Professor Layton and the Emotional Trauma - A Lost/ Unwound Future Retrospective 

You never touched on my favorite part, just as they turn the car into a flying machine and Luke says “professor, I didn’t know you could fly a plane?” And Layton replies “A plane? This is an automobile”. Great line, even greater delivery.

The last scene between Layton and Claire still fucks me up. A man we've seen the entire time just being cool, rational, and collected loses his composure over losing his loved one a second time. "You can't go! I don't want to say goodbye again; I can't, I won't!" That line feels so human to me.

You realise how traumatised Layton was by Claire's death when you notice that he never brings up Claire's death until it becomes absolutely necessary. Sure early in the game he tells Luke about 'somebody he used to know', but he never mentions she's dead. And when they start investigating the lab explosion ten years ago Layton doesn't mention Claire directly, he just says that 'though many perished in the accident'. Poor guy was so emotionally damaged by her death he doesn't bring it up until Luke asks when they exit the Towering Pagoda in Chapter 8 or 9, I think it is (when they start working with Don Paolo).

Bill Hawk wanting to use his lab assistant as the subject of an extremely dangerous and volatile experiment and taking advantage of Dmitri but facing no consequences for his actions and becoming prime minister is exactly what I'd expect from UK politics

The game which taught me at an early age the true, most reprehensible villains are not those placed in bad situations. But those in high places, able change the courses of so many lives for personal gain and never think on it again. Bill Hawks is the villain of of every character within Lost Future, and when faced head on with that idea, pays it no mind. Easily the most hate-able character in the series, without much competition.

I'm not even gonna lie, rewatching that final scene made me cry again.

"I'm glad my Layton content keeps aging poorly" is such a fan statement

This dude really made an hour long retrospective for this game and didn’t even MENTION Beasly… easily the most emotional part 🥺

I will never get over that in the flashback where Dimitri finds Claire's body after the explosion you can actually see her wearing her Celeste outfit. They deadass showed us mid-game what followed after Claire vanished in the end. The scene is already made to make you FEEL that she returned back into her time to die only for you to notice upon replaying that they already SHOWED IT!

I was so in love with older Luke when I first played this as a kid, man

The moment the professor cried BROKE ME I SOBBED FOR LITERAL DAYS AS A CHILD

The knowledge that New World of Steam will actually continue this story and see Layton and Luke reunite in America fills me with this weird mix of joy and nostalgia. A bit disappointing that the timeskip is of merely 1 year though, feel like they could have made it 5 years or something to make it more impactful.

I think it's funny how NOBODY questions the clock shop owners. It's specifically said that THEY are the only ones who can work the elevator with the reveal scene literally showing them using it. They are literally the ONLY PEOPLE that know about Dimitri's plan aside from Layton and not a single person cares about them.

That scene where layton breaks down and cries holding the only thing he has to remember Claire always breaks me. It is a videogame moment I will never forget and was very glad there were more games coming in the future. I can't wait to see the reunion between him and Luke in the new world of steam

I just noticed how in the Claire flashback with the hat, the only background sound is a clock ticking. Because their time together is running out by the second 😭😭😭 Also both of the first two flashbacks focus on clocks

It’s been said so many times before but Layton’s outward distress over losing Claire again is just supremely good character development. Layton is a thoroughly likeable and charming protagonist but he always has his shit so uncannily together that he seems almost inhuman. Letting all the emotion and vulnerability out in one shocking burst has embedded him and this game in my memory for over a decade and likely for the rest of my gaming life.

I named the parrot tiny Luke so that we could have three Lukes at once.

The scene where Layton removes his hat is peak fiction, hits so hard

I finished this game only a couple of weeks ago and legit cried in front of my DS. My family was so confused wheeze

Woah, this is a culture shock. In the UK version of the game, the bombs in Dimitri's puzzle don't spell 317/LIE, but 00, or rather ∞, the infinity symbol (with the catch being that they have infinite time because there are no bombs). I'm astounded it's taken me this long to learn about this change! Anyway, cracking series of videos, hoping you'll do the prequel trilogy too!

The fact that the game is called "Lost Future" in the EU makes the final cutscene even more impactful than it already is. The "roll credits" moment, when Claire says "and our... Lost Future" with that pause. Damn that was... a thing. I distinctly remember playing the game as one of the first games I played in English, rather than my native German. So worth it.

the way I dropped EVERYTHING to click on this notification oh my goodness

This games voice cast is fire not only do you have Liam O’Brien as the Doctor. You also have Yuri Lowenthal as future Luke so this game has both Sauske and Gara.

A headcanon to make you cry : Dimitri held Claire while she was agonizing. Delirious, she called for Hershel, and Dimitri impersonated him to reassure her, the woman he loved, as she was passing away.

No joke, the slot machine gun would be an awesome final smash.

Funny to see that in the english game the mini game with the bombs spells lie, here in France we had two zeroes, and when Luke starts to panic bc he thinks the time is up, Layton reveals that it's not two zeroes but the infinity symbol, meaning that they have all the time in the World for there is no bomb

It's weird. I remember Curious Village. I remember Diabolical Box. I remember LOVING the third game more than the other two. Loving Don Paulo's reveal. Loving how much I hated Clive. And crying uncontrollable tears at the finale....but my consciousness blocked out WHY it was I cried so much because I actually couldn't handle the loss at the end because of how close to home it hit for me at the time. I hadn't picked up the game since completing it, but after watching this video I now know why and remember how important this game was to me in my grieving state. Thank you for putting this together and reminding me.

Thank you for pointing out that Stahngun was voiced by Liam O'Brien, because my god, the Critrole cast will just never stop blowing my mind by retroactively unmasking themselves in my favourite childhood media, huh? 😂

As a child i frequently redid the last bit of the story in all of the professor layton games so i remember all the puzzles and story beats from every game quite well. What i also remembered is that every time i replayed this ending, i sobbed like a baby. So when i replayed this game a bit ago i knew fully well what was coming so i was convinced i wouldnt cry. Guess what: i heard that first note of piano and didnt stop sobbing till the credits were done. Phenomenal game, made my childhood

Just remember when I played it the first time Seeing Layton laying on the ground unconscious hit me hard and was when I pieced everything together and just knew in my heart… this game wasn’t going to have a happy ending. And then that ending. I managed to hold it together for as long as I could. And then Layton broke and begged Claire to stay. That was point I lost it and started crying. I played these game since they came out. I knew who Professor Layton was. He was stoic. He was calm. He was a fucking gentlemen. Nothing in these games got to him, but Claire. He loved Claire and couldn’t let her go. It was the first time a game made me cry. Hell I remember I was so sad that even my parents noticed I was down later. I remember playing the game a second time before Azran Legacy came out and I wanted to play the games again before playing it. The scene made me cry again… hell every scene with Claire made me cry, since now I knew what was coming. And even now watching this video 13 years later, these scenes still make me cry. Such a great series and I can’t wait for New World of Steam to crush my heart.

Fucking hell didn't expect to tear up after all this time yet again at that final scene

If you look at the clock shop from the stairs next to the cafe, you can actually see it goes up extremely high, you can also kind of see it on the top screen map

what makes unwound future great? clive.

I love how said future London is meant to be set on the god forsaken year of 2020

“For a series that started with such light-hearted themes, I can’t tell you what it felt like to encounter this finale as a child. Most of us at an age not yet having the tools to interpret it, or worse, being an adult and understanding it all too well.” Geez did you have to write a line that RAW? 😭 I’M SOBBING RN (in all seriousness, great video, 10/10)

You know what's interesting, that LIE puzzle battle with Dimitri isn't the one that Europe got. The set-up is the same, but it was more about figuring out how much time they had left on those bombs, and while it looked like 0 0 (so no time left) it was actually the infinity sign. (bombs will never go off) The Lost Future really liked to have these plot twists in puzzels and the story and I like them a lot. The double truths were excellent in this game. The moment of Luke telling that his family is moving, Flora complaining that there is no future-counterpart of her and the best character in the whole series, Pavel the explorer who gets lost comically everytime, ending up in this "future" mentioning him wanting to visit the famous caves under Rome. All of that, I see all of that as great foreshadowing the fake future. (Gonna add that I played the Dutch Version, so that might have introduced some changes.)

This game definitely deserves a spot in the "Games you didn't expect to make you water" pile. As does Elite Beat Agents as well. That Christmas song...

I love how Layton is silent about everyone was eying up his woman

I feel like I did myself a disservice by playing this game when I was too young to fully understand this. Once I can get my hands on the Layton games I don't own, I'm starting a playthrough once again, and I want to thank you for that.

Honestly, I think that the pacing worked to its advantage, as the ending made me nostalgic for the innocent mystery and youthfulness earlier in the game, and series

when I first played this game I was too young to cry (even though I was still devastated), but when I replayed it some years later... yeah I needed a moment at that "... et notre destin perdu." by Claire

I cannot believe how powerful Professor Layton games are. Here we are, watching a newly published video on this series and everybody gathers to appreciate it. Honestly, I still had some tears in my eyes even watching this video. It is truly amazing how Level 5 has developed something that lasts through time. I am overjoyed.

I heard the scientist voice and paused and was like "is that Liam O'brien?". If I had waited 30 more seconds you would have told me. Honestly we stan

the fact that moments after that balls ripping ending, it starts snowing, which we may infer, refers moments close to christmas; not only means he has felt the true sadness in such time of happiness, But, ten years before, he did live the same sadness loosing Claire in the explosion, close to christmas aswell. Truly a masterpiece

I hated this game guts when I was younger, and yet I replayed it so many times because I was obsessed with it. Truly a masterpiece. I never cried playing it as a child, because I didn't want my parents see me crying, but rewatching that finale now had me sobbing.

Thanks, I'm sobbing again because of the final cutscene

FINALLY yes thank you Voyan. You are single handedly responsible for my discovery and love of this series. Your curious village video made me play the OG 3 games, and I just finished unwound future like, 2 days before you dropped this video. Amazing job

Professor Layton had one woman leave on him, which wasn't even her fault, and then decided to leave on all the other women in his life

Everything else I could say aside, gotta say I really love to know I'm not the only one in the universe who wants Layton in Smash I've been yelling about it for years and everyone treats me like I have a second head for it -.-

i have vivid memories of finishing this game at 3am on christmas morning, hiding under my sheets so my parents wouldn’t know i was up, and SOBBING. god what a masterpiece.

This game hit my heart with an iron fist and never apologized. But the 6th game stole the first place of crying. :,)

When I first completed Unwound/Lost Future, back in the DS/3DS era, I cried out loud, already in shock, but in seeing Layton break down like that... it hurt so much! And last year when I completed the story in its mobile remaster... the tears and the pain RETURNED! It's either the nostalgia of having broken down that day or simply the fact that there will never be another game as beautifully written enough to make the eyes of somebody with a titanium-hard heart (like mine) water. That day, because the thought of the series being doomed with Mystery Journey's awfulness and failure, my tears' reason was also that we wouldn't see Professor Layton's face in the new generation of consoles, no matter how much I wished for a collection of the main games to come to Switch... (WHY did they give us Mystery Journey instead?! Then... New World of Steam was announced earlier this year. Seeing him return made me explode in both joy and sadness. I didn't know at what point of the timeline would happen... then the Level-5 Vision came, and my subconscious thought was right: one year after Lost Future, even with the letter sent at its end being recapped. What was one year for them were almost 13 for us. I will patiently wait for New World of Steam, both for the nostalgia and whatever comes next for the series... this time for real. Layton remains as handsome as the day we bid farewell to him.

Thank you SO much for all the effort and hard work put into these videos dude, they're such a treat!

"youve taken awfully good care of that hat i gave you." literally was my breaking point in this game i was genuinely crying at that line

I’ve been replaying the games with these retrospectives, and when I reheard Stahngahn for the first time, I got whiplash since I didn’t know much about va’s when it came out. Now I cant I hear Liam O’Brien hamming it up here and I love it

who would have thought that a puzzle game could make you cry... And no matter how many times you watch the latest cinematic, it touches your heart (at least for me)

I love the scene in Professor Layton Starring 21 Savage where lucky gives the professor a puzzle. Luke: Professor what's 9+10? Layton: 21, 21, 21!

I truly, truly didn’t want to watch the end again. I remember finishing the game during the middle of the week, so many years ago, and feeling this strong hurt in my chest for days. Losing someone we love is excruciating, but retrieving them for so little time then learn we have to let them go again is… it’s inhumane. The Professor was already a character I admired, this made him become a symbole of strength beyond words. I’m still sad about this, but God am I happy to know the story is not over. It is silly to consider fictional characters as friends but when they inspire so many feelings through their journey, I’ve come to the the conclusion that it’s silly not to.

cried again watching that final claire cutscene. hell of an ending that made such an impact on me as a kid, and still does now.

Been looking forward to this for a while, it was a blast to watch as always! When he takes his hat off in that final scene with Claire it is just devastating.

Late to this, but I think one of my favorite aspects of this game - that's become a favorite wherever I've seen it come up again - is the Big Teamup. You don't just have the Layton trio, you have Claire - deeply mysterious and new to us, at the time - but also old (and reluctant) faves such as Chelmey and Barton, and even villains-turned-anti-heroes like Don Paolo; and they all band together and contribute something to the mission. Wonderful stuff.

Dr. Stahngun/Liam O'Brien apparently has a great voice acting career! :D I also thought he sounded like many of the male Sylvari in Guild Wars 2, but turns out no he didn't voice them. Would be cool, though. :)

that end cutscene will never not make me sob. as a kid who didn't really understand romantic love and the fear of losing that person, it still got me because it effectively conveyed those emotions, but now that i'm older it's even more impactful

Considering that the new game takes place after this one, I’m curious if the events of this game will have any effect on the narrative. Also I want to see Flora and Chelmy again. The prequel trilogy was nice but I miss those characters.

The story is so harsh, yet feels so perfect (even though THERE IS SO MUCH UNNECESSARY DIALOGUE), that it hurts to end… Exactly why I loved the anime, and can’t wait to see more of Steam!

What a wild ride this game was. And the video too! :D To be honest, I felt conflicted about many story choices in this game, but Claire's arc is one of those you remember for life for how impactful it was. P.S. Hopefully in the next game they will at least have a newspaper insert saying something like "British politician Bill Hawks imprisoned for bribery". That'd be delightful.

Thanks for making me cry just before I need to go outside and socialise :)

man i just finish this game yesterday, and holy crap, the final of this game made me crying like a child on my ds, and i think i just press A when luke tells the professor he is gonna leave him (i dont remember why) so when the scene of luke saying bye to professor i remember saying whith a surprise face"you will go too luke ?" at the same time i was crying a lot because of all the happenings, mainly when professor says "a gentleman never makes a scnene in public", and luke says "sorry professor but im not a gentleman yet !" man this hit so hard on me

how is the new game gonna deal with a traumatised layton? omg I´m so excited

Little unrequested fun fact about the puzzle showed at around 47:10, the time-bombs which placement spelled "LIE" This puzzle's solution always bothered me when I was younger and I finally understood why! I've played the italian version of the game and, obviously, there was a language barrier to deal with for this one. They ended up graphically changing the solution completely, showing a 00 (or sort of an infinity symbol) instead of the word "LIE", and having the Professor explain that that meant there wasn't a countdown to begin with since Dimitri never placed said explosives. Idk I guess I wasn't entirely satisfied with this explanation as a kid and it always seemed odd to me, but I do now understand that it was probably the best option they had and, I mean, it still served it's purpose And that makes me now wonder...what is the original japanese solution for this specific puzzle? How did they translate it in other languages? Did they keep the 00 for all the non-english speaking countries (I mean, probably)? How many other puzzles in the series had to go trough such changes due to a language barrier? :O Gonna jump into this rabbit hole real quick, brb

Lost Future is my absolute favorite game from this Series, replayed it multiple times and I still cried at the end of your video. It's so emotional, I love it. Amazing video! :D

It was very nice of you to release this the day after i binged watched the others, rip everyone else Edit: I am crying

just finished replaying this game and it goes even harder than i remember

"Mom get the zoloft" annihilated me Thank you so so much for all the efforts and passion you've put into your Layton videos. The editing with in-game scenes, puzzles, musics, immersed me immediately and throughout. Found your commentary well written, comprehensive, and well balanced comically ! I grew up with these games and nowadays don't have as much time to play, so thank you for allowing us to revisit these wonderful games, they truly are gems and you've done them justice !

Boy you made me shiver. I remeber receiving the Ds many yeras ago from my older sister to christmas ( it was hers) and i was so hyped to play many nintendo games like nintendogs and mario sonic olympic games. But next to all the games I found this game. I started it and after a short period time of playing i put it away because it was too hard. Some years later I found a LetsPlay of curios Village watched it and got introduced to this whole serious. I remmberd owning the third part of the triology and speeded trough diabolical box. to finally PLAY a Layton Game and oohhhhhh boyyyyy i was crying after months of sucking at puzzles at listening and wtaching the most amazing story i have ever heard. Your wrap up is amazing and really points out the important parts of the Story. Your channel is extremly underrated and you earn a bigger audience, in my opinion at least. I am writng this while the Ending Sequence where Claire vanishes back in the past to never exist anymore and I hope everybody here had a nostalgic tear running down his cheek watching this video. Love you voyan and donˋt force yourself to have regualary and in a short perioid uploads. This kind of content takes his time and I will wait a Year to see such good content again. I tip my not existing hat for you and I canˋt wait to see the next Episode of the Last Specter. Best Wishes from Germany , Max PS: I actually have the American Version of the Game so I am in Europe owning a Unwound Future Copy xD. I am shure my Dad picked it up in America

I just binge watched your other two Professor Layton vids and felt so lucky to see this recent video lol. Loved the humor, editing, and analysis of each game and I'm so hyped for the new game. I really hope you make videos for the other trilogy. My memory for the Unwound Future was a little foggy but I could not forget how heartbroken it made me feel and that last cutscene hit too hard. Layton's hat is so iconic and to see him finally take it off revealed a vulnerable side to him. Also your videos made me realize just how underdeveloped Flora is. I hope she gets some development in the new game if she ends up tagging along. Haven't played through the last 2 games but from what I remember from The Last Spectre, Emmy was a great character that Flora could have been like as well.

I cry on this game every fucking time, this literally shaped me as a person, I will love this game forever

The emotional resonance of this game was second to none, and I loved this retrospective. The ending suckered punched me again, many years after first playing it. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Thank you for the video! I greatly appreciate your hard work ♥

I just watched your previous Layton video so Im very lucky to get to watch this straight away pfff Good stuff

since WHEN was LIAM O'BRIEN in my CHILDHOOD GAME! cast of critical role is everywhere

I love your videos so much! Thank you & keep up the good work! 💖

yess! so excited to see you covering this one! my personal favorite of the series, there's just so much to love about this one. always happy to have you talking about this series : )

I've been waiting for this for so long and it's finally here, tysm!! It must've been a lot of work but I'll enjoy every single second of this

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE and absolutely loved watching!! Your videos are so fun and heartfelt. I enjoy your humour and editing so much and the way you structured your retrospective is very neat! This game means so much to me, like many others, Unwound/Lost Future is my favourite Layton game ever, and I agree with pretty much everything you said. I knew there were something missing from this game compared to the others and I couldn't put my finger on it, until you said it; the lack of atmosphere. They really had a lot of potential regarding the setting and look of Future London, but, like you said, the story and characters make up for it. There's also something about the game's music that makes me feel so emotional. Unwound Future's theme is also my personal favourite track of the entire franchise (well, Layton's theme will always be the best, but there's something different with this one). I feel like the game's theme encapsulates perfectly the tone and the characters' dynamics, with their different mindsets and life paths, through each individual instrument, melodies and rhythm. And the way it progresses sounds absolutely beautiful. Anyways, I want to thank you for making these Layton videos! As a long-time fan of the series, when you first released your video "The Tragic Tale of Professor Layton" a year ago, I was so incredibly happy to see that some of us still cared and make content for this franchise. When Professor Layton and the New World of Steam got announced during that Nintendo Direct, I couldn't believe it... I was in tears. So yeah, it's very nice to have Hershel and Luke back, I missed them a lot. And I'm glad to be able to see and share this experience with many other passionate fans. 🎩🧩 I'm very excited for the upcoming game and for your upcoming videos! Keep up the amazing work! 💕

Absolutely loving this retrospective! Excited for you to cover my favorite game next!

Thank you so much for doing those videos, I am a huge professor Layton fan and find it incredible to experience it all again through your videos! Already looking forward to your next video!

FINALLY u have released this after SO LONG, u dont know how long i have waited for this vid

I NEED TO THANK YOU SSSSSSO MUCH FOR THIS I APPRECIATE YOUR HARD WORK AND PLEASE CONTINUE THESE TYPES OF VIDEOS!

Fantastic video! Thank you so much for bringing back the memories! :)

I JUST finished watching your vids on the other 2 games perfect timing✨ Been waiting for you to cover this especially after the announcement for the game came out ^^

I’ve been waiting for this video for what feels like forever. Thank you!!

This is such an amazing retrospective! im watching all of them laytons right now in chronological order and o lord am i going through a rollercoaster, Love ur content so much!!!!

Unwound Future is hands down my favorite Layton game, absolutely no contest. I played it for the first time in 2012, and it was my first exposure to the series. I've played it at least 20 times over since then, and I still sob violently at that last cutscene with Claire 11 years later. Even just thinking about it or humming the solemn tune that plays as Layton cries and stares into the sky makes me tear up. I just introduced my roommate and best friend to the series a few days ago, as I just got surgery and they have to be with me all the time to take care of me, and I thought it would be fun to session the original trilogy on an emulator together. We just finished Curious Village and started Diabolical Box. He absolutely loves it so far. I can't wait to see his reaction to Unwound Future. I will also add, in regards to you saying that perhaps the Unwound Future puzzles were just easier because you were getting older, yes. When I played it for the first time, it took me weeks to finish because I got stuck on sooooo many puzzles. When i finally played Curious Village and Diabolical Box much later, I thought THOSE puzzles were crazy easy. But it's probably just because I was 16/17 by then, and was already familiar with the game's usual puzzle tricks and formula's.

Knew this was a long time coming: also love that you had to edit so many times with the shadow drop info just continuing to pour out from level 5. Looking forward to the prequel trilogy being done in 4 years (FR tho awesome recap 🎉)

Unquestionably the best entry in the series, excited to see the retrospective

Now time for Hotel Dusk! And for an actor to play Layton, I would go for Greg Davies even if he's a bit old and giant for the role, I think he is british and witty enough.

First game I ever got emotional playing. Still my favorite Professor Layton. Amazing video, loved the edits. Keep it up 👍

My man. I heard that one song from the Style Boutique OST. There's no hiding. Admit it, my fellow fashion enjoyer. On another point, this was a great video, I loved it. Your comedic timing was on point. Professor Layton is just such a wonderfulseries, I will never not get emotional about it. Thank you for this.

Another amazing video on this awesome series 🥹 I am so glad I got to watch them all as they came out! Your videos are so great and I am excited for you to do the prequel trilogy next 😉 this game in particular was my favorite because of the story and I am glad you covered it as well as the overwhelming amount of time puzzles! Thank you for the months of work 🥰