship Bostonius is located at. Layton and co. go to Sycamore and explain Grosky's situation to him. This adds a neat sidestory to the plot, where you can't just linearly go to get the Azran stones.
Sycamore tells Layton that uniformed men, likely Targent's, have been showing up around all Azran sites around the world, and Layton tells him that the police are after Targent. It's an information swapping moment.

Wild wild west town in the desert

Grosky again, while outside, runs away. But there is also a new character, Amelie, Grosky's sister who is going on a honeymoon trip around the world with her husband. And by the way, her husband happens to be inspector Chelmey from the first games..! In Scotland Yard, Layton meets up with Detective Bloom, a higher ranking officer who tells Layton that the office of Scotland Yard is in a bad shape. Layton gets a permission to enter the archives from Bloom.

Because Targent is after Azran artifacts, Layton asks Luke and Emmy to find clues about any thefts of that nature in the archives.

The museum appears to have been attacked by thieves five times in the past year. Professor Sycamore asks the group to just go and see what's up in the museum themselves. At the closed-up museum, Clark Triton can be seen. Luke's father tells Layton and Luke that he's investigating certain things so he has authority to let them also go in the museum. Clark is investigating the stolen-but-now-found ancient remains of a stone tablet. Layton confirms that nearly all the pieces of the ancient remains are fake.

At this point there's an active puzzle, known from the past two games as well. This time it's very different feeling though as it has three archaeologists talking about the archaeological thefts, the culprits, and the mole of Scotland Yard. Layton, Clark and Sycamore come to a certain conclusion that the person who was capable of retrieving the stolen artefacts must be a high-ranking office.

At the Scotland Yard's HQ, the person who could steal the artefact, the person who had the authority to manipulate the police work... That person could obviously only be inspector Bloom. Layton and Bloom get into a short but impressive battle of wots that Layton easily wins by cornering Bloom to 'not do a certain type of reaction' to what Layton asks of Bloom.

It's been a very long and diverse chapter up to the end. Now that the 'Scotland Yard mole case' is over, Layton and co. can finally start their "lenghty and tiring journey" around the world. But before that journey, Lucille and Roland, Layton's parents whom we met in the last game (Miracle Mask), appear to say bye to him. Moments like that are very neat in stories where we flesh out the cast. Professor Sycamore tells that he had called Layton's parents; actually he knows of them and owes a debt to them.

Chapter 4: The Hunt for the Eggs

~This chapter is extremely long in the game due to how much you can adventure around the world.

The Jungle

The adventure on the Bostonius begins with choices. The player can choose where to go in the World. There are eight whole places from the icy Froenborg and London all the way to a Jungle or a Desert.

In this chapter you can deal with the problems in all of the places around the world. Some of the side quests have to do with a newspaper's mentions of odd sightings and events that are going on around the world, and Layton's squad can go to see what's up.

The Jungle arc begins here. In the jungle there's a village named Phong Gi, made up of mushroom shaped buildings, the population also has mushroom shaped hair. The area around is something you expect to see in a Tarzan movie with a hollow tree forming a bridge and so on, it's just beautiful. The village has a festival contest where they try to make the village chief laugh, but with bad success rate. The chief happens to be carrying one of the Azran eggs as well. I just love how exotic everything is in this 'arc.'
As Layton with a duck face, Luke with a red reindeer's nose and Desmond Sycamore with a bland joke could not make the chief of the village, Morel, crack a smile, the group decides to go get intel from the village on what could help them make a man laugh. Button, the Chief's granddaughter gives some intel and the squad head over to the forest, then the Chief's apartment to ask his wife Lepidella why the chief has gone from being a laughter into never smiling. As Layton figures out from Lepidella's words what the root problem is, they still need to figure out how to deal with the Chief, so Layton needs certain things, such as glue from a snail or a crystal from a cave behind a waterfall, to build an item. Glasses for the chief, that is.
The Jungle arc ends up with Aurora telling that the Azran themselves created an Oasis in a desert, the Oasis being the jungle. Layton confirms how impressive it is that the Azran could affect life itself.

The Island arc, otherwise known as a tropical sun-kissed island, starts off with Sycamore, Layton, Aurora, Luke and Emmy arriving at the island with a beautiful beach.

This takes place in London actually

After learning that there is an aura stone somewhere in the town that's on the island, the group decides to check the place out, only to find... Thousands upon thousands of egg-like things. These are named popoños, and they're a tourist attraction on the island that are hot on the sale. The town with gondola's is known as San Grio. It has a river floating through it.
Layton's squad learns that the one true popoño, meaning the Azran egg, gets passed around the people in the town of San Grio. No one just knows where it is or who got it, there's a harmony code-type of thing that Layton has to learn in order to understand who got the egg. Girls pass the egg to boys, and so on. After tracking the egg down for a while, as it had gone from one person to another, the group heads to the marketplace and an active puzzle starts where you have to figure out how the egg gets passed on, the patterns between who passes the egg onto what kind of person has to be figured out.
After figuring out the true owner of the popoño, the player can truly understand what the person named Bud meant when he talked about circle of harmony.
And that concludes the Island arc.

After the Azran stone is found, we learn that Sycamore's assistant Raymond seems to be keeping a close eye on them and Aurora gains new memories which she had lost.

The Desert arc brings Layton and co. into the red desert. As Aurora only senses a faint presence of the Azran egg, Layton explains that they have a long journey ahead of them and that they should go to the nearby Torrido town to gain intel on Azran ruins that might exist nearby.

Contrary to the places before, the wild wild west-styled Torrido town is hostile towards outsiders, however they also have a bigger problem; a massive 'mighty wolf' called Old Red tends to attack the town every now and then and keep the citizen panicking. The wolf started coming down to Torrido about three weeks prior and it happens to be carrying an egg with it.
The sheriff of the town gives the squad a fair warning but they won't back down, so the group decides to head to an old abaned mine nearby which is the den of Old Red. As they find the beast, Luke tries to talk to it. Old Red tells Luke that because he doesn't have much longer to live, he's been going to Torrido because he wanted to meet a girl who once saved him. That girl also gave the Azran stone to Old Red, so he won't be parting with it until he can give it back to the girl.
Layton and co. find a girl named Scarlett who wears a red scarf as Old Red told them that the girl who saved him wore one, however, Scarlett was not the one. As leads begin to die out, Scarlett tells them that they should meet up with her grandmother who knows everyone in Torrido. After seeing an old photograph, Layton deduces that the old lady, Ruby, is the girl who had saved Old Red.
After meeting Ruby, Old Red gived her the Azran stone, and Ruby gives it to Layton.

The Desert arc ends with Layton and co. arriving at the ship once again. Aurora regains more memories from the stone, partially only, though, as the Desert used to be a wasteland even in the times of Azran.

Next up, the Hillside arc which references the famous love story Romeo and Juliet. The place is 'a rustic idyll known for its strong winds.'

Newspaper article talking about Froenborg

The farming village of Hoogland with its windmills exists in the windy area surrounded by mountains. Hoogland has a wedding going on and Emmy plans on taking a photo or two of the bride, however a small tornado attacks the town. After the storm passes, the group heads towards the ceremonial stage which is a chapel uphill.
Romilda is the bride who is heading inside a chapel door, but the wedding is not what Layton expected. Romilda walked inside the building as "Dragonlord's bride." Becoming the Dragonlord's bride means to sacrifice oneself and blow through the wind as a soul, in order to calm the storms around the area, and as Sycamore best puts it, "that is no chapel, that's a prison." And as Aurora senses; inside the prison, an Aura stone exists.
To get inside the prison chapel and save Romilda, the group needs to ask around town for more information as always.

Romilda was about to be engaged to a man named Julien, however, due to the superstition about fear towards the Dragonlord, Romilda chose that it would be better to sacrifice herself by becoming the bride to the Dragonlord.
The town has a superstition that the bride of the Dragonlord who gets locked in the chapel turns into wind because always after the chapel door gets opened later on, only the wedding dress can be found inside.
Beatrix, one of the women in town, tells them that she's been bringing change of clothes to women that have been locked in the chapel for generations; so that the women can escape the town unseen through the tunnels. Layton and co. ask Julien for help in order to get Romilda out of the chapel, because she truly believes that she's calming down the wrath of the Dragonlord by dying in the chapel.
As the group along with Julien makes their way through the tunnels to Romilda, they spot her at a dragon statue.. Created by the Azran. Romilda reveals that her ultimate plan is to die in the chapel and leave the body for everyone to see; to show that the Dragonlord does not care about the brides' life and no one ever actually turned into wind.
Layton decides that it's for the best that they put an end to the Dragonlord's 'wrath,' and to do that, they have to solve the Azran puzzle in the chapel. After solving the puzzle, the mechanical Dragon opens its mouth and showcases an Azran egg, which Aurora takes.

As peace and harmony has returned to Hoogland, the group returns to Bostonius. Aurora tells Layton that she had remembered more of her Azran past, not much, but little things about the ancient civilization also utilizing special aircrafts.

The walled city arc deals with a legend of a Phoenix. The Walled City of Mosinnia is filled with quiet streets and deserted houses. Layton's group runs into a young man named Umid who tells them that every 'grown-up' in the city has fallen into a coma, Umid's mother included, and it's been that way for a whole week.
Umid tells them about the legend of the phoenix that could cure any illness, so he wishes to find the phoenix in order to save his mother.

Tropical Island

The group gains a lead about a Phoenix's nest that exists outside of the city, and they decide to go and check it out. On a hill that exists in a creepy forest Layton and co. finds a large hawk named Adler. Luke translates its words to get lead towards finding the even larger Phoenix.
One of the other city kids' grandmother takes care of a temple in north. Although she's sleeping like the other adults, she mutters hints towards the truth: "wake the phoenix, solve the mural."
After solving a mural in the temple the group decides to go to the city centre to the clock tower where a wall has opened to reveal Azran writing which Aurora translates. Afterwards they head to the forest towards a 'gate' to figure out the identity of the legendary Phoenix.
After solving the puzzle on the gate, an Azran door opens up to flood the city's river with water. The Phoenix is the form of the river inside the city itself, and one of the hills inside the city opens up a road beneath into an Azran library.
Layton creates a remedy to wake up the adults, and the story ends with the temple Keeper lady awards the group with an Azran egg that they could not pinpoint anywhere.

Aurora remembers that there was a legend of a firebird during Azran era as well and the arc closes up.

Now, after finding all of the five Azran stones, the player can gather them all together at the same time for Aurora to try and remember everything, however, there are also puzzles left to do around the world, and the World Times' mysteries.
What are these W.T.'s mysteries, you ask? In Azran Legacy there is a journalist who also travels around the world to do articles about the mysterious events that take place in every area. The player can read these articles and try to go and figure out what exactly is going on. These news-related sidequests really help to deepen the worldbuilding of the Layton world, I really like that they exist. Azran Legacy as a Layton game is definitely more story- than puzzle-heavy, which is surprising.
I will put a few examples of World Times's sidestories that you can learn more about:

In the town of Froenborg there's a problem with a snowman that can be quickly figured out spoiler; it's just a publicity stunt.
In Kodh there are rumours about a monster, there's a Loch Ness monster kind of deal going on, spoiler; it's just a giant eel that looks bigger on a photo.

And many, many more that you can solve during chapter 4, after you have gathered all of the Azran eggs.

The fourth chapter closes up when the player is ready to gather them all together to Aurora.

The five stones are gathered but it is revealed that that one of them has been swapped with a fake somehow. Layton assumes it's Targent's doing, and the reason why they left the four others is because they are guiding Layton somewhere.

Chapter 5: Into the Nest

Layton's parents.

Layton and co. decide to return to the Azran dome which they found below Lake Kodh where Aurora's power of sensing the stone's is at its greatest. Aurora senses that the stolen Aura stone is in Targent's HQ, so Layton and co. should prepare to head there by finishing off the remaining puzzles around the world before they go.

The Nest, the base of Targent which our main characters infiltrated, is a city-like area with a small military base. In the city, Targent is after an injured man, an Azran researcher named mr. Mackintosh, and trying to prevent him from leaving the area. Layton, Sycamore, Luke and Emmy decide to help the man, but he ends up disappearing from their sight. The group infiltrates the base even deeper in search for Mackintosh until they eventually meet after couple of puzzles. Mackintosh tells them that he was planning on hijacking the main ship and pleads that the Targent should return to being what it used to be, and then he falls down. The group carries the man into Bostoniu unseen where Sycamore's butler Raymond heals him.

The squad decides to head back into the Nest, to meet the Targent's leader Bronev who apparently has twisted Targent to become a violent organization from something completely different. Bronev resides in a skyscraper named the Obsidian Tower. Inside the building there's an Azran stone that mentions the five Aura stones which makes Layton question why Bronev is luring them to the headquarters by only stealing one stone from them.
Layton and co. take the elevator upwards. On the way professor Sycamore says something interesting about how Targent has given more than enough reason for him to resent them.
On the upper floor there's another Azran stone mentioning about a "last legacy," which seems to be the ultimate goal of Bronev.
The journey in this building is very calm for being a villainous place. Layton solves another puzzle or two and reaches the top floor. From this point on, when you enter Bronev's room, the player cannot do any adventures until they complete the main story.

When meeting Bronev, he decides to offer Layton a place in Targent. Layton cleverly declines. Bronev offers a coin game, whoever wins, gets the Azran egg, which Layton agrees to do. After winning the coin game, Bronev decides to threaten Layton by hurting his parents, but as Layton still declines, Bronev gives him the final Aura stone back. Aurora begins to summon the power of Azran through the five eggs at the Targent HQ. As the eggs have been powered up, they transform into five different shapes in order to form an Azran master key. As Aurora remembers her memories, she runs to the edge of the skyscraper thinking of taking her own life. Aurora gives the key to professor Sycamore for safekeeping, but the man starts to laugh like a maniac and reveals that he was Descole, an antagonist from the earlier two games, all along. Quite a shocking truth because Layton and the squad has been traveling with Sycamore the whole game, getting to know him..! As Descole tries to get back to the Bostonius, professor Layton creates a flying pad that he uses to get to Descole.

At the end of chapter 5, there's a swordfight with Descole where he reveals that the Azran Legacy is all he has left. His butler Raymond pilots a small flying...machine and picks Descole up while leaving the Bostonius for Layton. Layton's group deduces that they must be heading towards the icy town of Froenborg with the Azran Key, so that is also Layton's destination.

Chapter 6: The Azran Sanctuary

Everyone in the icy town of Froenborg is evacuation due to an avalanche alert created by the Azran sanctuary awakening. Inside the cave of Froenborg, Descole stands. As he's about to solve the final Azran puzzle, Bronev appears with gunmen and steals the key from Descole. Aurora tells Bronev and his Targent men that he should not do anything as Azran Legacy has the power to destroy the world. An Azran defense mechanism starts to activate - the same mechanism as in Hoogland, the one that steals weapons from the enemies. As Luke steals the key and throws it to Layton, something surprising happens... As Emmy starts to threaten Layton by hurting Luke, saying that she's been working for Targent since the very beginning, for all this time she's been 'Professor Layton's assistant,' she's been watching over Layton's every move.

As Bronev leaves for the final puzzle along with the Azran key, Luke, Emmy and Aurora, Layton and Descole are left behind. They set their differences aside for now, in order to stop Bronev.
Luke is easy to find, as he reveals that Emmy left him behind on purpose due to her good intentions despite being part of Targent. She reveals that Bronev is her non blood-related uncle who has been taking care of her ever since she was little, although now Bronev seems to have been taken over by madness, the want to discover the 'great' Azran Legacy.

Puzzle after puzzle gets solved to get deeper into the sanctuary, Descole protects Luke from a trap. As Descole rests injured in Layton's arms, he reveals couple of massive plot twists. Descole and Hershel Layton are brothers. Their father was an archaeologist obsessed with Azran, and they were taken by Targent. Descole reveals that his enemy was the Azran, and Targent, for ruining their lives. Their mother died years ago, and their father... Is the antagonist Leon Bronev. The biggest twist of all is that Hershel Layton is not Layton's name, it's Descole's...

Finale: The Azran Legacy


The story of Professor Layton closes up with a grand finale. Emmy, Bronev and Aurora stand at a puzzle. As Emmy is about to go and risk her life doing it, Layton tells her to stop and decides to solve the life-threatening puzzle himself.

Bronev believes that the Azran Legacy will bring a bloom to human civilization, while Layton says that it will bring destruction instead. The Azran Legacy requires Bronev to pierce through Aurora's heart, and so he does, because he's spent years

The Azran Sanctuary is revealed to be a flying vehicle which summons machinery that will destroy the humanity. Aurora walks out and tells that 'humanity will suffer the same fate as the Azran.'

Aurora reveals that the Azran used to thrive due to being masters of technology, however in time the Azran began to view themselves as gods and created artificial beings that would do the tasks that normal humans would do. These golems were fully sentient beings, and so the golems wanted to be freed from the hands of the Azran. The golems, Azran's own creations were the ones that destroyed the great Azran civilization. And the golems are the ones that were revived through Bronev's actions, to destroy the world.
The chrysm inside the middle of the sanctuary lets out a light on five pedestials. Aurora tells that to stop the lights, people have to step on the pedestials at the same time- however there's a catch - the lights will kill whoever goes into them. Luke, Descole, Layton, Bronev and Emmy decide to risk their lives. As they do, the light of the chrysm takes their lives but Aurora decides to use the Azran hourglass in the middle of the Sanctuary to turn back time for them.

The story ends with Aurora's purpose as Azran emissary being finished and her disappearing along with the floating Azran Sanctuary. Descole escapes toward other adventures along with his butler, Bronev gets handcuffed and taken away by inspector Grosky and Emmy leaves as she stops being Layton's assistant, leaving that role for Luke.

The end of the finale loops back to the first game in the franchise, the Curious Village, as Luke and Layton travel on the Laytonmobile to solve the mystery of the curious village.


Professor Layton    / END

Emmy starting off her own journey.

Despite the far too quick pacing for wrapping up the plotlines at the end, Azran Legacy ended up being the magnum opus of the Professor Layton game series due to the handling of multiple characters at the same time, the ability to layer the story more than ever before along with some really great worldbuilding. I was feeling this game a lot due to the substance it had, more than the emotional moments. I can see why as a 'Layton game,' many would choose the Unwound Future as the peak of the series, however, this was so different in the structure of the storyline that it's remarkable. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, it was like every chapter from the very beginning to the end was a final chapter from the earlier Layton games, and that, along with the heavy build-up towards Azran from the earlier games&the Eternal Diva movie and the amazing style of worldbuilding through adventuring and learning of other characters such as Ancient Histories created by a famous professor known as Donald Rutledge (whom we never actually meet), were what made this game so grand.


First trilogy

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Second trilogy

Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Professor Layton and the  Miracle Mask
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy 

Other games 

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's conspiracy

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

"The trick is this: Keep your eyes on the ball, even when you can't see the ball."  
- Tom Robbins

18 years ago in a small town named Stansbury that lies beyond a desert, a duo of young men's journey as archaeologists began along with the story of this game.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask tells two sides of a story: the story about a series of incidents taking place in the miraculous city of Monte d'Or in which the gentleman archaeologist professor Hershel Layton along with his two new assistants from the last game - the Last Specter - Luke Triton and Emmy Altava, have a goal: apprehend the Masked Gentleman which is terrorizing the city with his own 'miracles.' With clowns and a circus being a heavy part of the story in the 'present,' the atmosphere of the game from its setting to the soundtrack are at times similar to a PS2 classic named Dark Chronicles, the sequel of Dark Cloud. As well as the other side of the story; the backstory of Hershel Layton, which takes up multiple chapters of this game, is quite the breath of fresh air to the franchise as a whole. The story of the game jumps like this: Present - Past - Present - Past ->, as Luke and Emmy figure that they might learn more about an item named the Mask of Chaos if they learn more about Layton's past of which the MoC is heavily part of.
So they ask Hershel Layton to tell his tale to them.

Although all of the Layton games have at least a little bit of a connection or information towards Layton's past in the forms of flashbacks, or the conflicts have a little bit to do with his personal connections, especially the most recent games up until this point: The Unwound Future and the Last Specter. However, the Miracle Mask is the first game in Layton history where the story itself has a heavy focus on his past. You even get to play during the time when Layton was going to school in his little hometown where he lived with his friends and family that are also a part of this story.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (2011) is the fifth game in the popular handheld puzzle adventure game series, the second game in the second/prequel trilogy, and the first Professor Layton game in the series to be done in 3D. It was developed on Nintendo 3DS by Level-5. I will mostly focus on the events of the story after this part so I will already tell my thoughts here: The Miracle Mask is one of the better Layton games for sure. The final part of the story is a bit lackluster due to how cliched it is in a sense, but as a whole it's a very family-friendly game with a very nice pacing to it. Alot happens in the story and you get to focus on a different variety of puzzles in the way they're presented - play a battle of wits with couple of scammers and help the detectives to solve the tricks behind the numerous miracles performed by the Masked Gentleman, and there are a few upgraded puzzle styles from the change to 3DS as well. There's quite a few brain crackers in the game.
The soundtrack, animated sequences and character writing are mostly consistently decent in the game - and there are no same faces as you can expect from the Layton game in which the faces twist and turn to all sorts of.. things. Aside from the main theme, "The Mask of Miracles," OST's like "Illusion," the track played when you figure out the truth behind the Gentleman's Miracle's as well as the theme of the Casino, "Scorpion," are really great.

The story: 

The story begins as Luke and professor Layton arrive at Monte d'Or which is often called the city of miracles mainly due to its, well, miraculous outlook. It's a city which, 18 years ago, began as a single inn in the desert and at an extremely quick pace mysteriously grew into a massive city. The city was "built from nothing" by a man named Henry Ledore who happens to be one of Layton's old friends from his time in a small town named Stansbury.
Layton had yet again got a letter, as tends to happen in all of the games, this time from a person named Angela Ledore who writes that in this fantastic city, terrible things occur. The story kicks right into gameplay in the story's prologue which happens in the city. The 3D character models and a more sluggy gameplay - mostly due to the 3D models and due to the movement and the much worse investigation mode being split - make for a game that takes the fans of the 4 older games some getting used to for a bit, however, the animated cut scenes are still done in the same beautiful 2D as always.
There is a carnival in the city of miracles, and all of a sudden people start screaming. A massive balloon clown falls and afterwards Layton sees statues... ff people, or more accurately people turned to statues! A person walks over a roof with a mask over his face. He claims that the city of Monte d'Or will soon be destroyed, and then this 'Masked Gentleman' gains wings and begins to fly. Layton, Luke and Emmy start to ride horses as they follow after this flying person.

Chapter 1: The Mask of Chaos

A little bit in the past before the prequel, Angela Ledore whom Layton had known 18 years ago during his school days in Stansbury, had sent a letter to Layton's residence which now contains Hershel Layton and his two assistants from Luke Triton and Emmy Altava. She claims that she has been cursed by Mask of Chaos, an item which is known to archaeologists, a mask of omnipotence. The d'Orian police say that a case of Living Paintings has happened before, simply, the drawn things in paintings had become living beings which jumped out of the frames, hence why they even closed the gallery in the city.
Two men block the way as Layton and co. head to the Ledore residence: Narcisse and Frankie. The puzzle they give is an active one similar to the puzzle of 'future Luke vs Layton' in the Unwound Future and the active puzzles in the Last Specter.
Before heading inside the residence it's actually pretty nice to see Layton a bit nervous as he has not seen her since his school years. Angela lives in a massive residence and the theme of the manor is quite majestic. Angela's husband is named Henry Ledore, the leader of the city, who is also Layton's old classmate.

The Mask of Chaos. Layton himself claims to have seen it disappear, supposedly for forever, along with a person. Layton claims that his best friend named Randall Ascot, during their school years, had discovered the mask. Despite the mask being found, Randall was not and he's believed to have died. The search for him however still lasts all these years later, and the Masked Man had somehow stolen the Mask of Chaos recently.
Luke and Emmy ask Layton to tell them more about his past and Randall, his best friend, as we learn that Randall was the very person who made Hershel get interested in archaeology in the first place. And so the first chapter closes up.

Randall, Angela, Henry and Layton used to live beyond a desert in a town called Stansbury.
The massive city of Monte d'Or exists in the desert.

Chapter 2 The Secret of Norwell

We focus on Layton's past, a flashback. Layton has a friendly sword fight with Randall Ascot in school - we are familiar with Layton's sword skills from the Diabolical Box - we see Hershel lose "again" to him and we hear Layton say "I have no interest in archaeology." Randall pushes Layton usually on his archeology events and now he tells about finding the Mask of Chaos which is supposed to be only a legend. Layton heads home, where his mother Lucille says that weird black suited men came earlier and Layton's father might be in trouble but Layton finds his father and he's OK.
At night Layton and Angela arrive at Randall's place where he shows the Mask of Chaos to them. Randall claims that the mask contains a puzzle - it's a key to finding an ancient civilization and an unimaginable amount of wealth along with it.

Chapter 3: Discord in Monte d'Or

Layton mentions that there's a parade every night around the Celebration Boulevard. Angela talks about how Dalston, a bully-type person from Layton's past who is a rival of Henry due to hotel business, might be the Masked Gentleman. However, Dalton himself makes up a pretty good theory about how Angela might be the Masked Gentleman, you see, Henry was in love with Angela, Angela was in love with Randall. Henry took everything from Randall as he supposedly died and Angela might have been trying to exact revenge for many years now. To turn the city which Henry founded into ruins... Layton and Dalton get a threatening letter from the masked gentleman. Layton and co. head over to the mayor's office to talk about what he has in plan to take down the Masked Gentleman. What's happening right now is that the mayor has created a special task force to take down the perp, including inspector Grosky from the last game, Last Specter, among a couple other new characters of "Scotland Yard's finest," as Luke puts it.

In the Last Specter we had a cool active puzzle series and the most impressive of them was Layton figuring out the identity of the Black Raven. In this game, however, we have three solid short active puzzle mysteries for Layton to solve in row as he speaks with the leading inspectors of the Masked Gentleman case.
During the gathering of the police Detective Bloom has a case of people being turned into horses by the Masked Gentleman, the truth behind the mystery is easy to figure out in its basics but the facts that Layton lays out expand the trick to be very believable, and the same goes with the next one.
Detective Sheffield, a cube-headed man, has a case of art. The Masked Gentleman apparently, as was mentioned before, has made the characters inside paintings run out of them. The trick in of itself might not be as clear to everyone as this has a chemistry answer to the puzzle. Sheffield also later mentions that he has a perp in mind but needs more evidence.
Detective Grosky has a case of people being engulfed in flames. At the morning of the previous Sunday, 13 people had received an ominous letter calling these people to a plaza unless they wish to die. During the carnival at the plaza the 13 people were all on a small tent and then bursted into flames, along with the entire tent. No potential hiding place under the tent and what's crazier the 13 people appeared in their homes suddenly, all fine. Not remembering that anything beyond arriving on the stage. However there are some clues: They all were on the same popular squash club. No eyewitnesses saw any of the 13 got on the stage. The answers to this mysterious puzzle might not be that surprising but Layton does somewhat think outside the box to get the answer to what was going on with the victims which I doubt many would think of.

That night the Masked Gentleman were to perform their miracles once again. Who are his accomplices and who is he? Angela and Henry had gotten letters as well and have arrived. The Masked Gentleman appears and does a miracle air walking trick. Panic attack happens as people start to fly towards the air. The amusement park named Tingly Town is to be his next target. The Gentleman mentions another mask: The Mask of Order which would be capable of defeating the Mask of Chaos that the Gentleman possesses. As the bully-type Dalston whom Layton used to know gets arrested, Layton and co. head back to the hotel and Layton continues his backstory about Randall and the Mask of Chaos.

Chapter 4: Angela's Tears

18 years ago once more. Randall, Layton's best friend, wants to show his discovery that happened in Norwell to Layton and Angela.
Professor Rutledge is famous for writing about the legendary Mask of Chaos and it's twin mask. Beyond a simple puzzle lies a map towards the 'Masks'. According to the ciphers which Randall deciphered the masks belonged to a civilization that's been gone for a long, long time. There is another map leading to a place that has not been found but is known by archaeologists named Akbadain. Angela takes the Mask of Chaos from Randall and escapes because she doesn't want Randall to go to Akbadain due to the dangers. As Layton and Randall find her she mentions about her brother who had disappeared. Henry the current husband of Angela is also some form of servant of Randall's family, and he knows everything about his excavations.

Chapter 5: On the Gentleman's Trail

The day when the Masked Gentleman will create "miracles" in the area of Tingly Town in the city is now. Heading towards the quarters where the most likely innocent Dalton's being kept by the police to hear what they have to say. At the HQ they make it clear that Dalton is being kept captive due to his resources and him owning a horse, however he mentions that there's a horse track with many horses - the police had naturally questioned the place's manager but Layton decides to go investigate it himself. A chariot from the racing track was said to be out during the statues incident - a great vehicle in carrying statues around - and the chariot being "repaired" (taken apart and taken elsewhere) was signed by Henry, the owner of the entire city. Layton claims to have somehow figured out the Levitation Miracle's trick from visiting the racing track as well. Back at the Ledore mansion, Layton confronts Henry straightforwardly about his connections to the Levitation and Petrification miracles. Later on a citizen named Serena who tends to hang around everywhere where the M.Gentleman appears is saying that something is going on at the Scorpion Casino.
At the Scorpion Casino the two trickster weird men who Layton and co. had to puzzle-battle before, before arriving at the manor, are also in there. This time they have a puzzle about numbers in all columns adding up to the same number vertically and diagonally. However the way Layton goes at this is pretty great. As Layton and co. head to Tingly Town they witness Halloween-themed park around themselves. Layton and Luke quickly ride one of the machines while Emmy stays behind, and after inspector Grosky appears, telling them that he's found a clue, a poster, saying: "a new spin on miraculous." They assume it has to do with the spinning things - ferris wheel, etc, that are around the amusement part. After solving 4 puzzles around the spinning machines of the amusement park, they gather 4 Mask of Chaos cards which form a map that all lead to Tingly Tower which happens to be the park's control room. And now it's time for the next "miracle." The masked gentleman appears and leads them in the tower. Then he escapes again and Layton and co. run after him to find that no visitors are left on the crowded amusement park.
The M.Gentleman kidnaps Angela to lure them back to the control tower and then he claims that there will be a massive body count and his next miracle will be visible from anywhere on the city. The final act will happen tomorrow.

Chapter 6: The Ruins of Akbadain

Layton's flashback about his best friend Randall continues once more. Before embarking on their journey to Akbadain, Randall gives a donut-shaped rock with markings on it to Angela for safekeeping and Henry, Angela's current boyfriend and Randall's butler-type friend helps her not to keep worrying about Randall. Layton and Randall head to the desert, south of Stansbury where the Mask of Chaos, that Randall spent three months deciphering, leads to. And here's the real kicker: the long-gone civilization which the mask relates to is from one called Azran, and Azran Legacy happens to be the final Layton game of the second trilogy. Anyway, Azran is a legendary civilization and its existence was never proven; Randall believes that Azran created the Akbadain ruins.
The gameplay in the ruins of Akbadain is different from the other Layton gameplay titles. You travel with Randall in a 3D adventure game type of manner, dig the site, check for traps and tricks and mummies that exist in the vast ruins.

After traversing a long, long time in the ruins of Akbadain, we learn of Randall's fate - and the Last Door, Hershel finds the treasure of the Azran, but leaves as he doesn't want a part of any of it - with the memory of his dear friend, Hershel wants to distance himself from Stansbury, and leaves his home town as well.

Chapter 7: The Reunion Inn

According to Drake the Scorpion Casino security man, when Henry was underage he had already started creating the city of Monte d'Or, so he needed a person who would co-sign the purchases Henry needed; that person was a woman who has apparently passed away a long time ago. Layton gets an idea about what happened in Tingly Tower when he hears his old acquaintance the bully-type Dalton utter the words "dark," so Layton, Luke and Emmy decide to head towards Tingly Tower once more. Everyone disappearing has to be just a trick, right!?
As they head inside, it's pitch black and Layton explains: The Masked Gentleman used the Tower's rotating floor mechanism to rotate the tower 180 degrees. There's an exact replica of the Tingly Town on the other side, but... why has it gone unnoticed? Henry is the person responsible for building it according to informants, so Layton needs answers and it's time to talk to the man.
At Henry's place he claims he has nothing to do with the fake Tingly Town. Layton comes up with an unusual answer to his questions: maybe Henry is hiding something else than the truth behind the masked man? And that's when Layton sees Randall's aged mother who has come to Monte d'Or to live with Henry after her husband died. Layton heads to Mayor Williams to check out his suspicions about Henry; are they on the wrong track of not? So he goes and asks Williams about all the information on what properties Henry owns in the city.

The biggest hotel of Monte d'Or, the Reunion Inn, is said to be a place where the Masked Gentleman struck according to detective Bloom, who told about it to inspector Grosky, so next up Layton and co. head to speak with Bloom. Detective Bloom claims that the police has figured out who took the chariot for one of the "miracles" however there's no leads towards the Masked Gentleman. Bloom asks Layton to go investigate the Reunion Inn as it's the most ideal place for a criminal to reside in. Also, Layton says that the Gentleman only wanted to make it seem so that Henry would seem suspicious, but he's still holding some secrets, just unrelated to the culprit.

The Reunion Inn is a massive castle so trying to find the Gentleman in there is going to prove to be quite the challenge. In the private room of Henry Ledore in the hotel, Emmy and Luke find a journal which contains the expedition for finding Randall. The boy was never found, Henry found the treasure that Layton found and used it to become rich and everything was forgotten. Henry's room contains dozens of investigation books on Randall so it seems he's to only one who did not give up. Layton was investigating another room and as he comes back, he shows a surprising find that he made: He found the Real Mask of Chaos. Who planted it in Henry's room and why?

In the lobby. Layton gets a book - an unfinished children's story about five friends in the woods and a treasure - and then the lights go out. Layton believes that the book is an "invitation" by the Gentleman - "find me with the clues in this book." One book subtly shows the way towards one room where another book is hidden in, one after another.
All of a sudden Detective Bloom is seen visiting a suspicious man who says that they've found "two of the three" - places which Layton found in Last Specter and Miracle Mask's flashback.. The man continues: "find the mask."
And at the very end the Masked Gentleman is unmasked. He sort of reminds me of Future Luke from The Unwound Future.

Chapter 8: The Final Miracle
The massive miracle promised by the Gentleman is the destruction of Monte d'Or. A massive flood of sand happens on the city and Layton and co. must stop it.

The deepest chambers of Akbadain; the place that is hidden beyond the treasure (that was just another trap to stop people from making their way to what Akbadain truly protects) exists right below Monte d'Or. Luke finds a manhole with Akbadain's markings and the group heads down to find the true final chamber of Akbadain with a pedestal that requires the Mask of Chaos and the Mask of Order to activate a puzzle; and Layton has them both with him despite only having one Mask.
And after solving the puzzle, the entire city starts to lift up.

Couple of consecutive final twists happen in this chapter.

Epilogue

The exposed Masked Gentleman is standing in the middle of the city. The true treasure of Azran was not the money but the archaeological treasure which Layton now found but it's not delved in-depth in this game, as the next one will most likely explain it all.
And the mystery deepens. Someone was behind using the Masked Gentleman as a puppet for all this time and it's Descole dressed up as someone, claiming that he's already won. Layton solving the puzzle of Akbadain was what Descole had planned.
After Descole escapes, Layton explains the true miracle of the city of Monte d'Or and it all relates to Preserving everything instead of Taking everything, from Randall.

Descole is in the opened ruins of Akbadain (he calls them "infinite") and all of a sudden dozens of armed helicopters and a man claims that the area belongs to Targent - they take control of the area. As the Targent boss dude beats Descole up and begins to unmask him, Descole's assistant throws a smoke bomb and escapes with him.
The man, possibly named Targent, claims that "they" have access to all three of the places created by Azran civilization, and soon they will have the power of the Azran as well. To be continued . . .

So: Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is one of the more eventful entries in the game series with a decent amount of good puzzles and atmosphere in the storytelling, but it has a major problem. 
A slight problem: the current investigation mode which feels like a downgrade from the first four games. 
The major problem: the plot twists related to Layton's past are too easily guessable that it feels rather too cliche. As a player I wanted them Not to do what they did. The twists are basically the core of the entire story from the beginning so when they end up being bad, the entire game does leave a bad aftertaste.
However: The puzzles are on average better than in the earlier titles in my opinion and the story ends up being a really strong build up to the final Hershel Layton game (so far) so in case you want to play the Azran Legacy, playing the Miracle Mask is suggested - note that the Last Specter also has a few bits and pieces foreshadowing what will take place during the Azran Legacy. The most important thing about The Miracle Mask, however, is the chance to get to see Hershel Layton's past in Stansbury which was a very entertaining experience and a great addition to fleshing out our main character.

Let's see how this ends...!


First trilogy

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Second trilogy

Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Professor Layton and the  Miracle Mask
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy 

Other games 

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire's conspiracy