Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

The second installment of the adventure series by studio Level-5, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, arrived on the Nintendo DS in 2009 and built on the success of the first game with another story built on mysteries, travel, and an endless supply of puzzles. Professor Layton and his assistant Luke this time investigate a mysterious box responsible for a series of strange deaths, and their investigation takes them from a train compartment through a forgotten little town all the way to a sprawling manor full of family secrets and peculiar inhabitants.

The core of the gameplay, as in the first game, consists of hundreds of logic, mathematical, and spatial puzzles scattered throughout the game's world – the player solves them through dialogue with characters as well as hidden exploration of the environment, earning points for correct answers that can be exchanged for hints or bonus content such as minigames and collectibles. The story is told through animated scenes and static illustrations in the style of a European comic strip, giving the entire series a distinctive, slightly nostalgic visual style that sets it apart from most other DS games.

Diabolical Box grows compared to the first game both in the number of puzzles and in the elaborateness of the side characters and atmosphere, and adds a traveling train as the central setting between individual chapters, where the player meets eccentric passengers with their own small stories and puzzles. Stylus controls remain just as intuitive as in the first game, whether the player is writing numbers, drawing lines, or moving puzzle pieces around the bottom screen. Thanks to its well-balanced pacing, pleasant piano and orchestral music, and an honest amount of content, it became one of the highest-rated entries in the entire series and cemented Layton's position as one of the faces of the Nintendo DS alongside Pokémon and the Mario games. The series also fared well outside Japan, where the European visual style and gentle humor quickly found a loyal audience. Why play it: For thoughtfully designed puzzles and a captivating detective atmosphere in the European style.