I sometimes have the tendency to look down on these ‘Lost games' ARG BS that flood itch.io and steam. Not because they're bad or not scary but because they're always the most basic bog standard creepypasta BS you could possibly think of with very little to show for it in scares, puzzles, or clever use of the ARG format. I think the only games I’ve seen done well were Ben Drowned, Godzilla NES, and Petscop, two of those are just hi-effort Creepypastas and one that doesn't even exist. Which is why I'm glad to say that this game goes out of its way to not only pass the super low bar of lame creepypasta lost game bs; but also carve its own path as a pretty great ARG and a genuinely scary experience. Finally we can have a lost game ARG where it's not about a dead person/child controlling the game but rather something much MUCH worse.........disgruntled employees.

Also I really wanna give this game a huge thumbs up for the game's N64 like presentation. It's not one for one like the games of its era and at points you can clearly tell it’s not a game that could’ve worked on a real N64, but they make it work in the lore of the ARG along with still having the ability to make the atmosphere all the more dreadful by going for a more basic lower quality look.

I don't have much else I wanna say about it without giving away spoilers but I do think the puzzles are a little too obtuse at times but the game was designed to be a community driven ARG experience so really if anything they did too good of a job if you think about it. But overall it's just a really solid horror experience I'm glad I gave a chance instead of just scrolling past it like any other itch.io ARG creepypasta schlock.

I spitefully resisted for eons but. Shit. What do you want me to say? Fate is good! I admit it! Its really good! I like Saber a lot, maybe one of my favorite characters ever! Shirou has endless bounds of depth and nuance and one of the most psychologically damaged characters I've ever seen. Rin's story is introduced from her perspective, immediately cutting me off from being able to just dismiss her as a normal tsundere archetype. The narrative gives every character different tragedy and dynamics across 40 + hours of story. The beloved huge anime franchise I've intentionally avoided for years is good! I was wrong! Fuck!

It alright, it not subtle or nuanced, it tasteless and lukewarm.........naa that's being a bit too mean.

The truth is I did enjoy this game quite a bit, the combat is still pretty solid, the side missions feel less like filler and more like proper missions, everything with Kraven is fantastic, and side stuff with Peter's former villains are all really great and do a better job delivering the game's overall narrative themes better than the main story to an extent. I feel like the further we get into the story the worse it gets and the more rushed it feels. I genuinely believe if you gave the symbiote arc more time to breath, made Venom less of a one note villain, and actually found something for Miles to do in the main story besides getting over his anger towards Mr. Negative you could've had something really special on your hands, and I know that for a fact since Kraven is by far the best part of the game hands down, Insomniac did their homework and then some like holy shit.

All and all a perfectly serviceable sequel that I wished tried a little bit harder
(Wake me up when Arkane's Blade comes out in 4 years)

Starts off as a pretty solid psychological horror but leans too hard towards the absurd later on, akin to watching a lackluster version of Courage the Cowardly Dog. The transparent metaphors didn't help alleviate it either.

Nevertheless, it's a pretty simple story of a man learning to deal with his guilt, and for a crudely animated janky ass point-and-click game, it did manage to evoke some genuine emotional moments.

I just wish good things happened to video game characters named Max.

It's clear that this game was made with a lot of passion and heart with most work being done by solo developer Jacob Janerka. That said, your enjoyment of this game will largely hinge on how much you gel with the particular brand of absurdist humor on display here.

There was an early scene that actually had me laughing out loud for two solid minutes and gave me hope that there would be more where that came from. Unfortunately, the game never quite reached the same heights for me.

Paradigm hews close to its point & click adventure genre conventions, while managing to streamline the experience somewhat. The puzzles were never weirdly obtuse and solutions have a logic to them that is satisfying enough to solve, and if you should happen to get stuck there's a really good hint system which keeps things appropriately vague while giving you just enough of a hint to not have to look something up.

I also adore the art style of the game, and seeing the next weird thing rendered in this style was a good enough propellant to keep going forward. As I stated at the top of the review though, your enjoyment of the game as a whole will depend on how the jokes land for you personally, and I'm sad to say that after that first hour nothing ever really hit for me in the same way.

Really interesting fan game that exemplifies both the recurring strengths and weaknesses of Ace Attorney as a series. This is an obvious labor of love that, while mostly its own thing, also takes deliberate strides to more elegantly segue between the trilogy/Investigations and Apollo Justice than the official games ever attempted. Maya not being present for Phoenix's final pre-timeskip trial is given an explanation here, which makes sense even if it isn't satisfying. Likewise, Edgeworth is finally given a chance to show off the character development he received in his spin-offs. It's the little touches like these that show how the developer truly cares about the AA storyline in a way Capcom almost seems reluctant of doing.

It's amazing how the main plot here is basically the same as the one from Dual Destinies, except Contempt of Court actually has, like, foreshadowing... yet is somehow also less obvious with its twists. In general, the writing is pretty good - at its best, the characterization of the legacy characters is indistinguishable from in the official localizations. There are a fair number of frustrating typos, but I can't really fault a (nearly) solo dev for that when it still has way less than Justice For All, a shorter game that costs money to play.

The whole affair definitely feels a bit fanficcy, with new sprites that look suspiciously like recolors and an edgy, omniscient main antagonist who is more obnoxious than threatening (though that's definitely the point, at least near the end). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though; it's honestly rather charming. Gameplay is just like the 2D AA titles - you're actually required to think and aren't just told the answer to every puzzle (like in DD for instance). There were only a few moments where I needed a guide to progress, certainly no more than in the originals, though there is one particular moment early on with an obvious solution where progression is rendered almost impossible due to the UI blocking your view of an object you need to click on.

The first two cases stand alone (until they don't) and are just damn good Ace Attorney, channeling the brevity of the earlier games to refreshing effect. Unfortunately, the penultimate case is one of those that exists mostly as a prologue to the final one, and while it has an interesting through line with some great moments it's really frustrating watching the characters repeatedly fail to understand obvious clues you, the player, figured out hours prior. The final case is also far too drawn out in an attempt to be epic, but that's been a problem since the DS rerelease of AA1, and this one doesn't start wearing out its welcome until the last couple hours, which is remarkable in its own way.

In the end, Contempt of Court more or less lived up to the hype for me. If you're willing to understand the nature of its shortcomings, you'll find a wonderful, insanely fleshed out fan game that not only improves the overall canon of its source material by existing, but somehow manages to be better than a fair few of its more technically advanced brethren. Highly recommended, but only for Ace Attorney diehards who have played every game released up to at least Investigations 2.