The Year of Luigi

[DeathByAutoscroll]

Excited for all the future reviews as the current ones have been hype Can't wait to try TTtSE once it goes public, and have enjoyed playing TitS and playtesting tTp.

[risefromtheashes]

The Turnabout Problem
by CodingAnt

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Somehow one of the more coherent things our lead says in this.

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcript :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... 29gob&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

The Judge and Edgeworth realize that it's the year 2024 2013 despite all the weird timeline shenanigans this would result in, which means that it's the Year of Luigi. This awakens their weird gremlin instincts as they become rude boys who go to court about the trolley problem and CodingAnt lies to GuardianDreamer about making a very serious case, tricking them into genuinely bracing themself for heavy content and instead getting CodingAnt's favorite scrunklo memes. The fake case exists in our souls. Apollo is there and he's doing his best.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: If you saw the screenshots that CodingAnt posted on this comp thread and read the synopsis, you'll realize that she basically pulled off a bait and switch which I think may be some sort of revenge for her getting tricked by Fran von Karma from the Takumi-verse competition. I have been caught in the cross-fire. Anyway as for the actual entry, it stars our beloved canon Judge as he becomes the world's rudest boy and starts talking like an internet memer getting into arguments with Edgeworth, an even ruder boy. The whole case leans into absurdity, with a lot of meta jokes and a complete lack of a fourth wall. The only character who remotely treats the case seriously is ineffectual instead. CodingAnt gaslighting all of us is a plot point somehow.

As the case is primarily a comedy, it relies a lot on whether you find the jokes funny enough. Humor is very subjective, though for The Turnabout Problem specifically, it takes the approach of telling a lot of jokes rapid-fire to the point that even if only one hits for you every so often, it's still succeeding. Jokes for me ranged from the spectrum from pretty funny, to a couple that I thought went into poor taste and I'd consider rewriting (there's one in particular that I think CodingAnt should reconsider for the public release). That said, it usually does a good job at maintaining the irreverent tone and being funny. Sadly, the case is currently incomplete and the comp entry build ends in an absurdist non-ending, but to be honest if you told me that was the actual ending I'd almost believe you. I look forward to seeing what comes after though, and hope CodingAnt can continue it.

Presentation: The presentation in this case sort of does the thing where it intentionally has bad presentation when it decides it'd be funny, and then randomly has better presentation when it serves the case better. The balance is upheld pretty well, creating an intentional "so bad it's good" effect that lands well. Custom music from Ghost Trick is used and suits the vibes of the case. It all works together to lend a very consistently irreverent tone that has a lot of fun with itself. There is one specific sound effect that I didn't like. It's certainly a sound effect that was chosen. However, I'll go more into it in the next section.

Gameplay: Gameplay is actually taken seriously here, despite the irreverent tone elsewhere. While it's impossible to get a game over in this and there are no penalties to speak of (due to the fact that you're literally the Judge) you will have to think for a bit about the absurd crime. Gameplay is primarily done via a variation of the standard cross-examination where the Judge can blatantly help out Apollo as he does his best. It's fairly intuitive and for the most part the case stays on the easy side. With that said, the very final present of the comp entry build is something that I think I struggled with far more than CodingAnt probably intended. Without giving it away, while there are no traditional penalties, towards the end of the case there is a very loud incorrect buzzing sound that plays for incorrect answers before letting you try again as a joke. The game thankfully gives you a volume warning for it, which you should take 100% seriously. I heard this incorrect buzzing sound more times than CodingAnt likely thought the average player would due to struggling with the final puzzle. It's a massive difficulty spike where the hint isn't clear enough (I thought the hint given meant something else which played a huge part into me hearing that buzzing sound so many times) and the punishment for failure was genuinely sort of uncomfortable to the point I eventually just muted the game until I looked at the walkthrough for the solution. Dark Souls 2 real. (This is an in-joke, like how this case is full of them)

Theme Relevance: You're playing as the Judge who has decided that Apollo (our Mario) is too passive and does his job for him. The case also takes place during the Year of Luigi and many Luigi jokes are made, which is a more literal interpretation of the theme than I expected. Basically this entry uses the theme for memery and jokes in a way that definitely counts for theme relevance and uses the comedic spin effectively.

Overall: I forgive CodingAnt for lying to me because she wrote an essay on why my OC Marnie Yao is so special to her (even if she cheated to do it). Anyway it's a fun comedy except for the parts that pained me. Clown nerd emoji.

Spoiler : Contestant Photograph (Real) (Professional) :

(Sunny, they/any)

ANT YOU GLORIOUS MOTHERF***ER

[CodingAnt]

The Turnabout Problem
by CodingAnt

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Somehow one of the more coherent things our lead says in this.

Spoiler : Audio Review Transcript :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... 29gob&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

The Judge and Edgeworth realize that it's the year 2024 2013 despite all the weird timeline shenanigans this would result in, which means that it's the Year of Luigi. This awakens their weird gremlin instincts as they become rude boys who go to court about the trolley problem and CodingAnt lies to GuardianDreamer about making a very serious case, tricking them into genuinely bracing themself for heavy content and instead getting CodingAnt's favorite scrunklo memes. The fake case exists in our souls. Apollo is there and he's doing his best.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: If you saw the screenshots that CodingAnt posted on this comp thread and read the synopsis, you'll realize that she basically pulled off a bait and switch which I think may be some sort of revenge for her getting tricked by Fran von Karma from the Takumi-verse competition. I have been caught in the cross-fire. Anyway as for the actual entry, it stars our beloved canon Judge as he becomes the world's rudest boy and starts talking like an internet memer getting into arguments with Edgeworth, an even ruder boy. The whole case leans into absurdity, with a lot of meta jokes and a complete lack of a fourth wall. The only character who remotely treats the case seriously is ineffectual instead. CodingAnt gaslighting all of us is a plot point somehow.

As the case is primarily a comedy, it relies a lot on whether you find the jokes funny enough. Humor is very subjective, though for The Turnabout Problem specifically, it takes the approach of telling a lot of jokes rapid-fire to the point that even if only one hits for you every so often, it's still succeeding. Jokes for me ranged from the spectrum from pretty funny, to a couple that I thought went into poor taste and I'd consider rewriting (there's one in particular that I think CodingAnt should reconsider for the public release). That said, it usually does a good job at maintaining the irreverent tone and being funny. Sadly, the case is currently incomplete and the comp entry build ends in an absurdist non-ending, but to be honest if you told me that was the actual ending I'd almost believe you. I look forward to seeing what comes after though, and hope CodingAnt can continue it.

Presentation: The presentation in this case sort of does the thing where it intentionally has bad presentation when it decides it'd be funny, and then randomly has better presentation when it serves the case better. The balance is upheld pretty well, creating an intentional "so bad it's good" effect that lands well. Custom music from Ghost Trick is used and suits the vibes of the case. It all works together to lend a very consistently irreverent tone that has a lot of fun with itself. There is one specific sound effect that I didn't like. It's certainly a sound effect that was chosen. However, I'll go more into it in the next section.

Gameplay: Gameplay is actually taken seriously here, despite the irreverent tone elsewhere. While it's impossible to get a game over in this and there are no penalties to speak of (due to the fact that you're literally the Judge) you will have to think for a bit about the absurd crime. Gameplay is primarily done via a variation of the standard cross-examination where the Judge can blatantly help out Apollo as he does his best. It's fairly intuitive and for the most part the case stays on the easy side. With that said, the very final present of the comp entry build is something that I think I struggled with far more than CodingAnt probably intended. Without giving it away, while there are no traditional penalties, towards the end of the case there is a very loud incorrect buzzing sound that plays for incorrect answers before letting you try again as a joke. The game thankfully gives you a volume warning for it, which you should take 100% seriously. I heard this incorrect buzzing sound more times than CodingAnt likely thought the average player would due to struggling with the final puzzle. It's a massive difficulty spike where the hint isn't clear enough (I thought the hint given meant something else which played a huge part into me hearing that buzzing sound so many times) and the punishment for failure was genuinely sort of uncomfortable to the point I eventually just muted the game until I looked at the walkthrough for the solution. Dark Souls 2 real. (This is an in-joke, like how this case is full of them)

Theme Relevance: You're playing as the Judge who has decided that Apollo (our Mario) is too passive and does his job for him. The case also takes place during the Year of Luigi and many Luigi jokes are made, which is a more literal interpretation of the theme than I expected. Basically this entry uses the theme for memery and jokes in a way that definitely counts for theme relevance and uses the comedic spin effectively.

Overall: I forgive CodingAnt for lying to me because she wrote an essay on why my OC Marnie Yao is so special to her (even if she cheated to do it). Anyway it's a fun comedy except for the parts that pained me. Clown nerd emoji.

Spoiler : Contestant Photograph (Real) (Professional) :

(Sunny, they/any)

ANT YOU GLORIOUS MOTHERF***ER

maybe the real turnabout problem was the gaslighting we did along the way

[GuardianDreamer]

Fixing A Broken Turnabout
by XavierWright

Spoiler : Screenshot :

You say that, but I have you in a spoiler tag. I've created a paradox.

Spoiler : Audio Review Stuff :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... hhtk4&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Local theater nerd and defense attorney Daniel has invited his best bro for life Markus to hang out and watch a play together. The play is very good, even managing to win over a skeptical Markus, but unfortunately their friendly night out is interrupted when they suddenly hear a very real gunshot that has nothing to do with the show...

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: Daniel and Markus are truly the Super Mario Brothers... This is what I get out of this I think. Anyway, Xavier has stated before that this is a remake/reimagining of his first ever publicly released trial. I have never played the original version, so I'm not completely certain what carries over and what doesn't. This case has a brisk pace, with a rather short and pretty linear investigation that then jumps to the trial. The biggest mystery so far has to do with the prologue of the case, which is currently unexplained and seems disconnected from the events of the case at first (though I do have some ideas). This is our first case in this competition where almost every character is an OC of some kind, with the only exceptions being the Judge and a brief appearance by Winston Payne (whose appearance mainly seems to exist to point out the fact that our leads look identical to Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright but no one else can see it). Some characters currently feel extremely underutilized, but I expect that they might become relevant later in the trial.

Currently, due to the unfinished nature of the case, it's a bit difficult to tell where the story will lead, though there's enough of a hook already to the point where I want to find out where it goes and have that prologue explained to me since it feels very tonally different from the rest of the story. One thing I will say is that the investigation currently feels like it could use more meat to it in terms of optional dialogue. Xavier takes a very different approach from me in terms of presenting stuff for optional dialogue, since a lot of the time a present talk will just be a few frames of a quick dialogue exchange rather than a full conversation. I understand this may just be my preferences talking here though, and my experiences with Xavier's other works leads me to believe this might just be his style. I would at least ask Xavier to get a second (or third?) opinion on this to see if it isn't just me who thinks this though, since I'd really like more time to get to know these characters more. The story has potential, and as someone who has experience revisiting their own prior work to try to polish it up to my current standards, I wish Xavier the best of luck.

Presentation: I think I may have brought this up during my stint as a guest judge in Ticking Time Bomb, but my immediate first instinct when testing/judging a case with trial gameplay is to bomb as hard as possible and immediately try to get a game over to see what happens. This unfortunately revealed that there's currently no "game over" redirect in this trial, though I imagine that will change in the full version. In addition to that, there's a certain point in the trial where I think it makes sense for the player's truth bar to be completely replenished. I think Xavier probably knows what moment I'm talking about when I say that, and it's an easy fix, so I'd strongly encourage doing it. Aside from that, the presentation is usually solid. I only spotted a few typos during my playthrough. The music used so far is all (or almost all) Ace Attorney music from various games in the series and used well, though there were times in the investigation specifically where the game felt unusually quiet and lacking in sound direction. Overall, I think my issues with the presentation can easily be fixed, and aside from those easily fixed issues the vibe of the case is consistent and maintained.

Gameplay: This is one section where Fixing A Broken Turnabout unfortunately struggles, though I do think there's room to make improvements for a public version after the comp is over. Fixing A Broken Turnabout takes the "investigation, then trial" approach that we're all so fond of doing (I know I am). For the most part, the contradictions are easy enough and the game is intuitive enough in what it wants from the player. Getting into the specific issues I had requires spoilers within spoilers, so here's another tag, though there are no story spoilers here.

Spoiler : :

There's one specific section that asks the player to point at a specific part of a picture to show a contradiction. You've seen this in canon Ace Attorney a lot. In its current form, the coordinates for this contradiction are extremely strict, to the point that I thought I had gotten the wrong answer and had to look at the guide to realize I did have the correct answer but just wasn't being precise enough. I went into the editor itself to see the coordinates that Xavier set, and there's basically no wiggle room, which is an issue since the background is quite small so it's extremely easy to accidentally click outside of the designated area and have no idea what went wrong. I would strongly encourage making the coordinates a lot more generous than they currently are.

The other instance of an issue is when a certain witness shows up in the trial and very clearly immediately has a connection to a piece of evidence in the court record, but there is no way to point it out during the cross-examination despite it feeling like something that should be pointed out immediately (it stood out to me a lot more than the actual solution to the cross-examination). This part is admittedly harder to fix without some restructuring, and the connection is made eventually, but it feels like it should come a lot sooner than it does in its current form.

I do want to emphasize that the rest of the game works just fine, it's just that those two issues stand out quite a bit. Here's hoping that this feedback can help Xavier create a smoother experience, since I do believe these issues can be resolved. The crime itself is quite interesting to think about and solve, and towards the end of the playable comp entry build something happens that piques my interest a lot, so I'm curious what the final game will look like.

Theme Relevance: Xavier has mentioned before being uncertain about whether the theme relevance would be clear enough with what's provided of the story so far. This is one case where it's pretty clear that the payoff for the theme relevance will be found later into the story, since so far Daniel doesn't feel particularly Luigi. That said, this is where the vague prologue I've mentioned before comes in to save the day: after rereading it once I finished what's currently available of the case, I have some idea of where Xavier is going with this and I believe it counts. It's unfortunate that we haven't gotten to the payoff yet, but on the flipside, that also means I'm curious to see what the payoff will be like. Daniel can wear a Luigi cap if he wants, I've decided. Daniel and Markus in Super Mario Bros cosplay real.

Overall: An interesting start to a reimagining I'm eager to see more of. Despite some rough edges, I'm sure they can be smoothed out, and I'm curious to see where the story will go. I look forward to seeing what Xavier has planned for the rest.

Spoiler : XavierWright Photo Real Legit :

[XavierWright]

Fixing A Broken Turnabout
by XavierWright

Spoiler : Screenshot :

You say that, but I have you in a spoiler tag. I've created a paradox.

Spoiler : Audio Review Stuff :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... hhtk4&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Local theater nerd and defense attorney Daniel has invited his best bro for life Markus to hang out and watch a play together. The play is very good, even managing to win over a skeptical Markus, but unfortunately their friendly night out is interrupted when they suddenly hear a very real gunshot that has nothing to do with the show...

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: Daniel and Markus are truly the Super Mario Brothers... This is what I get out of this I think. Anyway, Xavier has stated before that this is a remake/reimagining of his first ever publicly released trial. I have never played the original version, so I'm not completely certain what carries over and what doesn't. This case has a brisk pace, with a rather short and pretty linear investigation that then jumps to the trial. The biggest mystery so far has to do with the prologue of the case, which is currently unexplained and seems disconnected from the events of the case at first (though I do have some ideas). This is our first case in this competition where almost every character is an OC of some kind, with the only exceptions being the Judge and a brief appearance by Winston Payne (whose appearance mainly seems to exist to point out the fact that our leads look identical to Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright but no one else can see it). Some characters currently feel extremely underutilized, but I expect that they might become relevant later in the trial.

Currently, due to the unfinished nature of the case, it's a bit difficult to tell where the story will lead, though there's enough of a hook already to the point where I want to find out where it goes and have that prologue explained to me since it feels very tonally different from the rest of the story. One thing I will say is that the investigation currently feels like it could use more meat to it in terms of optional dialogue. Xavier takes a very different approach from me in terms of presenting stuff for optional dialogue, since a lot of the time a present talk will just be a few frames of a quick dialogue exchange rather than a full conversation. I understand this may just be my preferences talking here though, and my experiences with Xavier's other works leads me to believe this might just be his style. I would at least ask Xavier to get a second (or third?) opinion on this to see if it isn't just me who thinks this though, since I'd really like more time to get to know these characters more. The story has potential, and as someone who has experience revisiting their own prior work to try to polish it up to my current standards, I wish Xavier the best of luck.

Presentation: I think I may have brought this up during my stint as a guest judge in Ticking Time Bomb, but my immediate first instinct when testing/judging a case with trial gameplay is to bomb as hard as possible and immediately try to get a game over to see what happens. This unfortunately revealed that there's currently no "game over" redirect in this trial, though I imagine that will change in the full version. In addition to that, there's a certain point in the trial where I think it makes sense for the player's truth bar to be completely replenished. I think Xavier probably knows what moment I'm talking about when I say that, and it's an easy fix, so I'd strongly encourage doing it. Aside from that, the presentation is usually solid. I only spotted a few typos during my playthrough. The music used so far is all (or almost all) Ace Attorney music from various games in the series and used well, though there were times in the investigation specifically where the game felt unusually quiet and lacking in sound direction. Overall, I think my issues with the presentation can easily be fixed, and aside from those easily fixed issues the vibe of the case is consistent and maintained.

Gameplay: This is one section where Fixing A Broken Turnabout unfortunately struggles, though I do think there's room to make improvements for a public version after the comp is over. Fixing A Broken Turnabout takes the "investigation, then trial" approach that we're all so fond of doing (I know I am). For the most part, the contradictions are easy enough and the game is intuitive enough in what it wants from the player. Getting into the specific issues I had requires spoilers within spoilers, so here's another tag, though there are no story spoilers here.

Spoiler : :

There's one specific section that asks the player to point at a specific part of a picture to show a contradiction. You've seen this in canon Ace Attorney a lot. In its current form, the coordinates for this contradiction are extremely strict, to the point that I thought I had gotten the wrong answer and had to look at the guide to realize I did have the correct answer but just wasn't being precise enough. I went into the editor itself to see the coordinates that Xavier set, and there's basically no wiggle room, which is an issue since the background is quite small so it's extremely easy to accidentally click outside of the designated area and have no idea what went wrong. I would strongly encourage making the coordinates a lot more generous than they currently are.

The other instance of an issue is when a certain witness shows up in the trial and very clearly immediately has a connection to a piece of evidence in the court record, but there is no way to point it out during the cross-examination despite it feeling like something that should be pointed out immediately (it stood out to me a lot more than the actual solution to the cross-examination). This part is admittedly harder to fix without some restructuring, and the connection is made eventually, but it feels like it should come a lot sooner than it does in its current form.

I do want to emphasize that the rest of the game works just fine, it's just that those two issues stand out quite a bit. Here's hoping that this feedback can help Xavier create a smoother experience, since I do believe these issues can be resolved. The crime itself is quite interesting to think about and solve, and towards the end of the playable comp entry build something happens that piques my interest a lot, so I'm curious what the final game will look like.

Theme Relevance: Xavier has mentioned before being uncertain about whether the theme relevance would be clear enough with what's provided of the story so far. This is one case where it's pretty clear that the payoff for the theme relevance will be found later into the story, since so far Daniel doesn't feel particularly Luigi. That said, this is where the vague prologue I've mentioned before comes in to save the day: after rereading it once I finished what's currently available of the case, I have some idea of where Xavier is going with this and I believe it counts. It's unfortunate that we haven't gotten to the payoff yet, but on the flipside, that also means I'm curious to see what the payoff will be like. Daniel can wear a Luigi cap if he wants, I've decided. Daniel and Markus in Super Mario Bros cosplay real.

Overall: An interesting start to a reimagining I'm eager to see more of. Despite some rough edges, I'm sure they can be smoothed out, and I'm curious to see where the story will go. I look forward to seeing what Xavier has planned for the rest.

Spoiler : XavierWright Photo Real Legit :

Thanks for the review, GD!

I do want to point that this isn't a reimagining of my first case, but a case that I worked on in the past. Still, it is a reimagining of a case, so yeah.

Spoiler : :

I know which evidence you're referring to when you said it should have been presented earlier. I'll be sure to make some changes to the case once the dust has settled on the comp. But thanks for the feedback, it really helped.

[GuardianDreamer]

The Imposter's Turnabout
by TimeAxis & Bannedfrom7

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Me when I've just created an OC who is about to be my new hyperfixation and I don't realize it yet.

Spoiler : Audio Review Stuff :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... z9z0b&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

When Phoenix Wright was struck by a fire extinguisher and temporarily lost his memory, it was an excuse to do a tutorial in a sequel. But what if the impact on his memory had been more... Permanent? What if the Phoenix Wright we once knew was suddenly gone forever? And what makes Phoenix Wright himself, anyway?

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: While this entry currently only takes up to ten minutes to complete, the character voices are established really well. Our narrator, "Phoenix Wright", is a really interesting take on the amnesiac hero that's self-reflexive in a way that I find pretty engaging. Much of the tension comes from the fact that our current protagonist feels very little connection to who he was before he lost his memories, but doesn't want to make those who looked up to "Phoenix Wright" feel a sense of loss, so he essentially plays the role of his past self while pretending everything is normal. I'm not sure how intentional this was, but the initial hospital setting and how he's initially characterized also brought to mind me seeing family members and friends who've struggled with memory loss. Most of the current entry is a conversation between Phoenix and Edgeworth, now taking on a completely different direction from their canon reunion in Justice For All due to the changed circumstances. While there's a melancholy vibe throughout the case so far, there's a bit of humor sprinkled in there too that I appreciated. I look forward to seeing where it goes from here because the setup here is one I'm really into.

Presentation: Pretty good, the dialogue is generally free of typos (I only spotted one) and there's a good mix of both canon assets and custom ones, including a spriteset by TimeAxis that I haven't seen until now and I assume is original to this case. Judging by the credits list, the full story will be making use of a number of sprites from the Custom OCs thread, though only one of them appears in the entry's current form. Music used is in-editor music from Ace Attorney without any custom tracks so far, though with that said, I was impressed at how the atmosphere of the case made the music feel "off" in a good way, tracks that are usually pleasant and upbeat being juxtaposed by Phoenix's melancholy and unsure narration (perhaps I am reading too much into this but it felt neat to me).

Gameplay: As it currently stands, The Imposter's Turnabout currently consists of a single room of an investigation segment with a couple of talk conversations to proceed. There is some optional dialogue to get if you examine the room that I appreciated, but so far that's all we get.

Theme Relevance: Can you have a Luigi whose Mario is also themself? The answer is yes, apparently. As stated before, our usual hero is Phoenix Wright before he lost his memories... And our current hero is Phoenix Wright, who has to pretend he's still the same person he was before while feeling very unsure in his role due to having to essentially guess what he'd act like around other people. I found this to be a fascinating take on the theme and it's a unique spin I didn't expect.

Overall: A strong hook that ends too soon, I really hope that we eventually see more of this because I'm really interested in seeing where TimeAxis and Bannedfrom7 take this.

Spoiler : TimeAxis and Banned Real-Life Photos (Genuine) (Not clickbait) :

[TimeAxis]

The Imposter's Turnabout
by TimeAxis & Bannedfrom7

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Me when I've just created an OC who is about to be my new hyperfixation and I don't realize it yet.

Spoiler : Audio Review Stuff :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... z9z0b&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

When Phoenix Wright was struck by a fire extinguisher and temporarily lost his memory, it was an excuse to do a tutorial in a sequel. But what if the impact on his memory had been more... Permanent? What if the Phoenix Wright we once knew was suddenly gone forever? And what makes Phoenix Wright himself, anyway?

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: While this entry currently only takes up to ten minutes to complete, the character voices are established really well. Our narrator, "Phoenix Wright", is a really interesting take on the amnesiac hero that's self-reflexive in a way that I find pretty engaging. Much of the tension comes from the fact that our current protagonist feels very little connection to who he was before he lost his memories, but doesn't want to make those who looked up to "Phoenix Wright" feel a sense of loss, so he essentially plays the role of his past self while pretending everything is normal. I'm not sure how intentional this was, but the initial hospital setting and how he's initially characterized also brought to mind me seeing family members and friends who've struggled with memory loss. Most of the current entry is a conversation between Phoenix and Edgeworth, now taking on a completely different direction from their canon reunion in Justice For All due to the changed circumstances. While there's a melancholy vibe throughout the case so far, there's a bit of humor sprinkled in there too that I appreciated. I look forward to seeing where it goes from here because the setup here is one I'm really into.

Presentation: Pretty good, the dialogue is generally free of typos (I only spotted one) and there's a good mix of both canon assets and custom ones, including a spriteset by TimeAxis that I haven't seen until now and I assume is original to this case. Judging by the credits list, the full story will be making use of a number of sprites from the Custom OCs thread, though only one of them appears in the entry's current form. Music used is in-editor music from Ace Attorney without any custom tracks so far, though with that said, I was impressed at how the atmosphere of the case made the music feel "off" in a good way, tracks that are usually pleasant and upbeat being juxtaposed by Phoenix's melancholy and unsure narration (perhaps I am reading too much into this but it felt neat to me).

Gameplay: As it currently stands, The Imposter's Turnabout currently consists of a single room of an investigation segment with a couple of talk conversations to proceed. There is some optional dialogue to get if you examine the room that I appreciated, but so far that's all we get.

Theme Relevance: Can you have a Luigi whose Mario is also themself? The answer is yes, apparently. As stated before, our usual hero is Phoenix Wright before he lost his memories... And our current hero is Phoenix Wright, who has to pretend he's still the same person he was before while feeling very unsure in his role due to having to essentially guess what he'd act like around other people. I found this to be a fascinating take on the theme and it's a unique spin I didn't expect.

Overall: A strong hook that ends too soon, I really hope that we eventually see more of this because I'm really interested in seeing where TimeAxis and Bannedfrom7 take this.

Spoiler : TimeAxis and Banned Real-Life Photos (Genuine) (Not clickbait) :

Thanks for the review. Pretty much hit on all the points I was aiming for, so that's cool. It's unfortunate that we couldn't get more of the case in there, but that's what I get for basically starting 3 weeks before the deadline and needing to plan out at least a good bit of it before doing anything in the editor.

Looking forward to the rest of the reviews.

[GuardianDreamer]

A Futile Turnabout
by MasqueradeDemure

Spoiler : Screenshot :

A true Luigi is very anxiety-brained and scared, but can still be a hero. Right?

Disclaimer: This entry contains major spoilers for Ace Attorney Investigations 2, particularly its third case. There are only minor spoilers in the synopsis and the review itself, but my talking around certain details might constitute implied spoilers. Keep that in mind.

Spoiler : Audio Review :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... rmfio&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

Raymond Shields has passed the bar exam and decided to take up his mentor's fight, even as he struggles to shoulder the great weight of responsibility he's decided to take on. However, with all the major pieces having already been moved and all the major players having played their roles already, the IS-7 incident ends not with a great success or great failure, but with a whimper.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: This entry basically takes a closer look at a specific part of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 case 3 that was glossed over in the original game and turns it into a whole story. Thankfully, I actually have played AAI2 (though my memories are vague), and from my memories of it the returning cast are all on point in terms of their mannerisms and dialogue. There are also a couple of OCs thrown in there who technically have a basis in canon but might as well be original characters given how little we got about them originally, and they have an entertaining dynamic as well. The general atmosphere of this case is, well, best described by the title: anyone familiar with the events of AAI2 will know exactly where it's heading, and even if you aren't it isn't that hard to guess. The story it tells is actually really depressing if you don't know how it gets continued in canon, but if you do it becomes a bit more bittersweet at least. I was surprised at how naturally it fit in as a sort of midpoint for Raymond's character in AAI2.

With all that said, while the entirety of this is a trial sequence, it utilizes the trial format in a very different way from standard Ace Attorney. This is no story of a magnificent turnabout that changes everything on its head, or even the opposite of suffering from a devastating turn of fate yourself. This is a desperate struggle full of tired people who have been through a lot, and the trial feels exhausting and painful in a drawn-out way because of how much Raymond struggles while being utterly dismissed. If this sounds overly-depressing and draining, I do want to re-emphasize that the vibes never feel excessively bleak since there is some humor injected in there and more lighthearted moments. It's just a particularly dark period in the timeline, and it's treated with the gravitas it deserves. Like I said, it really helps to be familiar with the original story here.

Presentation: A mix of good and bad, with Masq mentioning in the entry message about having a strong desire to polish everything up once given the chance. On the positive side, this case has a unique presentation style to seem more like the AAI games, which I rarely see in AAO and despite a bit of jankiness, I found it charming and it lended the case a unique identity. The music and sound direction was also very good, and the custom sprites used were well chosen. There were also no game-breaking bugs to be found. Unfortunately, A Futile Turnabout also has several presentation errors: Typos are common both in the dialogue and evidence descriptions, Raymond's thoughts always have his mouth moving as if he was speaking, several frames have missing nametags, and there are a number of awkward transitions. I hope this doesn't sound discouraging because I've greatly enjoyed Masq's works in the past and know what wonders fixing things up and polishing them can do for a story. When these issues aren't present, the case has a very strong atmosphere that I enjoyed a great deal.

Gameplay: A Futile Turnabout is a trial-only case that has one major issue that is sort of an elephant in the room and impacts the playing experience as a whole. I feel like this case assumes that the player has gone through Ace Attorney Investigations 2 case 3 very recently, or otherwise has a fresh memory of the crime details from it. The game immediately throws a ton of evidence from that case at you from the very start, to the point that I spent the beginning of the game reading all the evidence descriptions before even beginning to read the actual story. This reliance on being familiar with AAI2-3 isn't necessarily a bad thing if handled well since it's clearly aimed at people who have a similar affection for the cast from that case... But right now the contradictions rely a lot on remembering details from that original case, and particularly the contradictions from it. All this to say that even during the very first testimony, I found myself looking at the guide to see what the answer was, and I found that most contradictions were in that vein. To name one specific example, which I'll put under a nested spoiler tag for those who don't want to hear about it, this one in particular bothered me.

Spoiler : :

There's a testimony in this where the solution is to present a specific person's profile on any of the statements due to that person's influence on it being really obvious and showing the testimony can't really be taken at face value. This is a really clever idea and I've seen this sort of thing executed well before, and there is a bit of prodding to it, but it unfortunately relies on the player being on the same wavelength as Masq since the hints for it are really unintuitive and the player might be looking for a more standard sort of contradiction. I don't think I ever would have thought to present the profile if I hadn't been using the guide at that point, since I would have been looking at the evidence to try to find a more standard contradiction instead.

This case still has the usual penalties, and neither the co-counsel conversations or penalty text give much in the way of hints, so it's very easy to game over. Masq has described this entry version of the case as having a lot that she'd like to rework if given more time, so I have hope that the case logic and gameplay can be reworked to the point of being fairer, but this is unfortunately my biggest issue with the game as it stands right now.

Theme Relevance: A real highlight of the case. This is very nicely done with Raymond Shields serving as our Luigi who has a very high opinion of his Mario, while having a very low opinion of himself (seriously the self-loathing is real I felt bad for him). In addition to Raymond, I also felt like the cast in general fit the theme or were adjacent to it. A lot of the "major players" from this incident are no longer involved in it or no longer wish to think about it for much longer, making it feel like Raymond isn't having an epic confrontation, but instead dealing with enemy pawns and still struggling. It's a very sad interpretation of the theme, and sort of shows what would happen if our new extremely young 18-year-old defense attorney wasn't a prodigy but was in a situation that demanded the skills of one. Raymond isn't Sebastian levels of incompetent, but one gets the feeling that his lack of experience makes him really unqualified and things might be different if he had the chance to grow first.

Overall: This feels like a rough draft with the potential to become something really special when given enough chance to cook (haha Guy Fieri reference, also haha AAI2-3 reference). I do want to re-emphasize that I was interested in the storyline and cast. I do believe my issues with the gameplay and presentation can be fixed, and I really hope Masq continues working on this so that a public version of A Futile Turnabout can really shine brightly. Raymond and Kate's dynamic is nice, plus it has the best AAI2 character, Delicia Scones, so I have to root for it.

Spoiler : MasqueradeDemure In Real Life Confirmed :

[Spongesonic]

All these entries look real interesting. I'm looking forward to them!

[DeathByAutoscroll]

Loving reading the reviews of all of these entries so far.

Spoiler : :

Depressingly bleak canon/adjacent cases with protagonist self doubt? Sign me up! I really hope these cases end up being released one day as the entries so far have been fun.

[MasqueradeDemure]

Already said this in the discord but I'll echo the sentiment here:
I'm VERY aware of the presentation and logic stuff, the comp-entry version of Futile is unpolished and were there not a deadline I would've totally spent like another week or two making it flow better and also making it pretty :3

The case was called "Secret Year of Luigi Comp Entry - Probably Won't Submit" in editor for the longest time. If I ever make it public there's some major reworks I wanna do (I had a cool idea for a character beat mid-way through the case and I think it's really awesome but I legit just didn't have time to rework the scenes for comp deadline). I chalk it up a minor miracle a found the motivation to submit on time, haha.

By the way I think young Raymond is a blorbo and I hope you are convinced of his blorbo-ness despite your dislike of AAI2 GD.

Also I noticed you didn't comment on my amazing double spaced college-grade essay I submitted with my entry, it must have been that stunningly good.

Reusing a joke from ten-minutes ago:
Anyway my quest to make cooking related entries based on the spin-offs continues! Join me next time when we cook ambiguous blue crystals with Herlock.

[Dylan Dog]

Already said this in the discord but I'll echo the sentiment here:
I'm VERY aware of the presentation and logic stuff, the comp-entry version of Futile is unpolished and were there not a deadline I would've totally spent like another week or two making it flow better and also making it pretty :3

The case was called "Secret Year of Luigi Comp Entry - Probably Won't Submit" in editor for the longest time. If I ever make it public there's some major reworks I wanna do (I had a cool idea for a character beat mid-way through the case and I think it's really awesome but I legit just didn't have time to rework the scenes for comp deadline). I chalk it up a minor miracle a found the motivation to submit on time, haha.

By the way I think young Raymond is a blorbo and I hope you are convinced of his blorbo-ness despite your dislike of AAI2 GD.

Also I noticed you didn't comment on my amazing double spaced college-grade essay I submitted with my entry, it must have been that stunningly good.

Reusing a joke from ten-minutes ago:
Anyway my quest to make cooking related entries based on the spin-offs continues! Join me next time when we cook ambiguous blue crystals with Herlock.

That final line killed me

[GuardianDreamer]

Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl
by Spoonmaster12

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Me when someone at work asks me to do something well within the role and responsibilities of my job description.

Spoiler : Audio :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... tww58&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

15 year old Haruta Ichihara performs a ritual to summon a demon, creatures who form pacts with humans with that human's soul being gambled in order to attain the demon's services. However, Haruta has no desire for power: he simply desires to have his soul taken away. The summoned demon, Lyrae, does not easily oblige and instead demands answers for why someone so young would ask for something like that. So begins a tale of a gloomy boy and the eccentric yet honorable demon girl as they unravel the mystery surrounding a grave crime the boy has been accused of.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl is a story that can either sound very serious or very silly depending on how I talk about it, with the case tackling some pretty heavy themes regarding abuse while also injecting a lot of humor. We have a dual protagonist setup here: The story often switches narrative viewpoints between Haruta and Lyrae, to the point that they're both equally the protagonist. I actually think the general vibes of the case are best exemplified by Lyrae specifically: she has a lot of extremely silly lines when it's pointed out that she doesn't exactly live up to the image of a terrifying 3000+ year old demon, but at the same time, she's also directly involved in some of the most somber moments of the story. Her view on human life is also interesting. The two leads have a really interesting dynamic, balancing each other out well. The story of how our two leads unravel the crime that Haruta has been accused of is an interesting one, with a lot of weight being given to their emotional arcs throughout the case.

The other characters are harder to talk about without going into spoiler territory, but it's a relatively small, intimate cast of characters. I found them all interesting, with even the most intentionally shallow-seeming character actually having a bit of depth once the story went on a bit. The story really loves going from emotional to silly very quickly, with some heavy scenes being immediately followed by comedic intermissions that are non-canon and break the fourth wall a lot. It's a story that has a lot of fun with itself, with the somber mood and silly moments both complementing each other well and rarely feeling at odds with each other. There a few specific details about the story that I think could be edited to help clarify things or help it flow better, but for the most part I found it to be a very entertaining read.

Presentation: As a case with basically an all-OC cast with only a couple of references to Ace Attorney, all the characters use sprites from the Custom OCs thread. They're all pretty well-chosen and match the characters pretty well. Custom music from various other visual novels and games are also utilized well in addition to the in-editor Ace Attorney music. In particular there was a Symphonic Rain song used which some may know is a work that holds a very special place in my heart, and I was very happy to hear it in this case. There are some presentation gripes I have, however: There are some typos (mostly grammar-related rather than misspellings), Haruta makes use of Apollo Justice's voice clips which sound kind of off for a 15 year old teenager (though I got used to it), the occasional minor visual bug, and there is the occasional issue of a character's mouth moving when they're only saying ellipses. Spoon has mentioned to me that the second part of this two-part entry wasn't able to be fully playtested in time. Thankfully there were no game-breaking bugs or anything like that, but I did find the presentation to be slightly worse in the second part, so I'd definitely encourage Spoon to allow the playtesters to keep doing their thing and make any fixes accordingly. In addition, there were a couple of rooms in this where there was a lack of even generic present dialogue (in one room) and a lack of generic examine dialogue (in another room later in the game) which feel like oversights. Overall though, this is an area of much marked improvement for Spoon since the last work by them I've played, and I'm really happy to see the progress made here.

Gameplay: There's a mixture of investigation segments and cross-examinations in this. Due to the structure of the case not relying on there being a "trial" of any kind, the game very quickly switches between investigation segments and questioning the other characters. The first part of the game is more freeform, while the second part is more linear due to the story heading to its conclusion. I do want to talk about that first part though, which makes unique use of the dual protagonist setup in a good way. There's also an optional joke end to get in the first part that I thought was funny. There was no reason for Spoon to put in all that effort to a gag end that the player is explicitly warned about pursuing, but I still appreciate it when a lot of effort is put into things that a lot of people won't see.

I think that the first part of the case is generally pretty intuitive, with only one part I really struggled with but that being alleviated due to the presence of an in-game hint that you can ask for if you don't understand the puzzle like I did. However, the second part of the case was a lot trickier for me and made me look at the walkthrough: there's one part that asks you to note a contradiction within a photo, which requires noticing a very small detail. With the way the image currently looks, I literally did not notice that it was part of the image at all even though I got the impression it wasn't supposed to be as hidden as I'm making it sound. When I looked at the guide and saw what I was supposed to click, my literal first reaction was something along the lines of "wait what are you talking about where even is that in the photo" and I had to zoom in with my browser quite a bit. Without giving much away, I also think this is a part that people who have difficulty differentiating colors will struggle with. I mention elsewhere in this review that Spoon has a couple of playtesters, and I'd strongly encourage seeking their feedback about the puzzles in the second part to see if it isn't just me who feels this way. Still, that first part works really well, so I'm confident that my issues with the gameplay in the second part can be fixed for a public release.

Theme Relevance: As mentioned before, this case has a dual protagonist setup with the point of view constantly switching between Lyrae and Haruta. While I can't be entirely sure what Spoon's thought processes were, I personally thought of Lyrae as fitting the "Luigi" role much more here. She very much feels like she'd be our usual "sidekick" character here, the demon with special powers who'd be a strong supporting character to our main protagonist... But who ends up getting just as much of a character arc as Haruta does with her own story that ends up connecting to his in an interesting way. The dynamic at play here actually reminded me of the dynamic between Noel and Charon from a game called Noel the Mortal Fate, which I don't think Spoon has played, so a slightly more mainstream example might be the dynamic between Yugi and the Pharaoh in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series even if it isn't quite as good of a match. It's that sort of feeling for me. Anyway, I really appreciated the dual protagonist setup here and I think the equal focus between Haruta and Lyrae really contributes to the story in a great way. Oh also in a couple of non-canon gag scenes, Luigi himself appears. People really are taking this theme more literally than I thought they would.

Overall: A very sincere story that I enjoyed playing through. While I would encourage Spoon to get the further playtesting they wanted done, I'm eager to see the showcase thread for this go up since it's a complete work that I think a lot of people would enjoy. I can easily imagine people getting attached to the cast of characters here in particular.

Spoiler : Spoon Real :

[risefromtheashes]

Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl
by Spoonmaster12

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Me when someone at work asks me to do something well within the role and responsibilities of my job description.

Spoiler : Audio :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... tww58&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

15 year old Haruta Ichihara performs a ritual to summon a demon, creatures who form pacts with humans with that human's soul being gambled in order to attain the demon's services. However, Haruta has no desire for power: he simply desires to have his soul taken away. The summoned demon, Lyrae, does not easily oblige and instead demands answers for why someone so young would ask for something like that. So begins a tale of a gloomy boy and the eccentric yet honorable demon girl as they unravel the mystery surrounding a grave crime the boy has been accused of.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl is a story that can either sound very serious or very silly depending on how I talk about it, with the case tackling some pretty heavy themes regarding abuse while also injecting a lot of humor. We have a dual protagonist setup here: The story often switches narrative viewpoints between Haruta and Lyrae, to the point that they're both equally the protagonist. I actually think the general vibes of the case are best exemplified by Lyrae specifically: she has a lot of extremely silly lines when it's pointed out that she doesn't exactly live up to the image of a terrifying 3000+ year old demon, but at the same time, she's also directly involved in some of the most somber moments of the story. Her view on human life is also interesting. The two leads have a really interesting dynamic, balancing each other out well. The story of how our two leads unravel the crime that Haruta has been accused of is an interesting one, with a lot of weight being given to their emotional arcs throughout the case.

The other characters are harder to talk about without going into spoiler territory, but it's a relatively small, intimate cast of characters. I found them all interesting, with even the most intentionally shallow-seeming character actually having a bit of depth once the story went on a bit. The story really loves going from emotional to silly very quickly, with some heavy scenes being immediately followed by comedic intermissions that are non-canon and break the fourth wall a lot. It's a story that has a lot of fun with itself, with the somber mood and silly moments both complementing each other well and rarely feeling at odds with each other. There a few specific details about the story that I think could be edited to help clarify things or help it flow better, but for the most part I found it to be a very entertaining read.

Presentation: As a case with basically an all-OC cast with only a couple of references to Ace Attorney, all the characters use sprites from the Custom OCs thread. They're all pretty well-chosen and match the characters pretty well. Custom music from various other visual novels and games are also utilized well in addition to the in-editor Ace Attorney music. In particular there was a Symphonic Rain song used which some may know is a work that holds a very special place in my heart, and I was very happy to hear it in this case. There are some presentation gripes I have, however: There are some typos (mostly grammar-related rather than misspellings), Haruta makes use of Apollo Justice's voice clips which sound kind of off for a 15 year old teenager (though I got used to it), the occasional minor visual bug, and there is the occasional issue of a character's mouth moving when they're only saying ellipses. Spoon has mentioned to me that the second part of this two-part entry wasn't able to be fully playtested in time. Thankfully there were no game-breaking bugs or anything like that, but I did find the presentation to be slightly worse in the second part, so I'd definitely encourage Spoon to allow the playtesters to keep doing their thing and make any fixes accordingly. In addition, there were a couple of rooms in this where there was a lack of even generic present dialogue (in one room) and a lack of generic examine dialogue (in another room later in the game) which feel like oversights. Overall though, this is an area of much marked improvement for Spoon since the last work by them I've played, and I'm really happy to see the progress made here.

Gameplay: There's a mixture of investigation segments and cross-examinations in this. Due to the structure of the case not relying on there being a "trial" of any kind, the game very quickly switches between investigation segments and questioning the other characters. The first part of the game is more freeform, while the second part is more linear due to the story heading to its conclusion. I do want to talk about that first part though, which makes unique use of the dual protagonist setup in a good way. There's also an optional joke end to get in the first part that I thought was funny. There was no reason for Spoon to put in all that effort to a gag end that the player is explicitly warned about pursuing, but I still appreciate it when a lot of effort is put into things that a lot of people won't see.

I think that the first part of the case is generally pretty intuitive, with only one part I really struggled with but that being alleviated due to the presence of an in-game hint that you can ask for if you don't understand the puzzle like I did. However, the second part of the case was a lot trickier for me and made me look at the walkthrough: there's one part that asks you to note a contradiction within a photo, which requires noticing a very small detail. With the way the image currently looks, I literally did not notice that it was part of the image at all even though I got the impression it wasn't supposed to be as hidden as I'm making it sound. When I looked at the guide and saw what I was supposed to click, my literal first reaction was something along the lines of "wait what are you talking about where even is that in the photo" and I had to zoom in with my browser quite a bit. Without giving much away, I also think this is a part that people who have difficulty differentiating colors will struggle with. I mention elsewhere in this review that Spoon has a couple of playtesters, and I'd strongly encourage seeking their feedback about the puzzles in the second part to see if it isn't just me who feels this way. Still, that first part works really well, so I'm confident that my issues with the gameplay in the second part can be fixed for a public release.

Theme Relevance: As mentioned before, this case has a dual protagonist setup with the point of view constantly switching between Lyrae and Haruta. While I can't be entirely sure what Spoon's thought processes were, I personally thought of Lyrae as fitting the "Luigi" role much more here. She very much feels like she'd be our usual "sidekick" character here, the demon with special powers who'd be a strong supporting character to our main protagonist... But who ends up getting just as much of a character arc as Haruta does with her own story that ends up connecting to his in an interesting way. The dynamic at play here actually reminded me of the dynamic between Noel and Charon from a game called Noel the Mortal Fate, which I don't think Spoon has played, so a slightly more mainstream example might be the dynamic between Yugi and the Pharaoh in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series even if it isn't quite as good of a match. It's that sort of feeling for me. Anyway, I really appreciated the dual protagonist setup here and I think the equal focus between Haruta and Lyrae really contributes to the story in a great way. Oh also in a couple of non-canon gag scenes, Luigi himself appears. People really are taking this theme more literally than I thought they would.

Overall: A very sincere story that I enjoyed playing through. While I would encourage Spoon to get the further playtesting they wanted done, I'm eager to see the showcase thread for this go up since it's a complete work that I think a lot of people would enjoy. I can easily imagine people getting attached to the cast of characters here in particular.

Spoiler : Spoon Real :

(Basil, they/any)
Really want to play. :,) Sounds very cool.

Already said this in the discord but I'll echo the sentiment here:
I'm VERY aware of the presentation and logic stuff, the comp-entry version of Futile is unpolished and were there not a deadline I would've totally spent like another week or two making it flow better and also making it pretty :3

The case was called "Secret Year of Luigi Comp Entry - Probably Won't Submit" in editor for the longest time. If I ever make it public there's some major reworks I wanna do (I had a cool idea for a character beat mid-way through the case and I think it's really awesome but I legit just didn't have time to rework the scenes for comp deadline). I chalk it up a minor miracle a found the motivation to submit on time, haha.

By the way I think young Raymond is a blorbo and I hope you are convinced of his blorbo-ness despite your dislike of AAI2 GD.

Also I noticed you didn't comment on my amazing double spaced college-grade essay I submitted with my entry, it must have been that stunningly good.

Reusing a joke from ten-minutes ago:
Anyway my quest to make cooking related entries based on the spin-offs continues! Join me next time when we cook ambiguous blue crystals with Herlock.

Love you, want to see this <3

[Spoonmaster12]

Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl
by Spoonmaster12

Spoiler : Screenshot :

Me when someone at work asks me to do something well within the role and responsibilities of my job description.

Spoiler : Audio :

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/f ... tww58&dl=0

Spoiler : Synopsis :

15 year old Haruta Ichihara performs a ritual to summon a demon, creatures who form pacts with humans with that human's soul being gambled in order to attain the demon's services. However, Haruta has no desire for power: he simply desires to have his soul taken away. The summoned demon, Lyrae, does not easily oblige and instead demands answers for why someone so young would ask for something like that. So begins a tale of a gloomy boy and the eccentric yet honorable demon girl as they unravel the mystery surrounding a grave crime the boy has been accused of.

Spoiler : Review :

Story/Characters: Gloomy Detective and Devil Girl is a story that can either sound very serious or very silly depending on how I talk about it, with the case tackling some pretty heavy themes regarding abuse while also injecting a lot of humor. We have a dual protagonist setup here: The story often switches narrative viewpoints between Haruta and Lyrae, to the point that they're both equally the protagonist. I actually think the general vibes of the case are best exemplified by Lyrae specifically: she has a lot of extremely silly lines when it's pointed out that she doesn't exactly live up to the image of a terrifying 3000+ year old demon, but at the same time, she's also directly involved in some of the most somber moments of the story. Her view on human life is also interesting. The two leads have a really interesting dynamic, balancing each other out well. The story of how our two leads unravel the crime that Haruta has been accused of is an interesting one, with a lot of weight being given to their emotional arcs throughout the case.

The other characters are harder to talk about without going into spoiler territory, but it's a relatively small, intimate cast of characters. I found them all interesting, with even the most intentionally shallow-seeming character actually having a bit of depth once the story went on a bit. The story really loves going from emotional to silly very quickly, with some heavy scenes being immediately followed by comedic intermissions that are non-canon and break the fourth wall a lot. It's a story that has a lot of fun with itself, with the somber mood and silly moments both complementing each other well and rarely feeling at odds with each other. There a few specific details about the story that I think could be edited to help clarify things or help it flow better, but for the most part I found it to be a very entertaining read.

Presentation: As a case with basically an all-OC cast with only a couple of references to Ace Attorney, all the characters use sprites from the Custom OCs thread. They're all pretty well-chosen and match the characters pretty well. Custom music from various other visual novels and games are also utilized well in addition to the in-editor Ace Attorney music. In particular there was a Symphonic Rain song used which some may know is a work that holds a very special place in my heart, and I was very happy to hear it in this case. There are some presentation gripes I have, however: There are some typos (mostly grammar-related rather than misspellings), Haruta makes use of Apollo Justice's voice clips which sound kind of off for a 15 year old teenager (though I got used to it), the occasional minor visual bug, and there is the occasional issue of a character's mouth moving when they're only saying ellipses. Spoon has mentioned to me that the second part of this two-part entry wasn't able to be fully playtested in time. Thankfully there were no game-breaking bugs or anything like that, but I did find the presentation to be slightly worse in the second part, so I'd definitely encourage Spoon to allow the playtesters to keep doing their thing and make any fixes accordingly. In addition, there were a couple of rooms in this where there was a lack of even generic present dialogue (in one room) and a lack of generic examine dialogue (in another room later in the game) which feel like oversights. Overall though, this is an area of much marked improvement for Spoon since the last work by them I've played, and I'm really happy to see the progress made here.

Gameplay: There's a mixture of investigation segments and cross-examinations in this. Due to the structure of the case not relying on there being a "trial" of any kind, the game very quickly switches between investigation segments and questioning the other characters. The first part of the game is more freeform, while the second part is more linear due to the story heading to its conclusion. I do want to talk about that first part though, which makes unique use of the dual protagonist setup in a good way. There's also an optional joke end to get in the first part that I thought was funny. There was no reason for Spoon to put in all that effort to a gag end that the player is explicitly warned about pursuing, but I still appreciate it when a lot of effort is put into things that a lot of people won't see.

I think that the first part of the case is generally pretty intuitive, with only one part I really struggled with but that being alleviated due to the presence of an in-game hint that you can ask for if you don't understand the puzzle like I did. However, the second part of the case was a lot trickier for me and made me look at the walkthrough: there's one part that asks you to note a contradiction within a photo, which requires noticing a very small detail. With the way the image currently looks, I literally did not notice that it was part of the image at all even though I got the impression it wasn't supposed to be as hidden as I'm making it sound. When I looked at the guide and saw what I was supposed to click, my literal first reaction was something along the lines of "wait what are you talking about where even is that in the photo" and I had to zoom in with my browser quite a bit. Without giving much away, I also think this is a part that people who have difficulty differentiating colors will struggle with. I mention elsewhere in this review that Spoon has a couple of playtesters, and I'd strongly encourage seeking their feedback about the puzzles in the second part to see if it isn't just me who feels this way. Still, that first part works really well, so I'm confident that my issues with the gameplay in the second part can be fixed for a public release.

Theme Relevance: As mentioned before, this case has a dual protagonist setup with the point of view constantly switching between Lyrae and Haruta. While I can't be entirely sure what Spoon's thought processes were, I personally thought of Lyrae as fitting the "Luigi" role much more here. She very much feels like she'd be our usual "sidekick" character here, the demon with special powers who'd be a strong supporting character to our main protagonist... But who ends up getting just as much of a character arc as Haruta does with her own story that ends up connecting to his in an interesting way. The dynamic at play here actually reminded me of the dynamic between Noel and Charon from a game called Noel the Mortal Fate, which I don't think Spoon has played, so a slightly more mainstream example might be the dynamic between Yugi and the Pharaoh in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series even if it isn't quite as good of a match. It's that sort of feeling for me. Anyway, I really appreciated the dual protagonist setup here and I think the equal focus between Haruta and Lyrae really contributes to the story in a great way. Oh also in a couple of non-canon gag scenes, Luigi himself appears. People really are taking this theme more literally than I thought they would.

Overall: A very sincere story that I enjoyed playing through. While I would encourage Spoon to get the further playtesting they wanted done, I'm eager to see the showcase thread for this go up since it's a complete work that I think a lot of people would enjoy. I can easily imagine people getting attached to the cast of characters here in particular.

Spoiler : Spoon Real :

Thanks for the review GD, those were some very good feedback. I'm probably gonna do some more playtesting and fixing before public release.