Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

***Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies***, is a 2013 visual novel game and is currently on the list of games that will eventually be played on ***Butt Spectrum Club***. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies is the seventh game in the ***Ace Attorney Series***, followed ***Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Miles Edgeworth - Prosecutor's Path***, and was followed up by ***The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures***.

## Game Info

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies is a 2013 visual novel game developed and published by Capcom for Nintendo 3DS, iOS, Android, and is currently being ported to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.

Dual Destinies is a visual novel adventure game in which the player takes the roles of three defense attorneys: Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, and Athena Cykes. The player aims to solve multiple cases and get their clients declared not guilty, which is how the game's episodes are cleared.

The gameplay is split into two types of sections: investigations and trials. During investigations, the player goes to the crime scene, where they have access to a menu with four options: examine, which brings up a cursor used to search for evidence and clues; talk, which lets the player interview a witness at the current location, choosing from a number of a topics to discuss; present, which lets the player show the witness evidence; and move, which brings up a list of locations the player can choose to go to. At some points, the player can use Apollo's "perceive" mechanic to watch for visual cues in a witness as they are talking, such as a twitching eye, that indicate that they are lying. The player can also sometimes use Phoenix's "psyche-lock" mechanic to see locks on the hearts of witnesses who are hiding something.

During trials, the player cross-examines witnesses. They can move backwards and forwards through statements in the testimony, and can choose to press the witness for more information on a particular statement; sometimes, the witness will revise their testimony based on this. If the player spots a lie or a contradiction in the testimony, they can present evidence to demonstrate the contradiction. If the player presents incorrect evidence, the judge's confidence in the player will be lowered; if the judge's confidence in the player is depleted, the game ends.

At some points, the player can use Athena's "mood matrix" mechanic to detect conflicting emotions in witnesses' voices during their testimonies, such as sudden happiness in the middle of fear. Four different emotions can show up in testimony analyses – happiness, anger, shock, and sadness (the icon of which also represents fear) – which will light up with different intensity. The player goes through the testimony, and aims to determine the cause of the conflicting emotion. Near the end of trials, when the player is close to solving the case, they can use the "revisualization" mechanic to look back at known facts and make a series of deductions by picking the right choices, to reach a conclusion.

## Plot

Dual Destinies takes place roughly a year after the events of the previous game, *Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney*. The legal system has entered a dark era, filled with false charges and fabricated evidence. Phoenix Wright, the owner of the Wright Anything Agency, retakes the bar exam to once again become a defense attorney following events in the previous game. He hires a new lawyer named Athena Cykes, who specializes in analytical psychology, to assist his other young attorney, Apollo Justice.

Under the watchful eye of police detective Bobby Fulbright, Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena become involved in several cases. They first defend mayor Damien Tenma, accused of murdering alderman Rex Kyubi. They face Simon Blackquill in court, who prosecutes despite being on death row for murder. Despite this, Apollo and Athena expose Kyubi's real killer as Tenma's aide, Florent L'Belle. Additional content set after these events tells the story of Phoenix's first case after regaining his badge, having to defend an orca accused of killing her owner.

Afterward, Athena defends her childhood friend, Juniper Woods, who is charged with the murder of her teacher, Constance Courte, revealing the killer as another teacher, Aristotle Means. Sometime later, following a bombing at a space center, Apollo's friend Clay Terran is found murdered. During the trial, where Athena and Apollo defend an astronaut named Solomon Starbuck, a bomb goes off in the courtroom, injuring Apollo. Juniper is accused of the bombing, but Phoenix and Athena defend her and reveal bomb squad specialist Ted Tonate as the real culprit. Feeling personally involved in the case, Apollo takes a leave of absence from the agency to investigate the case on his own while Phoenix takes over Solomon's case. He proves Solomon's innocence via the testimony of the station's director, Yuri Cosmos, but a new piece of evidence places Athena as the prime suspect in Clay's murder, resulting in her arrest.

Phoenix's investigation brings him to look into an incident seven years ago, in which Athena's mother Metis was killed and Blackquill was convicted for the murder. With one day until Blackquill's planned execution, his sister Aura takes several people hostage, including Phoenix's adopted daughter Trucy, demanding that a re-trial of the case be held to convict Athena for Metis's murder. Upon receiving a letter from Maya Fey delivered by her cousin Pearl, Phoenix decides to hold the trial in the courtroom destroyed in the earlier bombing. Together with chief prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix deduces that a third party was responsible for the murder, proving Athena's and Blackquill's innocence. Edgeworth declares Blackquill a free man and places him back in charge as a prosecutor for the case while he retrieves vital information. Phoenix learns that the true culprit behind both Metis's and Clay's murders was the Phantom, an international spy that has disguised himself as the deceased Fulbright. The Phantom posed as Fulbright to steal evidence to conceal his true identity, fearing he will be killed by his enemies should it be revealed. With the assistance of Edgeworth, Blackquill, Apollo, and Athena, Phoenix manages to break the normally emotionless Phantom, after which the Phantom is shot by an unseen sniper but survives. After proving the Phantom's guilt and Athena's innocence and bringing an end to the Dark Age, the Wright Anything Agency sees Solomon off as he heads into space.