Reviews from

in the past


I can't say I enjoyed the story, but the characters were all very charming, and 95% of the puzzles were super interesting, and felt fair.

I love the Layton series but I never quite got into this first entry. This might have something to do with the less polished artwork and smaller scope. Either way, it did not click.

I've been 15h on the "wolf and sheep crossing the river" puzzle, pls send help


I've recently gone back to play all the Layton games again in anticipation to the announcement of the 2025 one.

I had tried playing Curious Village before but never finished it properly as I had some of the later ones and I think this one being the first ever game just made it feel a bit of a less polished experience to go through as a kid, but revisiting it now, I'm very glad I did so.
The story of this game is properly enticing and never drags out or pretends you're stupid by either overly explaining or pretending something obvious isn't happening, that mixed with the story beats and twists being actually very original and unique makes it enjoyable in a way where you're curious what else can take place in this world.
The puzzles however I don't feel quite as excited about, I don't imagine it's easy to come up with 120+ puzzles and make them all bangers, but while this game does start off with a lot of them being either clever logic tricks, or puzzles where you have to catch the "flaw" in how the question is presented to you, towards the last quarter or so of the game, the puzzles can be very hit or miss, with some being outright math equations, move the block puzzles (I do enjoy these, but there's a lot of them), or questions that aren't worded as clearly as they need to be for you to understand what the game's logic is on something, like how you might consider the ground floor of a building to be 1st floor or "Ground" and the one after to be the 1st, which can lead to you getting the wrong answer based off that.

Altogether though, how much I enjoyed cracking the story massively overshines the last stretch of puzzles. As I go forward through the series I do imagine both story writing and puzzle quality to get more clever, all in all, a very good start to a classic series.

The game that started one of my favorite series is an enjoyable experience, despite having a terrible pace and some "curious" level curve in the last half of the game.
Some puzzles are way too tricky to find, making the completion of the game way longer than It should be (why the heck would I click on that random pixel in that random street to find a puzzle, without any suggestion or interesting point?).
The plot is predictable and it randomly descend into fantasy into the last chapter despite not showing any sign of a fantasy setting before, but that's fine. Those who were looking for a serious plot would be disappointed, but luckily, it wasn't my case.

Loved the soundtrack and the characters.
St. Mystere and its abitants really feel like an european country village, reminds me of the little town where I grew up.

The Curious Village is a wonderfully fun little puzzle romp.

It's difficult to rate it fairly I think, because I played it many years ago and had a vague rememberance of how the mystery ended that kind of ruins a lot of the stories pacing for me. Granted, it allowed me an appreciation for how the game planted seeds throughout, but I still feel it'll be a little unfair to judge considering the story is the main attraction here.

Obviously it's a puzzle game, but the puzzles are 90% of the time unrelated to the story, often being random minigames thrown at you by the villagers (which is given a fun narrative reason toward the end that I don't suppose will be given in sequels). That's not to say the puzzles aren't fun per se, but the driving force for completing them is to unravel the story.

It's a fun mystery, with great characters, and some truly gorgeous cutscenes when the game decides to utilise them.

It's a cute little game with some sweet riddles but overall nothing super exciting. I enjoyed the story, it has a few nice twists and was the main reason for me to keep on playing. The riddles should have been implemented better into the world instead of just being random Sunday magazine riddles. Maybe future titles fixed these issues. Overall I had a fun time.

c'est ce que j'appelle un classique de la ds

Buen inicio para esta saga. No es un misterio tan impresionante como otros futuros, pero sirve como un buen arranque. 8.58/10

I can see a timeline where young Edin was obsessed with this.

I truly love this game and it serves as a fantastic introduction to the world of Professor Layton. The gameplay, consisting of solving numerous puzzles, is well thought out and challenging but simultaneously being incredibly approachable to anyone. The characters, while not at all deep, are charming and fun which pave the way for a surprisingly emotional story with moments that have stuck with me for a long time. The music is fantastic with a notable French influence and an incredibly memorable accordion that accompanies you throughout the game.

I have a lot of fond memories playing this with my parents as a child and that’s something I’ll always appreciate this game for, but by its own merit, it’s a wonderful, charming experience and something I’d wholeheartedly recommend.

Extremely charming
wonderful music and characters
and a story that was way more in depth then I expected
my complains are the puzzles
while despite the fact it is a puzzle game their over abundance and lack of connection to the story and feel like a slog to get through

Nah, tremendo, sigue siendo juegardo. Banda sonora chulísima, escenarios y personajes super carismáticos y sobre todo muchos PUSLES. Lo único que me gusta menos son detallitos de QoL que arreglaron en las secuelas.

El mejor juego de puzles que existe. Los personajes tienen carisma solo con ver si diseño (hechos por el creador de Inazuma eleven si no me equivoco) y la localización del pueblo me resulta nostálgica y confortable. Los puzles son ingeniosos y los hay más fáciles y más difíciles pero siempre cumplen

When my friend first showed me this game during study hall, I had no idea the level of impact this series would have on my life. I've played all of these games multiple times, and while the puzzles are mostly variations on themselves, the charm of the story and characters propelled me through. Not the best in the series but a strong start.

Some of the puzzles are fucked up but it's a very charming game so that's okay

There should be an easy mode for idiots (I'm smart I'm just looking out for others)

It's a game that's part of a nostalgia so I cannot say I despise it. But I wouldn't return to this again.

This is more on personal level, since as a game itself don't worry: it's objectively quite a great graphic adventure with gameplay mostly based on investigation and resolving puzzles (that most of the times don't have anything to do with the actual story).

j'étais trop nulle mais jsuis sur que mtn j'adorerais si je rejouais

Puzzles! There are a lot of them, ranging from math to sliding blocks. A few of them can be frustrating, like ones with a mountain of text that end up being a trick question, but they are overall very well designed. The difficulty curve is a bit strange though. There are easy puzzles mixed in with difficult ones throughout the whole game, instead of them getting progressively harder.

The way the puzzles are integrated into the story and how they are given out is also very jarring.
"Can I enter the village?" "Sure, solve this puzzle."
"Have you seen this person?" "Maybe, first solve this puzzle."
"Hello, I'm looking fo-" "HEY, SOLVE THIS PUZZLE."

I also wasn't a huge fan of the story and felt the pacing was off. You spend a lot of time just walking back and forth talking to people with little of interest happening to advance the story. It starts picking up towards the end and tries to shake things up with a plot twist but I had figured it out by then and thought there was too much exposition. Thins also tend to happen out of nowhere which is a strange contrast to the logical nature of the puzzles.

The presentation was definitely a stand out. The art and animation are wonderful and combined with the London setting make the game feel very charming.

Even with all its faults it’s still a solid puzzle game and I had fun solving puzzles in short bursts throughout the day.


Un excelente inicio, con puzzles excelentes, una buena historia y personajes entrañables.

Acabei de descobrir uma serie de jogos que é a minha cara.

Puzzle games and I have a tumultuous relationship. I enjoy them a great deal, especially in the beginning, but the harder the puzzles get, the worse my patience becomes. This is most likely due to my lack of intelligence or my belief that I am stupider than I am, and I quit. I've heard a lot about Professor Layton games over the years and was trepidatious in pulling the trigger on the series as I didn't want another The Witness.

I needn’t have worried, as the game developers expertly balanced the puzzles in Curious Village. Early on, I thought I was a genius, getting almost every puzzle right the first time, and then I thought I was the stupidest man on the planet multiple times in the mid-to-late game. But thanks to the hint system, I only had to look up the answer a few times. It wasn't only the difficulty that I appreciated; I have to say that fun puzzles dramatically outnumber the rough ones. Which is a great ratio considering there are 120 of them and it could've easily lost steam and turned into a right grind. It was only the math-based ones and any sliding block puzzles that made me grimace. I've never been good at the former, and I'm still sick of the latter after all these years of playing games. I would almost go so far as to say that for a game made in 2007, Curious Village has some of the best puzzles around.

I adored the art style of this game. The mildly European steampunk aesthetic still felt fresh all these years later. The village itself wasn't exactly brimming with colour, but it felt Germanic and austere. I also loved the design of the characters. Layton and Luke were instantly iconic and basically perfect in every way, and the other villagers were also memorably designed. That gross guy who is constantly eating, or the snooty baroness, comes to mind. I will say that the flatness of the colours and the overall low resolution of the whole game do dampen my enthusiasm, but I'm sure that is fixed if you play the remastered release on Mobile.

The overall mystery and story of The Curious Village were a real slow burn. Yes, you're there for the puzzles first and the narrative second, but boy does it meander a bit in the middle. I lost the thread a couple of times, but thankfully the game has a great notebook (in the form of Layton's suitcase) that automatically fills in the story and any updates on the mystery. I did enjoy peeling back the mysteries and uncovering just why this otherworldly village is so puzzle-obsessed. I was even able to predict a couple of things, which I think is a sign of a great mystery. 

I will say that the final couple of chapters go absolutely bananas with the reveals and twists, in a good way, in my opinion. I won't say much, but the way Layton calmly explains what is going on made me appreciate him as a detective way more than I already did. Dude makes Sherlock Holmes look like a chump. Honestly, I was floored once the full scope was revealed. I can understand if some people scoff at the end, but I love ridiculous twists.

That's all I have to say, really. Great game. Lots of fun puzzles that don't get too fiendish, excellent characters, intriguing story, and just well designed all around. I can see why the series became such a juggernaut, and I look forward to playing more of them in the (lost) future.

P.S. I somehow did all 120 puzzles, which was a surprise.

Professor Layton and the Curious Villages still holds up as one of the most charming and memorable DS games of its era.

As a story, it's alright. The mystery serves as an excuse to present you with puzzles, and while there is some intrigue early on, I found myself guessing the twists long before they were revealed. But as a puzzle game, it is absolutely fantastic. Curious Village comes with 120 puzzles, and an additional 15 unlocked in the post-game. And though there's some repetition, the sheer variety in the puzzles keeps it fresh the entire way through. From logic puzzles to math puzzles to puzzles that test your spacial awareness to puzzles that make you think outside the box, it's got them all. And even while playing through the game as a 21 year old, I still found myself stumped by a good few of these.

That being said, the game does show its age. The low resolution sprites, the 240p(?) cutscenes, and the frequent re-use of NPCs and locations does get a little stale by the end. But the charm is enough to carry it all the way to the end. This game oozes style. It's a treat to look at - even at this resolution - and some of the music is absolutely timeless. Layton's theme has stuck with me for over a decade.

The game only took about ten hours to 100%, with minimal usage of a guide. If you've got some time to kill, or you're looking for a lighter game to fill the gaps between 100+ hour RPGs, I cannot recommend Professor Layton and the Curious Village enough. Just remember that it's a DS game from 2007, and adjust your expectations accordingly.