Paper Perjury

It's a short game - only took me 11 hours to beat - but if you love Ace Attorney and are craving more, this certainly scratches the itch. It's even pretty gay!

Good game, would definitely recommend for any Ace Attorney fans out there (or fans of the mystery solving genre in general really). It's fairly well written, with no major plot holes that I picked up on and only a few smaller things that didn't really make sense to me while playing. There were only about 3 or 4 times during interrogations when the correct statement and evidence to dispute completely confused me (and I still think one of those was completely idiotic). Read if you want to know what it was (minimal spoilers): [spoiler] This was in case 5, during the final interrogation I think. The witness says, in essence: "The victim must have loaded the first bullet in his gun, but you can't prove who loaded the second bullet that was used to kill him." And the correct response is basically "Well, actually, there weren't fingerprints on either bullet, so you can't prove that the victim loaded the first bullet!" After which everyone immediately agrees that the victim must have loaded the first bullet, and that it's all irrelevant anyways because it only matters who loaded the second bullet. Like, no duh, Sherlock. That's the only time this game ever actually made me mad. [/spoiler] Besides that, there were a few times I got stuck during investigations when I couldn't figure out which character's statement I needed to dispute to progress. But on the whole I'd say the stories and mysteries worked out pretty well. None of the cases felt like masterpieces to me, but they wer fairly solid. I will say that the first 4 cases all felt pretty short, which I was a little disappointed about. I enjoyed the characters, though none stood out to me as exceptional. Most of them feel kinda shallow, which was a shame, because they have some neat designs and some of them had some interesting backgrounds. I think the character motivations fell kinda flat sometimes though. I think my favorite character was Detective Hunt, just because he gives secret genius mastermind vibes and I like his personality I guess. He's not really too deep. Kinda sad he didn't get just a little more screen time though. The protagonist, Justina, is fun. She's a bit overly flippant about serious matters, and she doesn't have a ton of depth to her, but she's fine for a protagonist. She definitely acts well the part of the cocky, overconfident rookie. On a side note, I think it's kinda silly that she's allowed to do the job of a detective, basically running all these investigations and interrogations, even though she's just a clerk. But I guess that's not any more silly than allowing defense attorneys to investigate crime scenes independently of the police (cough, Ace Attorney, cough). One of my main annoyances with the writing is that Justina and Detective Swift rush into interrogations without completing a thorough investigation, for no reason other than mild concern about potential difficulty tracking down the suspect in question if they don't take him/her in right away. As the police they have all the resources they need to do a proper investigation, and they should be able to set the timetable so it isn't rushed. And they never really discuss much of a plan going into any interrogations, which I think would have helped. They should be taking a more offensive role in identifying the culprit, but it feels like they often fall back into a more defensive or reactive approach, dealing with obstacles as they arise, rather than preparing ahead of time. Not a huge deal, I mostly mention in in case the devs happen to read this (which if, you are, thanks for making this great game!) I'll tag on the end here that I liked the music a lot, and the art is pretty good too. There's a few tracks from the soundtrack that I'll probably add to my (admittedly very lengthy) video game favorites playlist. Good music goes a long way in a game like this, and I was not disappointed. Overall, this game is definitely worthwhile for anyone looking for an Ace Attorney -esque crime solving game. It's not a masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I look forward to whatever the devs have in store next, and if they're planning a sequel I will definitely play it too.

This is a good classic adventure game, similar to Ace Atorney. If you liked the AA games, this is the next best thing. In some ways I like the investigations in PP more than in AA. The solutions aren't as far fetched and the cases are much less absurd. It also makes more sense for a detective's assistent to help figure who's the perp, than an attorney. AA did have a better cast of funny characters, but the dialogue in this game is also good. This game simply deserves more recognition. It's a small indie title, but it's absolutely worth playing.

A great independent "ace attorney-like" that achieves what it sets out to do, and then some. If you already like the genre, then you'll enjoy this entry, but it also serves as an excellent introduction as well.

Excellent game in the Ace Attorney style that manages to distinguish itself from a direct copy of the genre. A lot less punishing. Absolutely worth it.

One of the best Ace Attorney likes. Very funny and enjoyable writing. I would like a mode in the future to add a little difficulty for those who would like it, though it is very nice being able to see all the flavor dialogue without worries.

Probably the closest in tone to Phoenix Wright among all the Wright-like games I've played. It's definitely more realistic and less wacky, but a solid experience regardless.

Rating: A Paper Perjury, such a lovely little game! Meet Justina Smith, a new administration officer/typist at the cop shop who has been seconded to assistant detective. Together with Swift and Hunt, Justina works to solve the crimes linked together in the game leading up to a crime that Justina could never have expected! This game is your pretty standard Ace Attorney type game - collect evidence by talking to characters through dialogue choices, examine the crime scene by "investigating" and clicking on each ticket on the right side of the screen and then use the evidence to contradict the lies that you are told by the witnesses/criminals. There's no courtroom setting to do the debating in, it's just in the environments you meet the characters. As for controls, it's largely clicking and you can use the mouse wheel the scroll back through text or scroll back and forth through the statements that characters make. The characters you meet are kept in a ledger along with evidence you find and statements made, these can be selected during key moments and the game is very forgiving when it comes to making mistakes - you basically can't miss any evidence or get it wrong. I really enjoyed meeting all the colourful (literally and figuratively) characters and going through the dialogue - the gotcha moment animation is SO funny for each character - and I felt so attached to the Eubanks after the game finished. It was fun seeing how everyone interacted and the relationship between Justina and her coworkers grow as time passed. If there's one really minor thing I found weird about the game, it's that there are five "cases" but the game is really one long case and they act more like chapters. You need the context from the previous "case" to actually understand what's going on and why. Within each "case" there are also multiple chapter breaks, where Justina recounts what they did after the scene/what happened/the general mood and then the next part will occur. EG: Case 1 Part 1, Case 1 Part 2. I think it's worth the price, I bought it discounted and it still took me about 10 hours to finish. It's another detective game in a huge indie collection of investigation games, but it's one that should be played.

Overall, this game is above average. The standout feature is that the protagonist and NPCs don't constantly guide your thinking. Unlike many other Ace Attorney-likes it grants you the freedom to solve cases using your own intuition. During the investigation phase, the ability to examine multiple witness statements simultaneously adds a layer of depth, making you feel truly in control and accountable for your choices. These strengths make for a far more rewarding experience than many self-proclaimed courtroom or mystery adventures. That said, there are a few drawbacks. It falls into the same trap as many choice-based detective games: the "correct" answers can be overly ambiguous or feel disconnected from the logic of the case. However, some level of this is expected in the genre. Additionally, while the game avoids over-the-top or unrealistic tropes, its grounded focus on routine police work might feel less "exciting" to some, though it adds a nice touch of realism.

I went into this game knowing that this was not a million dollar Capcom project but a passion project by an Ace Attorney fan like me, and with that expectation, I think it's a solid hommage. If you're really here to scratch the AA itch and broaden your horizon on how these kinda games can play out, I think it'll be worth your while. And if you've never played Ace Attorney but you're here for a bit of mystery and stuff, I think you'll prolly have a good time here. As a huge fan of the AA franchise, there's a lotta feedback I'd like to give to the dev that I think they've also received from many of the other reviews, because while I did have a generally positive experience, I think there's a bit more that coulda been done here and there. The list below is mostly for the dev, but if you're interested in the game and you wanna get a bit more of a nuanced feeling on its positive and negatives, feel free to stick around: What I enjoyed: - Fun and well-written characters (even though for some reason detective Hunt really creeps me out and I can't pinpoint why) - Cool plot across the cases! - Some pretty good mysteries, especially in case 6, where I think the dev really found their feet. Also the character dynamics in case 6 felt a lot more authentic, I really liked this one. - I forget if the AA games do that as well nowadays, but I really liked when the game acknowledged it when I presented a piece of evidence that didn't _quite_ fit but was still relevant, and it did that quite a lot. What I woulda liked to see more of: - AA played a lot with having the player show a location on a map or on a photograph to resolve a puzzle (e.g. "Where on this floorplan was the victim really killed?"), and I always felt that this helped a LOT to visualize how the crime actually played out, and made it easier to find contradictions. I know that woulda probably been a lotta work to implement, but there were some situations where the precise location of the culprit/victim/whatever was crucial and I was not able to visualize it well. - The game mostly takes place "at the workplace," and while I'm a bit surprised at myself saying it, I think some more slice-of-life content would have helped flesh out the characters and relations more? Like, how many AA cases start with "Phoenix and the gang is at the amusement park :)" or "Phoenix and the gang in a hotel :)" or whatever. While I never actively appreciated that much, I realize now how much that did for the worldbuilding, and this coulda had that too. "Sophie and Justina at the ice cream parlor :)" - Especially before Case 6, I feel like questioning statements in cross-examinations felt pretty unrewarding. Like, I never learnt anything particularly new, and I got the impression the dev themselves got a bit tired of writing them, because a lot of them also felt pretty filler (with some fair exceptions!). Generally, cross-examinations might have been relied on a bit too much. Sometimes, a single present prompt of Justina going "This piece of evidence shows us that the oompa loompa couldn't have eaten the ice cream!" would have been fine, too.