"No one can escape their past. The sins we've committed and the sadness we've caused...No matter how far we run, our past remains, as ever-present as the moon in the sky. It looms in wait...for the day when we are forced to face it. But only in doing so can we truly make peace and move on in hope towards tomorrow."
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies is the 5th game in the mainline Ace Attorney series which came out 6 years after Apollo Justice and it has the unfortunate task of being both a big return to form for the series as well as a follow-up to Apollo Justice and while I enjoyed the game a lot and think it gets too much hate, I do think it also spreads itself too thin and because of that some plot threads feel much less developed and certain characters don't get enough screen time.
Dual Destinies takes place roughly a year after the events of Apollo Justice. The legal system has entered an era known as "the Dark Age of the Law" where lawyers and prosecutors are more concerned with winning than finding the truth and to do so they'll take any means necessary, even fabricating evidence and falsifying charges and due to this the public has lost faith in the courts. The legendary Phoenix Wright, his protege Apollo Justice and their newly appointed junior Athena Cykes who's an expert in the field of analytical psychology all work with the goal of building up the public's confidence back in the courts while defending their clients and looking for the truth. To accomplish this they'll have to go up against the master of psychological manipulation Simon Blackquill, a convicted death row inmate with a penchant for Japanese culture and history who is also a practicing prosecutor.
I mentioned earlier that the game spreads itself too thin, but I think Simon and Athena truly steal the show as this feels like their game with most of the overarching narrative revolving around them, I just wish Athena would've gotten a bigger lead role since this is basically her game and she mostly only acts as the partner/supporting role while Phoenix or Apollo are the lead role despite not actually getting much focus on their overall stories. Phoenix acts mostly as a mentor figure to the two and it works well for his character, but Apollo only gets a couple moments to truly shine in the game which is weird considering the game is part of "The Apollo Justice trilogy". Once again why I say there were just too many ideas at once and some didn't get fleshed out as well as they could've.
The gameplay is mostly the same from previous Ace Attorney games, but now in full 3D and a bit more streamlined making it easier and less cryptic, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask. There's also the addition of a new mechanic in Athena's Mood Matrix which allows players to look for inconsistencies in emotions and adds more variety to court sessions besides your standard cross examining and it also fits the psychological theme and is the perfect foil for Blackquill's own psychological manipulation. I will say, the biggest disappointment in the gameplay is not being able to inspect and examine everything around you like in all the previous Ace Attorney games. A huge part of the personality and charm of Ace Attorney is doing just that and witnessing the banter between characters like with Phoenix and Maya in the OG trilogy or Apollo and Trucy in Apollo Justice. I think cutting down the amount of those interactions means some of the newer characters didn't get as much depth to their personality as they could've as well.
While I have some complaints with Dual Destinies and it's not a perfect game nor the best in the series, I also think it gets far too much hate and thanks to the addition of new gameplay mechanics which kept the gameplay fresh from past entries and the compelling overcharging narrative and mystery between Simon Blackquill and Athena Cykes, the two new characters who have become personal favorites, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dual Destinies and that just makes it another strong entry in the longest running and most consistent visual novel franchise around.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies is the 5th game in the mainline Ace Attorney series which came out 6 years after Apollo Justice and it has the unfortunate task of being both a big return to form for the series as well as a follow-up to Apollo Justice and while I enjoyed the game a lot and think it gets too much hate, I do think it also spreads itself too thin and because of that some plot threads feel much less developed and certain characters don't get enough screen time.
Dual Destinies takes place roughly a year after the events of Apollo Justice. The legal system has entered an era known as "the Dark Age of the Law" where lawyers and prosecutors are more concerned with winning than finding the truth and to do so they'll take any means necessary, even fabricating evidence and falsifying charges and due to this the public has lost faith in the courts. The legendary Phoenix Wright, his protege Apollo Justice and their newly appointed junior Athena Cykes who's an expert in the field of analytical psychology all work with the goal of building up the public's confidence back in the courts while defending their clients and looking for the truth. To accomplish this they'll have to go up against the master of psychological manipulation Simon Blackquill, a convicted death row inmate with a penchant for Japanese culture and history who is also a practicing prosecutor.
I mentioned earlier that the game spreads itself too thin, but I think Simon and Athena truly steal the show as this feels like their game with most of the overarching narrative revolving around them, I just wish Athena would've gotten a bigger lead role since this is basically her game and she mostly only acts as the partner/supporting role while Phoenix or Apollo are the lead role despite not actually getting much focus on their overall stories. Phoenix acts mostly as a mentor figure to the two and it works well for his character, but Apollo only gets a couple moments to truly shine in the game which is weird considering the game is part of "The Apollo Justice trilogy". Once again why I say there were just too many ideas at once and some didn't get fleshed out as well as they could've.
The gameplay is mostly the same from previous Ace Attorney games, but now in full 3D and a bit more streamlined making it easier and less cryptic, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask. There's also the addition of a new mechanic in Athena's Mood Matrix which allows players to look for inconsistencies in emotions and adds more variety to court sessions besides your standard cross examining and it also fits the psychological theme and is the perfect foil for Blackquill's own psychological manipulation. I will say, the biggest disappointment in the gameplay is not being able to inspect and examine everything around you like in all the previous Ace Attorney games. A huge part of the personality and charm of Ace Attorney is doing just that and witnessing the banter between characters like with Phoenix and Maya in the OG trilogy or Apollo and Trucy in Apollo Justice. I think cutting down the amount of those interactions means some of the newer characters didn't get as much depth to their personality as they could've as well.
While I have some complaints with Dual Destinies and it's not a perfect game nor the best in the series, I also think it gets far too much hate and thanks to the addition of new gameplay mechanics which kept the gameplay fresh from past entries and the compelling overcharging narrative and mystery between Simon Blackquill and Athena Cykes, the two new characters who have become personal favorites, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dual Destinies and that just makes it another strong entry in the longest running and most consistent visual novel franchise around.