Lady Layton: why the protagonist is a woman, game structured like a TV series

Last week, during the Level-5 Vision 2016 conference, Level-5 revealed Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy, the latest entry in the Professor Layton series. Unlike Layton 7 (which is still MIA), this is a proper adventure game, with the usual puzzles the series is known for.

One of the main differences with the previous titles is the protagonist: it’s Katrielle Layton, Professor Layton’s daughter (who’s the mother?). In an article found in this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine, Akihiro Hino explains why they chose to go with a female protagonist this time around.

The reason is actually pretty simple (and obvious): about half of all Professor Layton players happen to be women, so they chose to have a female protagonist to appeal to them. But it is said that, in general, men tend to not like male characters, and women to not like female characters, so does this shift really mean the game will appeal more to female players?

For Akihiro Hino, the answer is clear… yes! After all, many drama series with a female lead have become big hits precisely because the series  resonated especially well with women. It’s pretty clear that he hopes the same will happen with Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy!

Finally, he explains that even though the game does have a subtitle like previous Professor Layton games (in that case, The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy), each chapter is actually its own independent story. In fact, the game happens to be structured like a TV series (which makes the comparison with dramas series even more meaningful).

Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone’s Conspiracy (3DS) comes out in Spring 2017 in Japan, and 2017 in the West.

Source: Famitsu
Via: GameMemo
A big thanks to Shun and Ash for their help with translation!