Add this one to the pile of DS games with outstanding soundtracks, good lord. Just like Actraiser, that's what drew my attention to Professor Layton a long time ago: its music.
Professor Layton's theme, The Looming Tower, Veil of the Night, Ferris Wheel Park, The Village Awakens, the ending theme... Curious Village has one of the most unique OSTs out there, easily.
That said, I wouldn't actually finish it for real until recently, despite knowing about the series for like, 10 years by now. I sampled the first game at one point and did enjoy it, but didn't push through more than the first couple of hours for whatever reason. Revisiting the Ace Attorney series brought my attention back to it though. "Oh yeah, there's that crossover game, right? I better check out the PL games before going into that, then."
Playing this during breaks in my routine in the past week was really fun! Curious Village is a pretty good mobile/portable game, best experienced in short bursts over time. That is, until the story finally hooks you.
One of Professor Layton's defining traits(aside from its masterful soundtrack, I will not shut up about it) is that it features a story on top of its puzzles. You're not just completing a series of challenges on a list like Picross or something, you're also supposed to piece together the truth behind a mystery taking place in the village. I read somewhere that originally, Level-5 didn't plan on taking this approach at all and were instead going to release a puzzle collection a-la Brain Age, but I'm SO glad they went this route because the story is actually pretty interesting!
I don't know if it was thanks to me playing the game on short bursts or initially paying more attention to the puzzles than the story, but I did not see that twist coming at all. Eventually I put the hints together and immediately went "Holy shit, what?????" and HAD to get to the end in one night. Cut to me at 4am, drifting to sleep to one of the most beautiful ending themes I've ever heard.
The aura that hangs over the game once you realize what's going on is so bittersweet, and it's SO effective. A short and simple story that knew exactly how to aim for my heart strings, helped in no small part by its beautiful, often melancholic soundtrack.
That said, this setup does raise some issues. Once the story caught my attention and had me wanting to see the end, the puzzles felt more like bothersome roadblocks than interesting brainteasers. Thankfully I had already completed most puzzles in the game by that point and the last ones blocking your way to the final room mostly didn't give me trouble, but when they did pose a challenge, I just ended up looking up the answers online instead of racking my brain for an answer like I had done with every other puzzle until then. I'm curious to see how they'll address this balance in future games, if at all.
Oh, right-- the puzzles! I spent all this time talking about other shit, but at the end of the day this is a puzzle game after all. They're good!
130+ short problems that'll have you scratching the side of your head with a stylus for a good, long while. Loved the sliding block and Queen puzzles, and the wordplay ones were my favorites. Picking out little details on what exactly was being asked of me for a solution had me thinking back to testimonies in the Ace Attorney series.
Now, they don't all hit the mark. The "who's lying?" puzzles were a bit samey, and there's a couple of them with pretty bullshit solutions. (The chocolate keyboard one comes to mind)
All in all, I really wish I had played these games earlier. Curious Village is such a good starting point, I'm gonna dive in the next games right after writing this. Considering how much I enjoyed the story here, I can hardly wait to see what lies ahead.
Man, the DS really is goated, isn't it? Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, Etrian Odyssey, Trauma Center; so many great gems on this little guy.
Professor Layton's theme, The Looming Tower, Veil of the Night, Ferris Wheel Park, The Village Awakens, the ending theme... Curious Village has one of the most unique OSTs out there, easily.
That said, I wouldn't actually finish it for real until recently, despite knowing about the series for like, 10 years by now. I sampled the first game at one point and did enjoy it, but didn't push through more than the first couple of hours for whatever reason. Revisiting the Ace Attorney series brought my attention back to it though. "Oh yeah, there's that crossover game, right? I better check out the PL games before going into that, then."
Playing this during breaks in my routine in the past week was really fun! Curious Village is a pretty good mobile/portable game, best experienced in short bursts over time. That is, until the story finally hooks you.
One of Professor Layton's defining traits(aside from its masterful soundtrack, I will not shut up about it) is that it features a story on top of its puzzles. You're not just completing a series of challenges on a list like Picross or something, you're also supposed to piece together the truth behind a mystery taking place in the village. I read somewhere that originally, Level-5 didn't plan on taking this approach at all and were instead going to release a puzzle collection a-la Brain Age, but I'm SO glad they went this route because the story is actually pretty interesting!
I don't know if it was thanks to me playing the game on short bursts or initially paying more attention to the puzzles than the story, but I did not see that twist coming at all. Eventually I put the hints together and immediately went "Holy shit, what?????" and HAD to get to the end in one night. Cut to me at 4am, drifting to sleep to one of the most beautiful ending themes I've ever heard.
The aura that hangs over the game once you realize what's going on is so bittersweet, and it's SO effective. A short and simple story that knew exactly how to aim for my heart strings, helped in no small part by its beautiful, often melancholic soundtrack.
That said, this setup does raise some issues. Once the story caught my attention and had me wanting to see the end, the puzzles felt more like bothersome roadblocks than interesting brainteasers. Thankfully I had already completed most puzzles in the game by that point and the last ones blocking your way to the final room mostly didn't give me trouble, but when they did pose a challenge, I just ended up looking up the answers online instead of racking my brain for an answer like I had done with every other puzzle until then. I'm curious to see how they'll address this balance in future games, if at all.
Oh, right-- the puzzles! I spent all this time talking about other shit, but at the end of the day this is a puzzle game after all. They're good!
130+ short problems that'll have you scratching the side of your head with a stylus for a good, long while. Loved the sliding block and Queen puzzles, and the wordplay ones were my favorites. Picking out little details on what exactly was being asked of me for a solution had me thinking back to testimonies in the Ace Attorney series.
Now, they don't all hit the mark. The "who's lying?" puzzles were a bit samey, and there's a couple of them with pretty bullshit solutions. (The chocolate keyboard one comes to mind)
All in all, I really wish I had played these games earlier. Curious Village is such a good starting point, I'm gonna dive in the next games right after writing this. Considering how much I enjoyed the story here, I can hardly wait to see what lies ahead.
Man, the DS really is goated, isn't it? Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, Etrian Odyssey, Trauma Center; so many great gems on this little guy.