it takes some cues from japanese adventure games but is really more of a big puzzle collection with very fancy menus. walk around, talk to some villagers, get new puzzles, and meander towards your destination. thankfully the characters are likable, especially the laid-back layton and his fiery yet precocious sidekick luke. with the limited cast and the small locale the world is snug and bereft of needless pixel hunting or confusing objectives. lovely animation from production IG even if the DS can't quite do the FMV justice. the main thing that holds back the macrogame here for me is the pacing. layton and luke encounter a mystery, get shooed off, and then stumble into another mystery over and over again until the endgame where layton magically solves the entire plot and then the credits roll. the shock of the endgame twist makes layton's exposition dump less jarring and more like a riddle within itself; it turns your brain inside-out and briefly rethink the rest of the game as you bounce between the final few puzzles. a simple twist but effective nonetheless.

as for the puzzles themselves, this was a bit of a proving ground for myself to make up for my terrible riddle sense as a child. as an adult this hits a brain-teaser sweet spot where I can comfortably make it through the main scenario while legitimately feeling challenged by the harder puzzles the game has to offer. refreshingly few puzzles relied on moon logic that made me grumble, and none of the touch-screen gimmicks felt tacked-on or perfunctory. the final two puzzles gave me pause... thankfully the game has a decent in-game hint system accessible by coins that are strewn throughout the environment. then for the final one I just looked at a guide since whatever, life is short. overall a nice way to ease players into the concept, and I'm sure the rest of the DS trilogy will flesh out the setting and intrigue.