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The 5 most exciting changes Luigi's Mansion 3 is bringing to the series
Luigi's Mansion 3 is one of the most exciting games coming to Nintendo Switch this year, we played it at E3 to find out the biggest changes the sequel is bringing to the franchise.
Luigi's Mansion 3 is one of the premier titles coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. It's been six years since Luigi stumbled into a haunted house and it looks like he learned a thing or two from his previous exploits.
The third entry in the franchise has deeper combat, more expansive levels, layered enemies, and a ton of secrets to uncover in the dusty halls of the creepy hotel Mario and Peach are trapped in. We don't know a ton about Luigi's Mansion 3 yet, but we did get our first glimpse at E3 earlier this month. It's launching on Nintendo Switch later this year.
We got to try Luigi's next adventure first hand, fighting through castle arenas, wine cellars and dark elevators against ghosts of all shapes and sizes. Through our playthrough we caught a number of ways the series is changing.
Luigi is far more aggressive
In the first two games Luigi was mostly defensive, he let ghosts come to him and then shocked and disarmed them before capturing the pesky things. They'd always attack him with big swords and punches, but Luigi never dropped his non-lethal approach.
This game is a tad different as Luigi takes matters into his own hands. When he tries to suck them in he slams them face-first into the ground repeatedly, whittling away at their health. He has other movesets that are new to the series as well.
Luigi can use his poltergust to jump over obstacles and he can shoot a plunger and throw objects with it. Other abilities from the last two games, like his dark light that can uncover hidden doors, are returning as well.
All these abilities come together to form a better type of gameplay when fighting ghosts, you're not just lighting them up with the flashlight and sucking them in. You're figuring out their weakness and having a bit of fun too.
Gooigi is Luigi's synthetic partner in crime
© Nintendo
There's two player co-op with Gooigi
While Dark Moon, Next Level Games’ 3DS entry in the series, had some multiplayer modes. Luigi's Mansion 3 offers two player co-op for the story alongside a bigger Scarescraper dungeon-crawling multiplayer experience.
Gooigi is the real star though, he's a gooey version of Luigi that can be split off to help solve puzzles. He can walk through bars and over spikes with ease. During a short demo Googi was used to open an elevator and push a windmill to help Luigi get down. It was a simple puzzle, but Nintendo have promised deeper challenges once the final game comes out.
A second player can control Gooigi too, similar to how a second player could control Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. That means a big part of the game can be played through with two players. Whoever controls Gooigi can help player one get through puzzles.
Bosses are deeper with their own backstory
During our short demo we fought a ghost knight, a ghastly red creature covered in armour, who would ride around his arena until he was ready to charge. Once he peeked his head up before attacking we could stun him with our flashlight, pull his plate armour with our plunger, and expose him with our vacuum.
It's an interesting fight, and Nintendo have promised more of the same. They confirmed that portrait ghosts, the infamous fights from the first game, would be returning.
If you don't remember or didn't play the first game, portrait ghosts were unique fights with specialised ghosts. They were designed with an entire fight in mind – a boxer in a gym who used his boxing room against us and a glutton who would barf the food he just ate right at us.
They were imaginative scenarios that were more exciting as the game went on and it makes us excited for what Nintendo have in store for Luigi's Mansion 3.
The haunted hotel has a big variety of different environments
© Nintendo
The hotel is one big level
The original Luigi's mansion had the green hero stumbling around one huge mansion, looking through it's dusty halls and gardens while he tried to find Mario. The second game split the adventure up into multiple bite sized houses with different quirks, it was a fun change but it didn't capture the magic of the first game.
Luigi's Mansion 3 is spread out into one big hotel with a huge variety of environments including a knight's arena, a film set and a greenhouse. We don't know if you'll be able to freely wander around in the whole hotel or if it'll be split into different parts. The demo featured several rooms that required no loading when moving between them. Either way, it's a move in the right direction.
The demo was also teeming with secrets – hidden passageways, invisible chests, and collectibles fill every room you enter. Having one huge open level to explore gives these secrets more weight, possibly connecting different parts of the hotel. Having it split up would be a bit dull, leaving less room for mysteries that include exploring the entire hotel.
Nintendo revealed a lot of new info about Luigi's Mansion 3, but there is still plenty of information we don't have. We're bound to get more before it launches on Switch later this year.
