Update:

In happy news, it's been confirmed that this is due for a Fall / Autumn in North America and Europe.

Original Article:

After flirting with the idea for a dramatic change of direction in the Layton series after its first six releases on DS, 3DS and some smart devices, Level-5 shifted towards a more subtle evolution. Last year it unveiled the next entry, and has now solidified details with a final name - translated as Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaire's Conspiracy - and confirmed that it'll arrive on 3DS and smart devices in Japan on 20th July. The smart device release is set to be 'worldwide', but right now the Nintendo portable iteration only has a Japanese release date.

As anticipated the famous Professor isn't the lead here, but rather his daughter Katrielle, in what is described as a relatively light-hearted and comedic take on the IP's formula. Based upon the trailer we can expect this to begin a series of its own.

Katrielle is a "jack-of-all-trades and mystery-solving detective" who solves strange incidents that occur in London. She'll take on any job, from looking for someone's pet cat to exposing the criminal in a murder case. Her bizarre ideas for solving cases are gradually becoming a topic, and she's starting to receive various cases.

While she originally started working as a detective to find her father Hershel Layton who suddenly disappeared, she is working to solve a variety of mysteries in town in the course of it. As she is pursuing new requests each day, the search for her father Hershel is not progressing.

Katrielle has an assistant to help her in her deductions. That assistant's name is Sharo. A dog who can somehow talk. So then, what kind of hard to understand mysteries await Katrielle?

It'll be interesting to see how rapidly this is localised on smart devices in July, and whether the 3DS version also makes its way out of Japan promptly. Are you hoping to solve some mysteries with Katrielle later this year?

[source gematsu.com]