Expedition Log #7 - Luigi's Mansion 3

[00:00:13] Greetings fellow travelers, vagrants, explorers, wildlanders, and welcome to the Retro Wildlands. My name is Nomad, and this is my gaming podcast where I like to share my thoughts and experiences with a video game that I've discovered or rediscovered while roaming the gaming wildlands. Thank you for joining me around the campfire, my friends. While video games have been a huge

[00:00:39] part of my life these past 41 years, and I've played a decent amount across multiple different consoles, I've always found myself gravitating towards PlayStation. As veteran wildlanders probably know, it was the original PlayStation that catapulted me headfirst into this amazing hobby. Because of that, while I had great experiences with Nintendo growing up, I largely left that world behind.

[00:01:05] As I've gotten older though, I'm committed to fixing that, and the Nintendo Switch has been such a great way for me to experience some older and more modern Nintendo experiences. One series I've been eager to get into was Luigi's Mansion. I've always had a soft spot for Luigi as a character. Don't get me wrong though, Mario is gaming royalty. He's the man who saved the Mushroom Kingdom more times than most people

[00:01:33] remember to change their underwear after all. But Luigi has always been more relatable to me. Mario walks into danger like he's late for work. Luigi walks into danger looking like he already knows this was a terrible idea, and I feel that. Now, this game actually won a community vote I posted on our social media pages a while back. I was getting ready for my annual work trip and wanted something fun to

[00:02:01] bring along on the Switch, so I asked everybody what I should finally sit down and play. Luigi's Mansion 3 ultimately won the vote, which made me both excited and slightly nervous at the same time. Reason being, a lot of people hyped this game up a ton before, during, and after the poll. That caused me to worry a little bit, because what if I'm the one guy who plays this game through and just doesn't get it, or who

[00:02:30] just doesn't enjoy it? Thankfully, that didn't happen here. I had a great time with this game. It felt incredibly charming from the start, and that charm carries almost the entire experience. Nintendo and developer Next Level Games made Luigi feel more expressive and lovable than ever before. His

[00:02:54] animations are incredible throughout the experience. Every nervous glance, shaky step, terrified scream, and awkward celebration adds so much personality. So with all of that said, scooch a little closer to the fire. Tonight, ghosts are on the prowl and the glow of the campfire should keep them at bay,

[00:03:18] as I recount my harrowing experience where the only way I survived was sucking up everything that wasn't nailed down. Gaming Wildlands Expedition Entry 7 Luigi's Mansion 3 Nintendo Switch

[00:03:47] Originally completed April 24th, 2026 I would venture to say that most of us have been on our fair share of adventures. Some of our own

[00:04:14] making and others we find ourselves thrust into. And then there's the sort that start with an invitation. In Luigi's Mansion 3, Luigi, Mario, Peach, and a handful of toads are invited to stay at the last resort. A luxurious hotel after Luigi receives what looks like a dream vacation package. After all of their adventures, the gang is pretty excited to settle in somewhere and enjoy the finer

[00:04:43] things in life for a little while. I mean, who wouldn't be excited? The last resort is located near a vast mountain range and practically touches the sky, promising to captivate and soothe every guest who stays within. The owner of the hotel, Helen Gravely, eagerly awaits the arrival of the gang, outfitting the lobby with colorful banners, streamers, and even full-on portraits of our heroes.

[00:05:12] Excitement is at an all-time high as everyone, including Luigi's ghostly companion Polterpup,

[00:05:18] and the hotel with wonder in their eyes and excitement in their steps. Things, though, are not what they seem.

[00:06:29] Luigi heads to his room and decides to sleep after a long day of travel. However, as he rests and dreams the sweetest of dreams, his world is shattered by the screams of Princess Peach.

[00:06:58] To the surprise of no one, things go wrong almost immediately. The hotel turns out to be haunted. Everyone gets captured by King Boo, and Luigi once again finds himself reluctantly stepping up to save the day. Starting off, Luigi has only a flashlight and whatever droplets of courage he can scrape together as he tries to discover a way to not only save his friends and his brother, but also survive.

[00:07:29] The setup here is pretty simple, as most Nintendo games are, but it works out perfectly. One thing I really appreciated is the hotel setting itself. Now, yes, technically the game is called Luigi's Mansion, and not Luigi's very haunted hotel experience featuring aggressive interior decorating, but once you get past that little detail, the hotel concept is fantastic.

[00:07:55] As Luigi explores the hotel in search of his friends, he'll come across a massive elevator that he could use to go to other floors. We learn early on that Mario and pals are being held on the upper floor, but the buttons for the elevator have been removed and hidden all over the hotel. The hook is working your way through each floor, locating the next elevator button, heading to the

[00:08:19] next floor, and repeating. That sounds kind of mundane on paper, but the cool thing is, every floor has its own distinct theme, and that became one of my favorite things about the entire gameplay experience. The game is a great place to go to the next floor. You never really know what's waiting for you next. One minute you're exploring elegant hotel hallways, and the next you're inside a full movie studio set. Then, after that, you're suddenly climbing through a medieval castle. And then at some point after

[00:08:49] that there's a pirate ship. Yes, a full-on pirate ship, in a hotel! It's crazy! And somehow, the game just makes it all work. Every floor feels like its own mini adventure, complete with unique gimmicks, obstacles, and visual styles. That constant variety kept the game fresh for me almost the entire way

[00:09:12] through. I actually found myself genuinely excited to reach each new floor just to see what insane idea the developers came up with next. The movie studio floor was definitely one of my favorites because it played around with filming mechanics and set pieces in really creative ways. The medieval castle floor was another standout because it leaned hard into the fantasy aesthetic, and the pirate ship area just

[00:09:39] had this fun, adventurous energy that felt completely different from everything before it. While Luigi's Mansion 3 is supposed to be a lightly spooky experience, it was all about the exploration for me. That sense of discovery is a huge part of why the game works so well. At the same time, though, the game's pacing occasionally did stumble a bit for me. There's a reoccurring mechanic where you defeat a boss, finally

[00:10:09] earn the elevator button needed to progress, and then… surprise! A ghost steals it and runs off. Now, the first time it happened I thought, oh, okay, cute little surprise. But by the fourth or I even think the fifth time this happened, I was starting to feel like Luigi needed to invest in pants with deeper pockets or something. It became one of the very few parts of the game that genuinely felt like filler to me.

[00:10:36] I didn't even necessarily mind the backtracking itself because I'm sure veteran listeners know that I really enjoy my survival horror games, and those games are basically built on making you revisit areas. But here, it sometimes felt like the game was artificially slowing progress. Thankfully, the charm and creativity of the world usually made up for those slower moments.

[00:10:59] And one of those charming moments is when Luigi finally finds the one thing he needs to be able to fight back. His trusty vacuum cleaner, the Poltergust G-00, hiding inside an old car that looks hauntingly familiar.

[00:12:11] When it comes to the visual presentation Luigi's Mansion 3 has on offer, I think this game is one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Switch, at least of the games that I've played so far. At times it looked like I was playing a fully animated movie. The lighting effects specifically were fantastic. The reflections, shadows, ghost effects, environmental detail… all of it comes together

[00:12:37] beautifully. The hotel itself feels alive in a weird, haunted sort of way. I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the experience was too. The Nintendo Switch, as I'm sure most of us know, is not out there competing with high-end gaming PCs from a technical standpoint, but this game squeezes a ton out of the hardware.

[00:13:00] And again, Luigi himself deserves special praise. The animation work here is absurdly good. Even little details sell his personality. The way he nervously peeks around corners, the way he reacts when ghosts appear. The way he celebrates after solving puzzles or clearing a room full of ghosts, like he just won the Super Bowl or something. It's impossible not to smile even a little bit when you're watching him.

[00:13:29] Speaking of the ghosts, the ghost designs are also excellent. Some are kinda creepy, some are pretty goofy, some look like they wandered out of a haunted Disney attraction. But nearly all of them have a unique personality. Oh, and the boss ghosts that you face at the end of each floor, they especially stand out because each one feels unique and memorable. Like most Nintendo games, this one doesn't have voice acting,

[00:13:57] but it's still very easy to pick up on each of the ghosts' nuances based on their mannerisms and how they behave. I've also gotta call out the music and the sound design here. The soundtrack isn't necessarily something I'm going to listen to driving to work or anything like that, but it fits the atmosphere in-game perfectly. There's this playful, spooky energy throughout the game, and that's really the

[00:14:21] best way to describe the overall tone. Luigi's Mansion 3, at its heart, is not a scary game. Not really, anyway. It wants to feel spooky without ever becoming overwhelming, which honestly makes it perfect for younger players or people who normally don't enjoy horror games. There are a few moments where the game tries to startle you with both music and sound, but it's all very tame and approachable. Think Halloween

[00:14:48] family movie more so than a survival horror nightmare. But the moments where it's obvious the game is trying a little too hard have to be some of my favorite moments overall.

[00:15:30] When it comes to the core gameplay loop in Luigi's Mansion 3, it revolves around exploring rooms,

[00:15:55] solving puzzles, uncovering secrets, and vacuuming up ghosts. And let me tell you something. The fact that most of this revolves around the vacuum itself is how this game really sunk its hooks in me. The vacuum mechanic itself is ridiculously satisfying. I love tearing apart rooms looking for hidden items and coins and other hidden

[00:16:20] objects. Oh, those are some nice curtains over there. Vacuum them up. Oh, some pretty interesting furniture? Suck them up too. Ooh, a line of potted plants? Goodbye. If it wasn't bolted to the floor, I was trying to inhale it into another dimension with my vacuum. There's just something weirdly relaxing and cathartic about cleaning up a haunted hotel while

[00:16:46] simultaneously causing thousands of dollars in property damage. Building on that a little further, the game constantly rewards curiosity. You'll find hidden money, gems, secrets, and little environmental interactions everywhere. All of it encourages experimentation in a way that feels rewarding instead of frustrating. One major problem I did have with this, though. While you're going to be

[00:17:14] finding tons of money and coins and collecting as much as you can is oh so satisfying, you really can't spend it on much of anything worthwhile. You can turn your money in for some self-revive items in case you perish, or you can use your money on an item or two to help you locate a hidden treasure, but that's really it. I personally would have loved to be able to unlock new abilities, costumes,

[00:17:40] or upgrade the vacuum cleaner itself with the money that I found. Once I knew that money didn't really translate too much, it did make sucking everything up slightly less enjoyable, but only slightly. One of the other enjoyable aspects about this game is how puzzles are designed. The puzzle offerings are one of the game's biggest strengths. For most of the game, I really enjoyed

[00:18:07] how the developers gave you the tools and trusted you to figure things out. Nine times out of ten, you had to use your vacuum in a unique way or utilize one of the abilities you'll gradually come across creatively. There were multiple moments where I got stuck briefly, experimented with my abilities, and then suddenly had one of those satisfying AHA moments when I finally figured out what to do.

[00:18:32] Those moments felt great. It's worth noting that the game never made me feel dumb for experimenting. That said, though, some later game puzzles definitely pushed my patience. Now, I will fully admit that I am not exactly a puzzle-solving mastermind. I've made that clear on previous episodes. I still remember being stuck on a puzzle in the original Silent Hill for two days

[00:18:58] straight because I didn't have access to the internet. If there were a competitive league for accidentally overthinking simple solutions, I'd probably rank up there pretty high. But in Luigi's Mansion 3, there were a few sections where the logic stopped feeling intuitive to me. I tried very hard not to use guides during this playthrough, I really, really did, but eventually

[00:19:23] I cracked and looked up solutions at least twice that I can remember. Could I have figured them out eventually? Eh, probably. Did I want to spend 20 or so minutes wandering around a haunted hotel yelling, What do you want from me? Eh, not particularly. While most of the puzzles were very intuitive and I took to them pretty easy, there were those moments that occasionally hurt the pacing because they

[00:19:49] interrupted the otherwise smooth sense of progression. On that note, combat follows a similar pattern.

[00:20:24] While you're going to be spending a large amount of your time exploring the hotel, some of that time will be spent battling a variety of ghosts who mean to take you with them to the spirit world. At first, fighting ghosts feels fantastic. You stun them with your flashlight, nab them with your vacuum, and even slam them around the room if they're giving you too much trouble. It's extremely

[00:20:47] satisfying, especially if you slam a ghost into his pals for extra damage. The ghosts themselves also have enough variety early on that encounters stay engaging for quite a while while you work out how best to take them on. But eventually, combat does become somewhat repetitive. By the later portions of the game, I started noticing

[00:21:10] the routine more. Flash, vacuum, slam, repeat. Thankfully, the boss fights help keep things exciting. The bosses were probably one of my favorite parts of the entire game. Every major boss encounter feels unique because they're built around puzzle solving just as much as combat. Part of the fun is figuring out how each boss works and identifying the opening that you need to exploit.

[00:21:38] And once you finally understand the gimmick and start dominating the fight, you feel incredibly powerful. The game does a really good job of making you feel clever without making the bosses feel unfair. There may have been one, maybe two bosses that gave me a little bit of difficulty understanding what I needed to do, but the fact that I can't remember them right now should be enough to know how well they did with them. I almost feel bad sucking up the ones I really liked.

[00:22:07] Eh, almost.

[00:22:50] Now, this wouldn't be a complete conversation on Luigi's Mansion 3 if I didn't bring up the game's most unlikely hero. Gooigi. Gooigi is a clone of Luigi, made entirely out of, well, goo. Being made of green goo, Gooigi has a number of abilities, such as being able to move through tight areas like bars and drains,

[00:23:18] just like the T-1000 from Terminator 2. And he has the ability to use his own version of the Poltergust G-00. While you don't get access to him until you're about an hour or so into the game, Gooigi's presence allows you and a friend to play the game together. You don't have to play with a friend though, as you can swap between Gooigi and Luigi as needed.

[00:23:42] I played the game entirely solo, so I never experienced the co-op side where another player controls Gooigi directly. But even in single player, I thought Gooigi added a lot to the game. Switching between Luigi and Gooigi created some clever puzzle scenarios and added some extra variety. That said, I can absolutely see this being even more entertaining with a friend.

[00:24:09] Especially if that friend enjoys accidentally getting melted by water hazards every 10 minutes or so. Which is always funny in its own right. The overall gameplay on offer was pretty engaging and diverse, and Gooigi's inclusion just added to it in a positive way. If I ever got to a point where I was stuck, and I had tried all of my vacuum abilities out to no avail,

[00:24:33] I started to think about how I might be able to solve my issue if I was a life-sized version of myself made entirely of Goo. Huh?

[00:25:01] When it comes down to it, I completely understand why people love Luigi's Mansion 3. This game is charming from beginning to end. It's creative, it's funny, it looks fantastic, and it manages to make exploring a haunted hotel feel cozy instead of stressful. I think what impressed me most was just how much personality the game has.

[00:25:24] Nintendo and Next Level Games turned Luigi into such an expressive and lovable main character that he completely carries the experience. And that's hard for any character to do on their own. I think that's a good idea. Even during slower sections or when I'm working through some frustrating puzzles, I still wanted to keep going because the world itself was so entertaining. That said, I don't think this is a perfect 10 out of 10 experience though.

[00:25:52] Some puzzles did become overly complicated. Combat loses a little steam over time, and the repeated elevator button stealing gimmick thing tested my patience more than once. But none of those issues were enough to ruin the overall experience for me. And the main reason for that was the highs were just so consistently enjoyable. If you're someone who enjoys exploration-focused games, light puzzle solving, charming Nintendo humor,

[00:26:22] or just watching Luigi panic his way through dangerous situations, there's a really good chance that you'll have a great time here. All in all, this ended up being the perfect game for my work trip. Luigi's Mansion 3 is one of the most charming, polished, and visually impressive games on the Nintendo Switch, even if some puzzles and repetitive combat occasionally slow things down. And for me personally, that charm carried the game a very long way.

[00:26:52] And with that, we close the book on our 7th entry into the Expedition Log, my friends.

[00:27:17] This has been the Retro Wildlands Expedition Log number 7, Luigi's Mansion 3. Thank you very much for tuning into the show today. Before we put out the campfire and head our separate ways, don't forget to give the Retro Wildlands a follow on social media, and make sure you subscribe to the show as well. Our website, theretrowildlands.com, is also the place you want to be for the latest content,

[00:27:45] as well as our growing catalog of podcast episodes and blog entries. You can sign up for a free account on our website, which will give you the ability to leave comments on pretty much everything, and it's a great way to interact with me, the show, and the community. The Retro Wildlands is also part of the SuperPod Network, home of some other awesome video game podcasts and other gaming content, and you can check all of that out and more by heading over to superpodnetwork.com.

[00:28:16] Thank you all again for hanging out with me today. Coming up in our 8th Expedition Log Entry, I am very excited to talk to you all about Pragmata, Capcom's newest third-person sci-fi action shooter that also doubles as a dad simulator in space. Those that have listened to the last few episodes of the show or follow me on social media know that I fell in love with this game almost immediately, and I am very eager to tell you all about this one.

[00:28:45] There's a lot of games that have made an impression on me over the years, and Pragmata was one of those games. While the game's plot isn't super vast, and the combat can potentially wear out its welcome over time, I continue to be enamored with just how much fun I had. That said, I hope you can hang out with me again by the campfire of my friends here in the near future when I finally talk about this game and I do so spoiler-free.

[00:29:12] This is a game with some unique gameplay ideas that's propped up on a solid, albeit somewhat simple story. But a story doesn't need to be deep, complicated, or convoluted to be something special, and Pragmata's story is one that brought joy to my heart, and ultimately reminded me why being a stepdad is the best thing in the whole wide world. Until then, my friends, my name is Nomad,

[00:29:41] and you can find me roaming the retro wildlands.