This review contains spoilers
Pretty good Ace Attorney style game. It could use some polish - I encountered quite a few typos and it ain't an AA game without times where you are aware of the contradiction but can't figure out which evidence the game has decided is right, or you figured out a contradiction that you weren't intended to yet. I don't begrudge the game these flaws, the typos in particular can pretty easily be patched and the evidence issues are endemic to the "genre" as a whole...
In terms of story, the main cast is great. Celeste has a couple portraits that are eerily similar to Maya (obviously intentional), but tapping into the fans' nostalgia is probably not a bad thing. The prosecutor is great, the detective is great, the judge is a judge, et cetera.
Some of the supporting characters have their designs tilted a bit too much towards the sensual end of the scale for my taste, although the fact that the credits list a "waifu consultant" means I'm actually pretty happy with how much restraint the character designer apparently had.
Speaking of which, this game was pretty much made by one guy. Definitely makes it a lot easier to forgive any flaws, and I had a better experience with this than with some actual AA games so... easy recommend to fans of the series. The pacing in particular I felt was a genuine strength, I plowed through this game in like three days.
Goes without saying but I'm gonna say it anyways, Carlos's OST is great. His involvement was most of the reason that I backed this project in the first place (look mom, my name's in the credits!) and I've been listening to the soundtrack off my phone since I finished the game. I think my favorite track might be "Smitten"? Also the main theme. Also... all of the "Pursuit" style songs. Also Celeste's theme.
Maybe I shouldn't try to pick a favorite track.
Gonna venture a bit into spoilers here...
When the "meta" character appeared in chapter 2 I was a bit wary as to how she'd be executed... Overall I think it worked out ok. I could've done without the direct reference to the name of my Windows username, it never comes up again in terms of "talking to the player and not to the character".
But aside from that, my main complaint is that this villain was a bit too powerful. When she can modify people's memories willy-nilly then it's not really a whodunit (er, in the case of AA it's generally a "how did they do it") case. I can't piece together a mystery when all of the evidence is false. This culminates in the apparent betrayal of Celeste, but actually she only thought she betrayed you because her memories were changed. Makes the reveal that she was lying kinda cheap.
The climax where the villain was defeated was great though. I just feel like it wasn't necessary to torch all our other methods of obtaining information to get there.
Also I felt the multiversal teasing was putting the cart before the horse a bit... I'm not sure what a "multiverse" would even mean in this context, but given that we know very little about the upper planes, circles of hell, and heck, even countries that aren't called Wyverngarde, using the word "multiverse" just makes me think of alternate selves and the like, which all seems to be a bit much for a sequel.
On that note, I think a sequel would be great. I spent a significant portion of this review complaining but those are mostly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. This is a quality AA-like experience and definitely deserves your money.
In terms of story, the main cast is great. Celeste has a couple portraits that are eerily similar to Maya (obviously intentional), but tapping into the fans' nostalgia is probably not a bad thing. The prosecutor is great, the detective is great, the judge is a judge, et cetera.
Some of the supporting characters have their designs tilted a bit too much towards the sensual end of the scale for my taste, although the fact that the credits list a "waifu consultant" means I'm actually pretty happy with how much restraint the character designer apparently had.
Speaking of which, this game was pretty much made by one guy. Definitely makes it a lot easier to forgive any flaws, and I had a better experience with this than with some actual AA games so... easy recommend to fans of the series. The pacing in particular I felt was a genuine strength, I plowed through this game in like three days.
Goes without saying but I'm gonna say it anyways, Carlos's OST is great. His involvement was most of the reason that I backed this project in the first place (look mom, my name's in the credits!) and I've been listening to the soundtrack off my phone since I finished the game. I think my favorite track might be "Smitten"? Also the main theme. Also... all of the "Pursuit" style songs. Also Celeste's theme.
Maybe I shouldn't try to pick a favorite track.
Gonna venture a bit into spoilers here...
When the "meta" character appeared in chapter 2 I was a bit wary as to how she'd be executed... Overall I think it worked out ok. I could've done without the direct reference to the name of my Windows username, it never comes up again in terms of "talking to the player and not to the character".
But aside from that, my main complaint is that this villain was a bit too powerful. When she can modify people's memories willy-nilly then it's not really a whodunit (er, in the case of AA it's generally a "how did they do it") case. I can't piece together a mystery when all of the evidence is false. This culminates in the apparent betrayal of Celeste, but actually she only thought she betrayed you because her memories were changed. Makes the reveal that she was lying kinda cheap.
The climax where the villain was defeated was great though. I just feel like it wasn't necessary to torch all our other methods of obtaining information to get there.
Also I felt the multiversal teasing was putting the cart before the horse a bit... I'm not sure what a "multiverse" would even mean in this context, but given that we know very little about the upper planes, circles of hell, and heck, even countries that aren't called Wyverngarde, using the word "multiverse" just makes me think of alternate selves and the like, which all seems to be a bit much for a sequel.
On that note, I think a sequel would be great. I spent a significant portion of this review complaining but those are mostly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. This is a quality AA-like experience and definitely deserves your money.