Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice sees Phoenix in a brand new location: a courtroom situated in the Kingdom of Khura’in, origin of the Kurain Channeling Technique, where mysterious séance trials decide the fate of all defendants. Brand new to the series is the Divination Séance gameplay mechanic that allows the player to revisit the last moments of a victim’s life. Players must fight to unravel the discrepancies and contradictions between the Royal Priestess’s Insight and what is shown in the séance. Meanwhile, defense attorney Apollo Justice faces his own challenges holding down the fort at the Wright Anything Agency, as he takes on a case that will have explosive implications. Both our heroes are joined by a host of returning friends and adversaries in their fight to bring about justice.

The new game is filled with puzzling cases to solve using popular investigative techniques from previous installments. More details on gameplay features will be revealed in the coming months, so stay tuned!

The sometimes serious, often goofy, but always loveable cast of the Ace Attorney series has grown significantly over the years, so today we’re kicking off the first in a series of character profiles to tell you about what some of the returning characters have been up to, and introduce some of the characters they’ll meet along their journey in the upcoming game. Today we have the legendary attorney himself, Phoenix Wright, and series newcomer, the Royal Priestess and Princess of the Kingdom of Khura’in, Rayfa Padma Khura’in (and I thought “Chief Prosecutor” was a fancy title...).

Phoenix Wright, currently head of the Wright Anything Agency, has been around since the very beginning. That’s probably not a surprise to most, even if you’re not familiar with the series. His name’s right there in the title after all. Phoenix has been through quite a lot since his early days as a rookie attorney, when he first took on a case defending his childhood friend, Larry Butz, against a murder accusation. Thanks to the help of his boss and mentor, Mia Fey, and his own deduction skills, Phoenix cemented his ability to turn the case around when he was on the brink of defeat, ultimately proving Larry’s innocence.

While Phoenix got a lot of aid from his mentor during that first case, many more “Not Guilty” verdicts that followed can be chalked up to Phoenix's relentless pursuit of the truth and his unwavering belief in his clients. This isn’t to go without crediting his “ace assistant,” Maya Fey, a spirit medium-in-training and sister to Mia Fey, who offered quite a bit of help via her unique gifts. We’ll talk more about Maya soon (promise!) but among her aid as an assistant, Maya also gave Phoenix another important gift: a magatama. The magatama was later charged with spiritual energy, which allows Phoenix to see Psyche-Locks, which are visual representations of how strongly a person wishes to keep something secret in their heart. These locks can only be broken with irrefutable evidence.

When we catch up with Phoenix in Spirit of Justice, he’s just arrived in the Kingdom of Khura’in to visit Maya and celebrate the end of her long spiritual training. Despite being a foreigner in a foreign land, Phoenix can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and soon finds himself representing his tour guide in a murder trial in Khura’in’s court system. In this precarious situation, he’s not only putting his credibility on the line, but also his life due to a local, unforgiving law known as the Defense Culpability Act. Phoenix is in for the legal battle of a lifetime – literally!

As if this challenge wasn’t great enough, Phoenix must deal with the Royal Priestess of Khura’in...

Rayfa Padma Khura’in, at just fourteen years old, carries a surprising amount of weight on her shoulders. Not only is she the Princess of the Kingdom of Khura’in, but she is also the Royal Priestess and must perform various ceremonies including the elegant Dance of Devotion each day for the dedicated Khura’inist monks at Tehm’pul Temple. In the courtroom, Rayfa’s powers of Spirit Communion also allow her to guide the soul of the victim to a large reflecting pool in the center of the hall, a practice known as the Divination Séance. With this, the pool will display for all to see the last moments of the victim’s life, and with Rayfa’s insights based on these scenes, judgment is then passed.

While this might seem unusual elsewhere, for over twenty years, Khura’in has not had lawyers – in fact, the legal system seems to be based almost exclusively off of the Divination Séance and Rayfa’s insights and interpretations of the crime as it happened. Since these visions show the last moments of the victim’s life, including the senses of sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell, there’s little room to question Rayfa’s interpretations of events, leaving defendants with little recourse. Once Rayfa has passed her judgment, the court’s Judge follows suit. Rumor has it that since the séance trials began, not a single person has been proven innocent....

Despite her myriad duties and roles, Rayfa keeps a surprising sense of calm about her. Well, maybe calm isn’t quite the right word. It’s more of a… frosty air of superiority, often using her position of power to take jabs at anyone who would dare question her insights or the court system. Then again, maybe that’s just part of being the princess – after all, she’s still only a teenager. Maybe there’s more to Rayfa than her royal attitude problem initially suggests?

Phoenix’s long-time friend, Spirit Medium (in training), and Ace Assistant, Maya Fey are also making a return, as well as the capable (if not overzealous) new character Ahlbi Ur’gaid, a young monk who also works as a tour guide. Turns out these two have a bit more in common than one might think.

Maya made her first appearance in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney as part of a twisting and gloomy case that implicated Maya as a murder suspect. Despite Maya being initially accused of the crime – an accusation that Phoenix quickly clears after taking on Maya’s case himself – Maya soon joins forces with Phoenix to find the true murderer and bring them to justice. Following the sad circumstances that resulted in Phoenix and Maya inheriting the Fey & Co. Law Offices, Maya soon decided that she wanted to take on the role of Phoenix’s assistant. This new friendship born out of tragedy resulted in not only the offices being rebranded as the Wright & Co. Law Offices, but also helped lift Maya’s mood, soon bringing her back to her naturally cheery self. Maya’s unique ability to channel the spirits of the dead (which causes her physical appearance to change as a result), alongside her natural intuition and optimistic outlook, helped Phoenix through many of his early cases – though her channeling sometimes caused her more problems than it solved!

Eventually, Maya returned to her home in Kurain Village to continue her training as a Spirit Medium and perfect her usage of the Kurain Channeling Technique in order to become the eventual Master of the mystical art – though it seems that she kept in touch with Phoenix all the while. Leading up to the events of Spirit of Justice, Maya has spent the last two years in the Kingdom of Khura’in to increase her spiritual energy and complete her training so that she can be recognized as the head of Kurain Village – though it’s hard to tell if she’s been taking her training all that seriously. It is Maya, after all.

Despite the many years between when we last saw her and now, she really seems like the same old Maya – just as spirited, just as big of a fan of the Steel Samurai and other heroes of justice, and just as ready to take jabs at Phoenix’s hair every chance she gets. Despite all her training, it seems like she hasn’t changed in the slightest – right down to her love of hamburgers and getting into all kinds of trouble where Phoenix may need to offer his legal aid.

That’s at least one thing she has in common with Ahlbi Ur’gaid, a young monk who also works as a tour guide to show foreigners around the Kingdom of Khura’in. An industrious and energetic boy who loves to tell people about Khura’in with an eager “Allow me to explain,” Ahlbi puts everything he has into everything he does – particularly his highly detailed explanations of Khura’in’s history, which can take upwards of a few hours! More often than not, Phoenix has to put a stop to Ahlbi’s history lessons before they can get started, though it seems as though Ahlbi likes to talk about the places he showed “Miss Maya” during her time in the Kingdom of Khura’in, too.

Aside from showing foreigners the sights and greeting people with the traditional Khura’inese greeting “hap’piraki,” Ahlbi also carries around the tools of his trade in the gigantic bag he has on his shoulder, including a sweet cake known as a magatah’man, or “soul bun.” Seems like he offers it to everyone he shows around the Kingdom. I wonder what else is in that bag of his, anyways? H-hey… was it just me, or did it move just now?

It’s hard to believe that this earnest boy could harm anyone, which is why it’s such a shock when he’s accused of both the theft of his homeland’s holy relic and the murder of a guard at Tehm’pul Temple! Even so, when Phoenix jumps in to defend him, Ahlbi’s friendly attitude suddenly changes when he finds out Phoenix is a lawyer. It seems the people of Khura’in really do hate lawyers, but Ahlbi’s resistance to Phoenix’s help makes things that much more difficult. How do you defend someone who doesn’t seem to want you to defend them?

Key Features:

• New and returning characters – Fan-favorite faces return to the series, along with brand new characters such as Rayfa, the Royal Priestess of the Kingdom of Khura’in.
• New mysterious location – While Apollo still battles in court back home for the Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix explores a brand new lawyer-less court system in the Kingdom of Khura’in. Here Phoenix fights to bring about a legal revolution.
• Twisting plots and puzzling cases – The unusual cases the Ace Attorney series is known for come to session alongside the witty, comical dialogue that’s become iconic in this courtroom drama.
• Divination Séance gameplay – This new mechanic allows the player to revisit the last moments of a victim’s life. Players must fight to unravel the discrepancies and contradictions between the Royal Priestess’s insights and what is shown in the séance vision.
• The return of popular gameplay features – Investigative techniques from previous installments return, utilizing the touch features of the Nintendo 3DS to explore crime scenes and assist in court proceedings.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice will be released as a digital download in the Nintendo eShop for $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99.