That was an interesting stream. It seems like they’re really trying to lean hard into the standard “Nintendo Direct” format, to the point where you can see exactly what they’ve just directly copied. I feel like the theming that they went with was a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, I have my doubts over how heavily it leans into the traditional Japanese style as one of Level 5s biggest problems over the years is how much they alienated their audience.
On to the games themselves, Deca Police seems interesting, but at the same time it looks like a combination of a bunch of other games. Danganrompa, Persona, and a few other things came to mind. What’s really interesting is that the directly describe it as a “crime suspense that breaks the mold from the Layton series,” which implies that it’s connected to Layton in some way. I’ll definitely have to look further at this.
We also got a new Fantasy Life trailer, and while I don’t know enough about Fantasy Life to really say much about it, I did notice that they directly mentioned the “i” in the logo was in reference to the fact that the game now takes place on an island, as if it needed another reason to be compared to New Horizons.
Finally Professor Layton and the New World of Steam got a slightly more in depth look. While it was pretty obvious based on a few context clues, we finally got a verbal confirmation that it’s a direct sequel to Unwound Future, which is amazing news. We got a closer look at the games story, including what seems to possibly be a shift in focus from Layton himself as a main character to Luke. There are a few other things that I won’t bother with here, but needless to say I’m excited.
As for the other two games, I didn’t pay much attention. I did notice that they said that every team member ever is returning to Inazuma Eleven (they didn’t say if this included the Layton team from the first game or not, as they were never playable).
The last thing that they said is that while the international release dates for each game will be different, they are looking to have all of them released globally by next year. I was kinda hoping for a more concrete release date for Layton, but it’s a start.
This was a good first stream for them, and I really hope they continue with the format.
www.level5.co.jp