Luigi’s Mansion 3 released for the Nintendo Switch on October 31. It is yet another entry in the unique action game series with a simple premise. You play as Luigi, one of the Mario Bros., and you venture through haunted mansions and capture ghosts with a vacuum. The series began on the Nintendo GameCube with Luigi’s Mansion, and a sequel on the Nintendo 3DS was released several years later called Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. The second game was developed by Next Level Games, which went on to develop Luigi’s Mansion 3 as well. The franchise is known for its puzzle-solving elements and whimsically spooky environments. Luigi’s Mansion 3 features many of the same themes and mechanics from the first two entries, but it expands greatly on them to become the best game in the series to date.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 begins with Luigi, Mario, Princess Peach, some Toads, and Polterpup arriving at the Last Resort, an extravagant hotel. It is not long before things take a turn for the worst. During his first night in the hotel, Luigi wakes up to find the Last Resort is much creepier than it originally appeared to be, and the whole place is filled to the brim with ghosts. Mario, Peach, and the Toads have all been captured, and it falls to Luigi to save them. It is a pretty standard set-up for the Luigi’s Mansion series, and it does not do much different with its storytelling. That does not matter as it has always been the charming characters and gameplay that has carried this franchise.
The Mario bros should learn by now that nothing in life is free; at least not high-end mansions or all-expense-paid hotel visits.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 has the benefit of featuring several characters from the Mario series, and this is probably what helped people remember it during its long absences with no new titles. Still, the series adds its own fresh faces to the cast, and it does a lot to flesh out our protagonist, Luigi. His character was created to be similar to Mario, and there was not much to set him apart from his brother in terms of personality until the Luigi’s Mansion series. It established him as a bit of a coward whose loyalty to his brother and friends saw him through any dangerous. Luigi’s Mansion 3 makes these traits apparent as Luigi’s character model is more animated than ever. The way he reacts to loud noises and ghosts appearing is exaggerated, and he is constantly shaking in fear when he is idle.
Professor E. Gadd is the most recognizable face that debuted in Luigi’s Mansion. He is the ghost-obsessed professor that created the Poltergust. He is rather straightforward and willing to put others into danger on his behalf. There is also Luigi’s ghost dog, Polterpup, who Luigi adopts at the end of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. Polterpup provides guidance for the tutorial of Luigi’s Mansion 3, and he will frequently be seen running through rooms in the hotel. I must say that Polterpup is an absolute delight. The way he bounces around projects pure joy onto players.
Some of the only times that my cold, empty, hopeless existence has been meaningful were the moments that Polterpup was onscreen and generally being a good boy.
What Luigi’s Mansion 3 does do differently from the previous games is its setting. The Last Resort hotel is far grander in scale than the mansion locations. There are 17 different floors to explore in the hotel, and each one is like a level. The floors vary in length and difficulty. Some take time to clear the first time through while others are refreshingly short. There are boss ghosts on nearly every floor, and defeating them will net a numbered elevator button. Putting a button back in the elevator allows you to go to the respective level. Each floor has its own theme, some of which are so wild that I was asking myself if this was really a hotel. A small part of me wishes that the game developers stuck with the main theme because it makes little sense to have a medieval castle in the middle of a hotel, but I was usually having too much fun to care about details like that.
In a twist that no one saw coming, the fancy, five-star resort turned out to be a haunted hotel, and it only worth a three-star rating at best.
Luigi is known for his role in platforming games, but he cannot jump in Luigi’s Mansion games. Instead, the Poltergust is Luigi’s means of interacting with most of the environment in Luigi’s Mansion 3, so it helps that it functions intuitively. As the core of Luigi’s Mansion’s gameplay, the developers clearly focused on making the Poltgergust G-00 as fun to use as possible. The iconic vacuum has had a few upgrades this time around, but using it will feel familiar to those who have played the previous games in the series. As one might expect from a vacuum, the Poltergust sucks, but now it also blows. Activating both features at the same time creates a burst, which will knock away ghosts and objects surrounding Luigi.
The Poltergust also has a lightbulb attachment called the “Strobulb” that will normally stun ghosts that look directly into it. Stunned ghosts can be vacuumed up, and they will be completely consumed by the Poltergust when their health drains to zero. Their health will drain faster when Luigi’s moves in the opposite direction of the captured ghost as it struggles to escape. Multiple ghosts can be caught in the vacuum at once. As ghosts are being pulled in, there will be a meter displayed that, when filled up, will allow Luigi to violently slam ghosts against the ground to drain their health faster. They can be slammed into objects to break them or other ghosts to hurt them.
Luigi knows nothing of mercy.
Luigi can eventually use more abilities with his Poltergust. One of them is the Suction Shot, which shoots a suction cup that will attach to certain surfaces; if you see a circular pattern on an object, there is a fair chance that the Suction Shot will stick to it. Sucking up the rope attached to a Suction Shot will allow Luigi to tug on it when filling the slam meter. Another handy upgrade is the Dark-Light Device which has a number of functions. Use it to spot ghosts that might be sneaking through a room. Shining it on certain paintings will allow the contents of those paintings to escape. It will also reveal invisible objects, which will release Spirit Balls upon exposure to the Dark-Light; vacuuming up the Spirit Balls will give the objects physicality.
Probably the most notable upgrade to the Poltergust is Gooigi. This guy appears on the cover art for Luigi’s Mansion 3 for a reason. He is essentially a Luigi copy with his own set of strengths and weaknesses. Gooigi can move through bars, grates, and spikes, but he instantly melts when exposed to water and fire. He also does not have a lot of health compared to Luigi, but if he falls, he will return to the Poltergust, and you can release him again almost immediately. Perfect for suicide missions. Basically, if there is ever a puzzle that Luigi cannot solve on his own, it helps to deploy Gooigi for backup. In the local co-op mode, a second player can control Gooigi.
I am certain that many of these bars are far apart enough that Luigi could slip through without Gooigi’s help, but I will not question it.
The best part about all the different Poltergust mechanics is that not only are they diverse in how each function is used, but they are used often. None of these gameplay elements feel like wasted potential, and they all come together in one complete package. With that said, there is one particular upgrade that gets used late in the game that does not see much use, but that is probably for the best. Activating this ability is such a spectacle that I would hate for it to be overused.
As for the enemies in this game, there are a few standard ghosts with variants to them. Blue ones tend to attack Luigi more directly. Yellow ghosts will throw projectiles. Red ghosts are bulky and can only be vacuumed from behind. Purple ones will sneak up on Luigi and grab him. Some of the ghosts will carry weapons, shields, or other items that make capturing them a little difficult, but Luigi usually has some way of getting around those defenses with his Poltergust. The designs for the boss ghosts truly shine, from how they look to how clever their fights can be. Their personalities are clearly communicated through the way they move to the environments that they inhabit. The boiler room ghost especially left an impression on me. The hotel floor that he takes charge of is littered with his rubber ducks, and there is a certain room where he has a “girlfriend” waiting patiently at a dinner table. One detail I appreciated is how some of the boss ghosts will have unique animations as they are being pulled into the Poltergust as they are defeated, and the imagery is often hilarious.
For some reason, this boss fight with a haunted piano gave me war flashbacks.
Even when Luigi is not hunting for ghosts, vacuuming up absolutely everything for its own sake is enjoyable, and I found myself using the Poltergust G-00 to upend every room that I entered. Most objects will react in some way to the vacuum, and other things Luigi can interact with directly. The amount of breakable objects within the different environments is impressive, but sometimes their physics goes out of control. There have been more than a few times that I would enter a room, and an item sitting on a shelf would randomly fall over. One time, a cup suddenly flew across a room for no discernible reason. Perhaps the place is haunted.
Tearing up furniture is plain fun, but it is incentivized by money and collectibles that can be found throughout the entire hotel. Destroyed objects will sometimes explode into a shower of paper bills. Ghosts drop money, too. Unfortunately, the collectible gems do not seem to serve a purpose, but money within E. Gadd’s lab to buy Golden Bones, Boo Finders, and Gem Finders. Each is worth 1,000 gold, but I will go ahead and disclose that saving money will result in a better rating when beating the game. Beyond that, money does not serve much of a purpose.
E. Gadd’s shop offers a few helpful items, but save money if you want a better rating in the end.
Overall, my playthrough of Luigi’s Mansion 3’s story was a smooth experience. This is thanks to some features like the teleporter that instantly returns it Luigi to E. Gadd’s lab. The elevator makes it quick to switch between floors. There is a hint system that was also guiding me through the early sections of my playthrough until I was annoyed that it was being too helpful. I kept getting E. Gadd’s advice when I just wanted to explore and do anything besides the objective, and sometimes he would not wait long for me to figure out a puzzle before he would practically hand me the solution. It was only then that I thought to check if I could turn off the hints; thankfully, it is possible, but hints are turned on by default.
At some point in the game, players can access the Scarescraper, a local or online, four-player co-op mode of Luigi’s Mansion 3. The mode takes place in either a five-floor or ten-floor building. It requires players to complete tasks like capturing all the ghosts or collecting a lot of money within a time limit. Succeeding in those goals will progress the team to the next floor. The final floor is a boss fight.
As is often the case for Nintendo’s online co-op games with no voice chat, it can be frustrating trying to coordinate with teammates. There are certain puzzle elements in Scarescraper that do not appear in the story mode, and there is no tutorial. Teamwork is crucial here. There are traps that players can be caught in that require the help of others. There are also switches that cannot be activated without the whole team’s cooperation.
Despite this, the only way to communicate with other players is via the directional pad. Using it will send out three different messages: Help, Over Here, and Thank You. It was, unfortunately, a struggle for some teammates to pay attention to these messages when they needed to. I did have fun when I found a good team to play with, but that was not a regular occurrence. I think some of the issues of this mode could have been remedied by having a tutorial that teaches new players what things to do. It definitely would have helped me when I first attempted Scarescaper. It is not possible to carry inexperienced players when certain tasks require the entire team.
Scarescaper can be fun when everyone pulls their weight. Otherwise, you will not get very far. That is just how it is on this earth.
I will admit that I did not get a chance to try the co-op and Screampark modes, but I believe those require local play. I did not have anyone to share that experience with, so I have nothing to say about those modes.
I had a great time with Luigi’s Mansion 3, which was a nearly seamless experience from beginning to end. I still have nostalgic feelings for the first game; its design team knew what they wanted it to be with its standard haunted mansion setting. Luigi’s Mansion 3, at times, felt like it was trying to do too much, but I was enjoying the ride in every moment. I am a bit surprised that Nintendo decided to make another sequel in this franchise. I did not hear anyone asking for Luigi’s Mansion 3 before it was announced, but I am glad we got it, and I would not say no to more of it.
