Luigi’s Mansion 3 has been one of the most hyped games for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Players had only great expectations for developer Next Level Games, who had experience with the franchise previously, having developed Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. In the end, Luigi’s Mansion 3 has been worth the wait, providing a well-made, light-hearted adventure that can be enjoyed by newcomers to the series and veterans alike.
Not Technically A “Mansion”
Strictly speaking, the game title is an outright lie. The third game in the series moves past the mansion as its main setting, and onto a large hotel. Luigi arrives with Mario, Peach, and three Toads. In no time at all, the spirits that haunt from within are revealed and everyone is captured. Everyone of course, except Luigi, who gets to work to save his friends with a new Poltergust, the G-00, which serves as the main way of combating opponents and solving puzzles.
The basic premise of the game has Luigi searching each floor for the means to access the next floor, and the next, until finally reaching the top and saving his friends. Each floor is a mix of ghosts to defeat, puzzles to solve, and a boss to overcome. Those familiar with the game will feel right at home, and new players should have no difficulty jumping right in.
Each Floor Feels Unique
One of the biggest surprises of Luigi’s Mansion 3 is that each floor of the hotel feels entirely distinct from one another. Exploring the available rooms initially reveals an expected mix of cliché environments with shadowy atmospheres and ghosts, but soon players gain access to areas that look as though they have moved to a new game entirely. The Egyptian and Hollywood level, for example, are two of the most contrasting designs, and they work perfectly.
The range of environments is great, and at a fundamental level, the game simply looks fantastic. Despite being based around the idea of a spooky, haunted hotel with shadows and ghosts, the colors are vibrant and stand out throughout thanks to the diverse level design and the use of Luigi’s flashlight.
Luigi himself is a complete mess as he moves through each floor, always peering to see what lies ahead, and genuinely looking like he is going to suffer a heart attack at any moment. This is a perfect representation of Luigi and never feels out of place. Quite the opposite is true, as the game provides comedy and action, making us feel for Luigi, but never for too long as he takes control overcomes his ghostly opponents.
Familiar Controls
Fans of the original games will feel right at home as the core gameplay remains intact from the original games. Puzzles are simple compared to the previous games, but never feel repetitive or chore-like. This was bound to be the case since the action comes entirely from the Poltergust.
Coins are littered throughout the game as well and are often discovered simply by investigating every bit of each level. This might be a bore in other games, but the level of detail is so high that it is quite enjoyable to see what each place holds.
These coins are used to purchase things like extra lives. At first, one may be tempted to thoroughly search everywhere to maximize their supply of coins, but it quickly becomes clear that one is given an abundance of coins that are not necessary as the game progresses. It would be nice to see these coins used for something else, such as cosmetics to swap out in-game, similar to Super Mario Odyssey.
Gooigi Reporting For Duty
Players are given access to Gooigi after only a short way into the game, who is the green goo clone of Luigi from the Nintendo 3DS remake of the original game. Since a player can only control one of the two characters at a time, his use is primarily to solve problems, having access to places that Luigi cannot reach. In co-op mode, player two takes control of Gooigi and can actively participate alongside Luigi, which is one of the best features of the game and adds an entirely new dynamic to what many expected to be limited to a single-player experience.
A Great Game, But Relatively Short
Completion of Luigi’s Mansion 3 should clock in at roughly fifteen hours, which is an improvement on the original game, but feels so short compared to any other title in the Super Mario universe. Super Mario Odyssey is perhaps an unfair comparison to make as a game that delivered far more content than most expected, and Super Mario Maker 2 has potentially infinite replayability so long as the player base continues to make high-quality content.
While the mechanics of the core gameplay remain largely unchanged, they are also the biggest restriction to creating longer games in the Luigi’s Mansion series. Super Mario games can be feature levels to speed through like other platformers, or slow down and offer heavy puzzle elements. Luigi’s Mansion 3 already does an outstanding job in making the game feel fresh throughout, despite having a more limited control scheme.
At the end of the day, this is an outstanding Luigi’s Mansion game, but we as Nintendo Switch owners have been spoiled in the past two years with a flood of great games with far more content. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Complete Edition, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Octopath Traveler, and others offer far more bang for your consumer buck. Many players will not mind the relatively short playtime, but it is something to consider.
A copy of Luigi’s Mansion 3 was purchased for this review. The Luigi’s Mansion 3 game is available now on the Nintendo Switch.
Luigi's Mansion 3
Launched for the Nintendo Switch in 2019, Luigi's Mansion is an action-adventure puzzler in which you play Mario's hapless brother. You must traverse a haunted hotel full of horrors in order to rescue your friends.