Story: The case is set during a flashback, some time after the events of Apollo Justice, but before the events of Dual Destinies. For the most part, it just sorta seems like a standard case, with not much that would initially make it stand out. The pacing is rather quick, tending not to linger on moments for very long. Much of what makes it stand out really hinges on the big twist reveal that completely changes your perspective of how it all played out, though I will save that for when I get to Theme Relevance. Overall, the story isn't bad, but one would struggle to see what makes it special until that big twist.
Characters: The characters are a bit of a mixed bag. Some are really great and memorable, some are just kinda there, and some can get rather annoying. In particular, I wasn't fond of how the defendant would just kinda start explaining things, stop, and then go "nah, you'll find out soon enough," and the first witness bringing the story to a halt led to him getting on my nerves real quick. However, the interactions between the canon characters are all pretty well handled, and their interactions were the best part of the character writing. If you like the interactions between Apollo, Trucy, Ema, and Klavier in AJ, you'll like them here. Since none of the new characters were focused on for too long, I'd say that even the annoying ones don't stay long enough to be
that much of a bother, so the canon characters easily make up for whatever faults are there. Because of that, I'd say the good outweighs the bad.
Presentation: The unique sprites and backgrounds were pretty well done, though because of art delays there are sadly no courtroom sprites for custom OCs. I expect that will likely be fixed when it eventually gets published, however. The main issue with presentation typically comes from grammar mistakes and typos, character's sprites speaking when they're not supposed to and vice versa, some missing timing on certain things like fades, and some missing sound effects. The presentation was definitely the weakest part of the case, but the unique art does help to make up for that.
Gameplay: Gameplay was pretty standard, puzzles are usually pretty easy and don't require much thought, though the mystery behind the gameplay is a fair bit more complicated than it may appear at first. Once the actual truth behind the mystery is revealed, the solution is actually extremely clever, and definitely feels like something that could be in an actual Ace Attorney game. What drags the gameplay down a bit is that I feel like the case had a fair bit of filler testimonies that only exist to give the player a contradiction to point out, while not really adding to the mystery. Some of these are played off as a joke, but even then it's still one of the big no-nos of case design. For the most part, though, it's not bad, just not anything spectacular.
Theme Relevance:
Since so much of the case in hinging on the big Deus ex Machina twist, it's fitting that not only is it expertly handled, but also the best part of the mystery. Once the twist happens, not only does it create a bit of tension for reasons that are too much of a spoiler to discuss here, but it also opens up the possibility of what really happened. From there, the pieces fall into place like dominoes. If something like this place was put into an actual Ace Attorney game, you wouldn't think twice about it being a Deus ex Machina. Very good use of theme.