How to play the Professor Layton Games in order

The Professor Layton games are an absolutely stunning example of the puzzle genre, with some crime-fighting thrown in for good measure. With the next installment in the series coming in 2025, let’s take a look back at the previous releases. 

If you want to play all of the Professor Layton games, you’re likely wondering whether you should do it chronologically or in order of release. Well, the good news is that either option is entirely open to you. It just depends on whether you can handle some differences in gameplay. 

How to play all Professor Layton games in release order

Within the community, it’s commonly believed that this is the preferable way to play through the series of games. Although the story will be a bit disjointed, as the chronological order of the games is different from the release order, it can be hard to overcome gameplay differences.

Many of the later games implemented quality-of-life upgrades, which would have made the earlier games much nicer to play, so losing them can make it hard to stomach the older games.

Here’s how to play all of the Professor Layton games in order of release:

How to play all Professor Layton games in chronological order

If you’re able to accept that gameplay might be a little inconsistent, then you can play the games in chronological order. It’s like watching the Star Wars movies in chronological order and having to accept that the older movies, while more recent in the in-universe timeline, have more dated effects. 

Based on the Prime Minister’s speech during the prologue of Unwound Future, the Professor Layton games mostly take place in the 1960s, although the exact time setting for each game is unknown. 

Here’s the chronological order of all Professor Layton games so far:

1. Professor Layton and the Last Specter
2. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
3. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
4. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
5. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
6. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
7. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
8. Layton Brothers: Mystery Room
9. Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy

When is the next Professor Layton game going to be released?

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam is set to release on Nintendo Switch at some point during 2025. The events we’ve yet to see in the upcoming addition to the Layton universe take place one year after the events of Unwound Future, which would place New World of Steam as the eighth game in the chronological order of Layton games.