Play Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box Online

Summary

Holding the DS stylus feels like a detective’s notebook; Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (known as Pandora’s Box in Europe) turns each brain‑teaser into a tiny case to crack. You earn picarats by solving sliding, logic or drawing puzzles, using limited hint coins that you discover scattered throughout the many locales Luke and the Professor visit. Every cleared puzzle may grant a hamster‑toy, a camera shard, or tea‑ingredient, and completing the full 138‑puzzle roster unlocks fifteen hidden challenges for the ultimate 153‑puzzle marathon. The title also hooked up to Nintendo Wi‑Fi Connection, delivering a fresh weekly puzzle for over half a year before the service shut down in 2014, and includes special bonuses triggered by secret codes from the first and third games. Critics praised the refined puzzles, charming animation, and Tomohito Nishiura’s soundtrack, earning A‑ratings, award nominations, and over 1.2 million copies sold in the West, where it even became the fastest‑selling DS title in the UK.

Storyline

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box begins when world‑renowned archaeologist Layton receives a clue after his mentor Dr. Andrew Schrader collapses while holding the cursed Elysian Box. The only evidence is a ticket for the Molentary Express, prompting Layton and his self‑proclaimed apprentice Luke to board the train.

Aboard the Molentary Express they are joined by Inspector Chelmey and a mysterious girl named Flora, who later reveals herself as an impostor after Don Paolo kidnaps the real Flora. The train stops at Dropstone, celebrating its 50th anniversary, where Layton learns founder Sophia once sought the box.

The train is rerouted to Folsense, a mining town plagued by a hallucinogenic gas released fifty years ago. There they meet Anton, who claims to be a vampire, his granddaughter Katia, and discover a hidden mine beneath the castle that intensifies the nausea.

After exposing Don Paolo’s disguise, Layton and Luke open the empty box, revealing it once contained Sophia’s love letter to Anton. The collapsing castle forces everyone to flee, and the gas dissipates, showing Anton as an old man and Folsense as an abandoned settlement. Back in London, Dr. Schrader awakens from his coma, and the credits tease a future adventure with a time machine.