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(+1)(-1)

I played the demo and have complicated feelings about it.

In many ways it's awesome: The visuals are a treat, the writing is fun and engaging, the world is interesting and has lots of potential, all characters are likeable (except the murderer of course), and the game really captures that Ace Attorney feeling. The gameplay features work very smoothly, though some mechanics could still use a little tweaking (for example the "examine location" part: I'm one of those players who don't want to miss anything, so I clicked on every single door in the upper hallway, which was a bit tedious since they all had the same text. It was the same on the lower floor with the lamps and candles. )

The one part where the demo felt a bit lacking was the plot. Tyrion's special ability could become a very interesting mechanic in the full game and will probably be an important piece of the overall plot, but it also breaks the very first Rule of Magic the game introduces. Now I'm going to take all magical rules with a grain of salt, which limits my enjoyment of the game because it feels like it's more about guessing instead of deducting. In my opinion that's a pretty big issue for a mystery game.

The ending also felt a bit rushed, not only the conclusion of the case but also the subsequent conversations with the client and the mentor. They weren't bad by any means, but the last few scenes just don't develop as well as the rest of the demo did. 

(And about the case: Maybe I missed something there at the end, but if the victim was holding the bottle, the autopsy report doesn't make much sense without some additional explanation, right?)

The case also felt a bit too easy, even for a tutorial, but maybe I've just been playing too many Ace Attorney games.

All in all I have no doubt that this will be a great game once it's finished, but right now it still falls a little short of that.

(+1)

"The one part where the demo felt a bit lacking was the plot. Tyrion's special ability could become a very interesting mechanic in the full game and will probably be an important piece of the overall plot, but it also breaks the very first Rule of Magic the game introduces."

One counterpoint: The First Law of Magic introduced is that 'a mage can only cast spells in their compendium'. Multiple different possibilities exist:

  • Tyrion's special ability is not a spell
  • Tyrion is unaware of his Compendium's existence

I would assume it's the latter, to be honest with you. That would create more interesting evidence for a concrete Turnabout. It's also a fairly ingenious way to hide someone's magic from them at birth.

Still, doesn't break the rules.