Luigis Mansion 3 Preview

Last week, Nintendo of Canada gave us the opportunity to play with the new Nintendo Switch Lite, and a number of their upcoming first party titles, including the much anticipated Luigi’s Mansion 3. Although I’ve never played Luigi’s Mansion personally, my wife has been a big fan ever since the original launched on the Nintendo GameCube. Although Luigi’s Mansion 2 didn’t grab her in the same way the original did, there is definite hype in our household for the third installment in the franchise.

During our 10-15 minute demo, we had the opportunity to experience many of the new mechanics being brought to Luigi’s Mansion 3. Set in a fairly wacky hotel – where each floor represents a different ‘theme – Luigi’s Mansion 3 builds on what the previous two games have built, that you will use your ghost sucking machine to rid the facility of all unwanted ghosts.

New twists and gadgets are being added this time around, as well as a brand new character to the Nintendo universe, Gooigi. Gooigi is a clone of Luigi, but made entirely of goo (why not capitalize on that hot trendy toy, am I right?). Because of this body makeup, Gooigi can sneak through bars and down into grates by shrinking down into a gooey liquid, and regaining form once through the obstacle.

The inclusion of Gooigi has also brought around the ability to play cooperative Luigi’s Mansion 3. While my wife won’t be able to cooperatively play with myself– she can’t stand playing cooperative games with me! – this will be a great option for when I want to play with the kids.

Although we had seen a fair amount of Luigi’s Mansion 3 game play via E3 2019, actually getting our hands on the game allowed us to appreciate some of the new changes more than watching a video ever could have. We thoroughly enjoyed the puzzles that required Luigi and Gooigi to split up: moving through spikes to pull a switch, or blowing a fan to move one character down an elevator, then doing the reverse from the bottom to move the other character down. They were fun to complete, and not overly challenging either.

The game rewards those that invest in the environment. Using each of the tools available to Luigi, exploring each room netted some great rewards; fortunately, the game really promotes exploration, so it never really felt like a chore, at least in our short time with the game.

While there is a bit of a learning curve associated with playing Luigi’s Mansion 3 – more so than in most Mario titles – we think it’s going to be a big success when it lands on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite this October!