Not gonna lie, I originally looked away from this title because the art style (extremely anime, pander-y female character designs) isn't what I'm typically drawn to. But I'm a diehard Ace Attorney fan, and going years-long without a new AA game since TGAA left a void in me that I needed to fill... so I gave Tyrion a chance at the recommendation of a fellow AA-lover.
I LOVED this game. It was described as an homage to AA, and it certainly has a lot of parallels and nods to the series, but I think it really carved out its own identity! The universe is interesting and establishes engaging stakes and dark themes that I can't see being covered in an AA title.
The story is solid, and dialogue is thoughtfully written. I mention the latter because visual novels can suffer from an excess of useless, corny text and monologuing. It was refreshing to read through conversations and thoughts that feel purposeful and drive the story and characters! I loved the core cast so much!!
It feels like the devs prioritized the story above the gameplay. You'll find that investigations are pretty straightforward. The amount of presenting you'll need to do to unlock certain talking points is fairly light compared to AA. They WANT you advance in the plot without wasting time examining every little thing in a location (though some folks might enjoy that sort of thing). The challenge lies in the trials, not that they're crazy difficult, but they pose enough difficulty for you to REALLY examine your evidence and utilize your logic. Evidence in this game is SUPER text-heavy, so expect to carefully read every piece during trials, especially in later cases. The solutions/contradictions aren't always as direct as in AA games. I admittedly got stuck a few times.
For the most part, there's no punishment for presenting incorrect evidence. There are some moments in the game where you have a health bar and will need to answer precisely, but for the most part, you can present liberally. As someone who cared more to progress in the plot without fodder from potential losing screens and having to restart, this was perfect! I personally find that Tyrion eliminates gameplay aspects that would just add hollow hours into it, presenting risks only where they matter most. If you like the in-depth, interactive investigations and the expectation to deliberately approach contradictions like in AA games, you might be disappointed here.
Minor gripes:
- Halfway through the game, Tyrion's relationship with a certain someone was suddenly thrust onto us after it had been steadily developing? Like we all knew where they were heading lmao but they just decided to kick it into high gear all of a sudden and it felt rushed
- Evidence can be used more than once. In a few annoying instances, I had to present the same piece of evidence literally back-to-back, or at least again 1-2 contradictions later IIRC.
- SUPER nitpicky, but since the art was what deterred me in the first place--the art style gets inconsistent in some sprites and amongst the cast, and I don't mean the contrast between the pretty girls and grown men lol. As a stickler for visuals, this is really distracting and hurts immersion.
