If your a fan of the Professor Layton series, as I am, you’ll want to know that a new iteration will be coming out today, Professor Layton and the Last Spector. Let’s face it, there are only so many great 3rd party game franchises on the DS systems, and this is easily one of the strongest. This fan-favorite, challenging puzzler marks a new chapter for the beloved top hat totting Layton, and Luke, his eternally pre-pubescent side-kick. The game is a prequel to the other games in the series, and invites players to solve Layton’s first case. The theme of the game follows the Halloween theme of ghosts, haunting, and all manner of occult themed puzzle-y goodness. This installation boasts more puzzles than ever, as well as a bonus RPG style sub-game called Professor Layton’s London Life^™.

In Last Specter a distinguished scholar, the not yet famous detective Hershal Layton, receives a dire and disturbing letter from an old chum. Layton decides to travel to a rural town named Misthallery to invsetigate said letter. Layton learns that the town is plagued by a nocturnal phantom, which provides the main conflict and central mystery for our protagonist throughout the game. As per usual for this series, the player will navigate through logic, slide, picture, number and language puzzles. Eventually Layton will meet two of the characters that appear in the other games, Emmy Altava his brainy assistant and his soon to be apprentice Luke Triton. The puzzles cleverly intertwine and reveal the storyline, as is a staple of this series, with plenty of cutscenes to keep the suspense building, to what will be, if it’s at all like it’s predicesors, a brilliant and twisty conclusion.

There will also be DLC puzzle packs as early as Oct. 23rd through the Nintendo^® Wi-Fi Connection.

The sub-game Professor Layton’s London Life will be a RPG style game, where Layton will work odd jobs and collect clues, while interacting with various characters from the main storyline. New storyline information will be your reward, which includes the mysterious origins of a fairy. The side game has over a 100 hours of gameplay, which is rather beefy for a side game, and will be available at any time, not requiring any progression in the main campaign mode.

12 million games sold worldwide, means maybe it’s time to give this series a shot if you havn’t already, because it’s definitely not going away.