Layton's Mystery Journey is the newest, and final (at the time of writing this) game in the Professor Layton series, and what else can I say other than what a bad way to end the series. I must make it clear from the start, this game's biggest issue is it's complete and utter lack of focus. The game is about the daughter of Professor Layton, one Katrielle Layton as she starts her own private detective business in London. The game, much like the previous entry, Layton Brothers, is split up into cases for you to piece together and solve, but unlike Layton Brothers, this game just lacks a central focus and plot line to follow. Instead we just get little slice of life chapters with very simple and predictable mysteries that struggled to keep my attention in fact my main enjoyment from the game was the very minor call backs to the previous games in the series. I don't necessarily think the characters or the set up of the game is bad, in fact it's far from it, the problem stems from the fact the game completely ignores all the interesting plot points it sets up for the complete opposite. For instance the set up shows Professor Layton leaving Katrielle on a foggy night setting up for an interesting premise.This plot point is never brought up again until the post credit scene, but more on that later. Next we have Sherl who is allegedly a human trapped in the body of a dog introduced in the first case who tags along with the main team for the complete length of the game. Sherl, and Katrielle's fates intertwine when Sherl reaches out to Katrielle's detective agency to help find out how he turned into a dog, but guess what, that plot point is completely waved away, and is NEVER brought up again for the remainder of the game. In stead we spend around 15 hours lolly gagging with Katrielle and crew as they solve, quite frankly, very boring cases that you can probably guess the answers to before you even start them. The only case that really was interesting to me was the 12th and final case 'Diamonds Aren't Forever.' The mystery is compelling enough, and the big reveal was genuinely surprising to me, but too bad it felt like one of the shortest cases in the game. The gameplay overall is the best part, as the typical layton formula is translated well enough to the nintendo switch system. Map navigation, interaction and puzzle solving feels true to the series and or that I honestly cannot complain. Some of the puzzles were a little too simple, but with the passing of the original puzzle master for the main series, I feel like they picked up the pieces as best as they could, and I can't fault them for that. All that said, this brings us back to what's up with the """"central"""" mystery of the game, what happened to Professor Layton? Well instead of making a sequel game, they decided to make a follow up anime that is 50 episodes long and is only officially released into japan that answers that exact question. And seeing as how Level5 USA is no longer existent it feels surreal that us in the western audience will potentially never get a conclusion to this question. Sure there is fan subs out there, but this is honestly less than ideal. I genuinely hope this is not the end of the Layton Series but seeing as the sales and reception for this game aren't particularly great, this might actually end up being the lasting legacy of the series which is actually incredibly depressing. I feel like the better route for the series was to perhaps continue the Layton Brothers story, but instead we got this (which does reference characters to Layton Brothers.) I didn't mind Katrielle as the one to continue the torch of the series, but she really needed to be in a better overall game. Sad to see it end like this, honestly.