Burden of Proof

It's decent if you're a fan of that other series that is obviously a massive inspiration for this and want something to scratch that itch. 6/10

I really enjoyed this game. The gameplay and systems are very much in the vein of Ace Attorney. The main difference is that the investigation scenes involve 3D exploration. While it follows the same formula as AA, the individual cases and the overall story are completely original. When I was going into the game, I was wondering whether the writing quality was going to be as a good as the Ace Attorney Trilogy. On reflection, I would say it is. The characters are interesting and well-defined, the plot is clever and carefully-planned and the storytelling is engaging. I liked the sound design - it complemented each scene well. Each character had a theme - Daire's was particularly good. One minor negative - in a few dialogues, there is an extra/wrong word. Everything is spelt correctly, but a little extra proof-reading would have caught these issues. It never obscured meaning, so it really is a tiny thing. I would strongly recommend this game to anyone likes detective/courtroom games.

A fun Ace Attorney homage game. It doesn't have all the polish and budget of its ancestor but it still has plenty of charm. If you liked AA, you'll almost certainly like this.

Rob Productions tells a small yet depth filling blockbuster of a tale and combines it with Adventure and Crime Scene Investigation gameplay that dives into what it means to be a lawyer in another universe. You play as Cross a young lawyer who has just passed the bar exam as you are tasked with solving mysteries and uncovering the past that involves Cross and the mysterious sword which can't be read. Music is very Hip hop beatish themed, can get slow, can get dramatic but seems to take inspiration from the Ace Attorney titles. The music seems to fit the surroundings, sometimes gritty, sometimes cheerful, sometimes dramatic and urgent. It's important to note that I am a little partial to games of this kind of mystery: this game reminds me a lot about Pathologic: which was not amazing by any stretch of the imagination but did manage to get the point of being a game across. In some ways, this game could have added more elements of other puzzle games to make the game more interesting such as time mechanics: making the player think on their feet and demanding them to solve the crime on time rather than left wandering the same four corners of the room until the next dialogue option hits them. The story can get a bit lost in it's own world and forgets that the game is supposed to be played and not watched. The old writer rule "show don't tell" really does hit home here as there are moments that your player is left clicking the mouse reading reading a lot of dialogue: but that is to be expected with these sort of games. A skip dialogue option or checkpoints more closer together really could had been better utilised here instead, favouring player skill and punishing those who would answered a question wrong too many times. The inventory system leaves little to the imagination going for bog standard Phoenix wright styled boxes. Although to some players this may appeal to them, if it was me I would have liked there to be a more organised inventory system like they have in some point and click titles. For example, I would had loved to be able to wander to different locations like an actual lawyer would going back and forth to the scene of the crime - maybe we find something out first before returning? Maybe I want to wander around my office? Maybe I want to just interact with other characters, have a joke about a new intern, etc. Another thing this game really needs is a tools and evidence tab that sits comfortably on the bottom of the screen - I don't like the interface of the phoenix wright games - I prefer my GUIs less cluttered and more straight forward like an actual person would have: They would not hold 20 items, a ladder, a rocket launcher, rope, paper and a candlestick: they would hold what they deem necessary to hold at the time: the inventory really could have been changed to suit the lawyers needs rather than styled just like the phoenix wright games. Tools and evidence should have their own tab as well as locations - that way you can navigate to each without having to scan carefully with your eyes to find the thing you wish to present in a court of law. That, and walking around can be a bit of a chore if you just want to leave the crime scene to do investigation work elsewhere. I can only hope the next game tries to develop it's own identity. Regardless, Burden of Proof is an imaginative breath of fresh air from the usual detective games I've played. It delivers a enriching storyline, great personality and cast of characters, lively soundtrack and a somewhat memorable scenery. If you are looking for a gap to fill in your empty puzzle piece shaped hearts give this game a try.

I'm not someone who writes reviews but thought I would for this one. If you like Ace Attorney, Aviary Attorney, or games of that ilk you will most likely like this game. I also give kudos because this game is longish also with a developing storyline that gets more and more interesting as time goes with a pretty neat ending. It would probably take most people 25 hours or so to beat which to me is a good size game for this type. It functions very similar to AA series with a couple minor differences in Investigation and Courtroom mechanics which are not better or worse than AA imo, just different. The humor, quirkiness, and writing style is very much like AA and you can find similarities almost immediately. As someone who is a huge fan of AA franchise this game hit the right spots and satisfied that itch very well. The only negatives are just minor gripes, the art style is kind of vanilla and plain but not bad or anything, and the rooms are kind of "spacey" in comparison to objects, meaning there is not a lot of detail in the environments but just enough to know where you are. There's a few minor typos but nothing that will make it so you can't understand the points being conveyed. Mechanically and Writing wise this game delivers extra to more than make up for the minor gripes. Mechanics work well and is mostly text and menu base but everything is very responsive. There are some interesting story arcs and logic and deep thought behind a lot of the story. The story build and structure is also at a good steady pace and I don't get bored playing through because things move along and gets to the points rather quickly and doesn't hang out on an idea long enough to get bored which is even better than some AA games. Another huge bonus is that the developer is friendly and humble and appreciates good and honest feedback so please support him and buy this game at full price, it's worth it. I was delighted to see that we'll be seeing more from RobProductions in the future.

The cases are entertaining and get pretty absurd in setup both in investigations and in the courtroom. Though outside exposition, world building is almost nonexistent aside from what you can visually see and interact with (which is usually limited to the case relevant)

Pretty good game. I'm surprised it's not better known, especially after all these years. I liked the characters. Puzzles were usually logical, though sometimes you have to remember info that is not added to the court record. Investigations, even though they are in 3D environments, are pretty basic, and you can't examine the evidence from all sides like in the later Ace Attorney games. Story gets surprisingly dark towards the end. Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to playing "Burden of Truth" in a few months.

Disclaimer:Scroll down to the end to see a funny description of the game. There's quite a lot i want to talk about with this game but i'll try to only speak about what i NEED to speak about, so lets start out with the minor things, ALSO I WANT TO STATE THAT I WISH STEAM HAD AN MAYBE OR A NEUTRAL RECOMMEND OPTION BECAUSE THAT'D FIT MY OPINION OF THIS PRODUCT BETTER. Minor Pro ______ the music is surprisingly good, not really a bad track in here, nothing i'm going to remember out of the game mind you, but the music does a good job at setting the tone. Minor Con _______ the graphics aren't remotely good, thankfully graphics aren't super important, but i'm mentioning this because i'd love for this game to have looked better. fair enough right? so lets talk about the bigger stuff about the game. Major Pro _______ The Trial Writing is fairly on point for such an genre, nothing felt like a leap of logic, i can't state enough that this game's Trial Writing is on par with an actual big name studio's and i feel like this is something that the developers should take pride in, but also seek to go even further with if they do another game like it. Major Con _______ notice how i said Trial Writing in the above mention? yeah that's because a lot of the non Court writing is kinda ridiculous, i feel like the biggest issue that this game suffers from is that its comedy aspects clash with when the game WANTS to be taken seriously. Instead of other big name company productions where they manage to strike a good balance of Drama and Humor, this game fails at that aspect, while sure the game can provide a chuckle and engross you in its story, it rarely manages to combine both for great effect. I guess a better way to say the above is the Game's efforts of Comedy and Drama are like Water and Oil, they are fine on their own but they don't mix well together and this kept taking me OUT of the experience over and over again, any game that can't keep a player immersed, will be remembered less fondly than a game that can. this might be the biggest issue with the game, i did enjoy my time playing it but in the future i'm going to be remembering this game for the wrong reasons due to this. OVERALL _______ I really enjoyed my time spent with the game when it wasn't taking me out of itself, i feel like with more polish this could've been a fantastic budget Ace Attorney, but as it is now its just alright, honestly i'm tempted to put this game into the "So Bad Its Good" category, sure i still had fun, but a product doesn't have to be good to find entertainment in it. Would I recommend it? I have to give it a hard MAYBE, it all depends on how much your starved to play another game like Ace Attorney and such, which i admit i was pretty starved myself, the game is very much targeted for those kinds of people so you might want to check it out. But on the other hand, 15 dollars is far too much to buy this game for if you aren't a die-hard enthusiast, i bought it for like 5 dollars when it was on sale and felt like that was more than a fair price, i'd say i'd even go up to 8 or 10 dollars even, however due to how steam reviews only has "Yes and No" for recommendation i have to give it a soft "No, do not buy" unless your really thirsty for more games like it, if a sequel ever comes out i might check it out to see how much its improved. And lastly here's that funny description i was mentioning. This is some "what no ♥♥♥♥♥ does to a MF" ♥♥♥♥ except in this case it's No Ace Attorney

This game has a lot of heart and really understands what makes these kinds of games work.

A very good Ace Attorney-like game. Story is really good and the characters are as well. The visuals are... bad. Like really bad. Almost every area is comically oversized compared to the characters' sizes, and animations vary from barely present to terrible. My favourite being someone jumps off something in a way that makes Minecraft's falling animation look realistic. Game is great though.