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After four years of silence from Level-5’s Professor Layton series, it would appear we may be getting two Layton games in the space of the year.
Level-5’s new Layton game, Layton’s Mystery Journey, is set to launch on 3DS this Friday (October 6th), following its launch on Android and iOS devices earlier this year in July, but now it appears there’s another Layton game scheduled for "late summer 2018," according to License Global(via IGN).
It’s currently unknown whether Professor Layton himself will return to the lead role, as the upcoming Layton’s Mystery Journey currently stars his daughter, Katrielle. We’d be surprised if Katrielle was canned so quickly, as Level-5Abby’s director of games marketing Lucy Pozniak told MCV at E3 in June that she’s "a great conduit between multiple ages and genders and everything in between, so we’re very excited for her to be the hero of this game."
She also added that having a female lead was "a nice way to reinvent the title and keep it relevant and current," but her fate will likely depend on the 3DS version’s sales figures more than anything else.
Of course, the new Layton game may simply be a western release of the iOS and Android title, Layton 7, which is already available in Japan.
Whatever form it takes, it won’t be the only Level-5 franchise making a return in 2018, as Licence Global also mentions another Inazuma Eleven title is in the works. This game will reboot the series by retelling the original story, and will be available "on Nintendo platforms," the article states. It will also be supported by a new anime series, as well as licensed apparel and footwear partnerships.
Level-5 is also looking to introduce its latest series, Snack World, to western shores sometime in 2018-2019, along with a similar consumer products program to its current Yo-Kai Watch series.
