GamingPickz

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, known in Australia and Europe as Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, is the second game in the Professor Layton series by Level-5. It was followed by a third game, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. The game follows Professor Layton and his self-proclaimed apprentice Luke as they travel cross-country by train to solve the mystery behind a mysterious box that is said to kill anyone who opens it. An enhanced mobile port of Diabolical Box, subtitled "HD for Mobile", was released on December 5, 2018.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.

Puzzle

Your like matters. Every heart nudges this game's GamingPickz Score and where it ranks (a small 5% of the score), so the lists get better for everyone.

Would you recommend it?
Released
2007
Developer
Level-5
Platforms
1 systems
Critics
Not scored
Steam Deck
Unknown
Download
Not stated
We have not written a full review of this game.This is a catalogue entry: everything below comes from a source we can link, checked on a stated date. There is no score and no verdict here, because we only publish those after a reviewer has played the game and written it up properly. Our team may well have played this one. Until someone writes the review, we are not going to imply a verdict we have not put our name to.

The record

Catalogue facts
First released29 November 2007
DeveloperLevel-5
PublisherNintendo
PlatformsNintendo DS
GenresPuzzle

Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1193816, seeded 30 August 2026.

How long is Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box? How long to beat it

Total play time for Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is about 17.5 hours to do everything, and around 12.9 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box length by how much you play
How you playHoursPlayers logged
Just the main story: straight through the critical path12.9h232
Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do15.1h241
Completionist: everything: 100% the game17.5h153

Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.

Where Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box sits on the grid

The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.

The whole catalogueLargely forgotten
Year
70ahead of 22% of the catalogue
Reach
30ahead of 72% of the catalogue

Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.

What readers say about Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.

Loading reviews…

Did it run on your PC?

Tell other players how it ran on your machine. One tap, from your saved PC if you have one.

Where Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box appears

The ranked lists and finder pages Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.

Get the weekly rundown

One email a week: what moved in the rankings, what launched, and what dropped in price. No more than that, and unsubscribing takes one click.

We send the weekly email and nothing else. Your address is never sold, shared or used to build a profile, and it is not readable by anyone visiting this site. See our privacy policy.

Common questions about Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

What platforms is Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box on?

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is available on Nintendo DS. It first released in 2007.

Who made Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box?

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box was developed by Level-5 and published by Nintendo.

How long does it take to beat Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box?

about 12.9 hours for the main story, 15.1 hours with the main extras, 17.5 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.