Nightmare Fuel / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

Spirit of Justice may not have an M-rating unlike its previous game, but its story is the darkest of the new trilogy.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• Before the game even launched, the description of the Kingdom of Khura'in's handling of defense attorneys in the animated prologue to the game is unsettling. They made being a defense attorney a capital crime. It is literally punishable by death to claim someone isn't guilty when the water mirror has already said otherwise. The courts are referred to as "the court of despair" because so many guilty verdicts are handed out without any sort of objection. One defendant is even dragged out of the courtroom tearfully pleading for a defense attorney but it goes unheeded.
  • The sheer hatred of defense attorneys in Khura'in is beyond crazy. The only other notable time Phoenix himself faced such an antagonistic courtroom? It was Labyrinthia's Witch Trials. The main difference between the two? Labyrinthia is a fake city with no actual casualties. Khura'in is far worse because of its government ever since Ga'ran came into power. Because of the DC Act, defense attorneys are scarce in Khura'in and that led to cases that led to the deaths of many innocents because of the lack of actual interpretation of the Divination Seance. Both of these created an infamous reputation that created the "Courts of Despair".
• Even for rulers of a small, obscure country, the Royal Family of Khura'in have rather immense power and influence that can easily rival superpowers like the U.S., Russia or China—they can leverage their foreign connections, who tend to be powerful players. Considering Paul Ashiton was one of them, who knows how many politicians or government officials from other countries they have in their pockets.
• Of course, there's just something disturbing about the fact that decapitations are an accepted form of punishment in Khura'in, and it's one of the most gruesome modes of execution. That would mean in-universe, Khura'in and Saudi Arabia would be the only two countries that practice it.
• The web demo can cause a chill to run your spine when you first see the images projected by the water mirror. You see Ahlbi raise something above his head and his terrified expression is upsetting (since he's only 9). Then he brings it down harshly and everything goes black followed by text reading "PAIN" in big red letters appearing in the lower left. It implies the victim suffered before they died but since you're only told it hurts, it can be disconcerting (plus, again, without more facts you're basically seeing a 9-year old boy kill another person, which doesn't sit well).
  • It can get uncomfortable during the trial when the audience gets whipped up in saying Ahlbi (along with Phoenix) deserves the death penalty, just based on the hazy visions of the Pool of Souls. For one thing, Ahlbi is just a scared kid on the stand who thinks he has no recourse, quivering and comforting himself by talking to the dog in his bag while the entire room is demanding he be hanged (Gaspen is pretty bad too in this regard, gleefully labeling Ahlbi a traitor and a murderer). Then there's Phoenix, who is just trying to do the right thing and not only being ridiculed but having the Sword of Damocles (or rather the judgment of the Holy Mother, as it would be in this case) hanging over his head the entire time. It really ratchets up the tension for the player and makes getting a "Guilty" verdict one of the more Fridge Horror-laden moments in the series history.
• The Divination Seance music (especially the Scare Chord). It certainly reinforces the tone of being stalked by someone (or something) about to strike.
• While he's still very much the smug blowhard of a bully that he was in Dual Destinies, Gaspen Payne's career choice as Khura'in's Chief Prosecutor is quite disturbing when one thinks about it. Because he was shooed out of the prosecutor's office by Edgeworth (and rightfully so), he decided to prosecute in a country where defense attorneys are basically extinct and has sentenced an untold amount of people to death for the sake of starting fresh with a perfect record. And he is disturbingly smug about the prospect of sending an innocent nine-year-old boy to his death, along with Phoenix when he takes his place in Ahlbi's corner. He basically went from Winston Payne 2.0 to a less intelligent and more incompetent Manfred von Karma, which really says a lot about the type of person Gaspen is.
• Case 2 brings us Roger Retinz, a.k.a The Great Mr. Reus, a former magician with a grudge against Troupe Gramarye. The sheer amount of loathing that man has running through his veins, and the sheer cackling insanity he shows when taunting Magnifi Gramarye from beyond the grave can be downright chilling-especially given his "taunting Magnifi" pose, where he looks like the freaking Devil admiring his own Hellfire while laughing at the soul caught therein. The Villainous Breakdown is quite creepy: He puts on one final "show" for the court, making creepy masks of each member of the troupe appear in his cloak, them making them vanish in flames while proclaiming how he'll see them all burn. Then he gets to Trucy, except when he opens his cloak, it's his mask inside. He freaks out for a bit, then tries the trick again, only to have his face show up a second time, this time bloody and laughing. He then starts panicking, yelling that he's not to blame (in a manner that echoes "Hellfire" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame), as multiple spotlights shine in his face as the camera slowly zooms in. It's implied that a large amount of this might just be happening in his head, showing just how deluded and insane he's become.
• Tahrust Inmee's Divination Seance. Just imagine seeing a cloaked figure wearing a creepy mask suddenly hovering towards you in the darkness and ended up killing you at the end. Not helping that it is one of the most challenging seances to crack down, so you get the privilege of seeing the scene over and over again.
  • The whole truth? It was all a cultivated suicide. Tahrust used his own death to draw away suspicion from his wife over the fact that the place he died is an entrance to a rebel base and that they were rebels.
• The end of Case 3's first trial, especially to those savvy about the series conventions. The witness turns out to be a complete dead end, and Phoenix has nothing. The judge feels there's no further need to prolong the trial, and so declares Maya and Phoenix GUILTY. ...Now would be the time for the obligatory Big Damn Heroes moment, right? Naturally, the bailiff runs in. Phew, the trial is saved... wait, he came to say another murder has occurred, and Maya looks guilty of that one too? And now the prosecution officially accuses Maya of not just one murder, but of being a vigilante serial killer who's been operating for the past 2 years?! He's suspending the trial to ensure she gets a worse sentence?! When it's implied she was already getting the death penalty?!? And no, the guilty verdict is NOT overturned. In a rare moment in the series, a day 1 trial ends in a decisive victory for the prosecution, and Phoenix is, as Rayfa points out, a dead man walking.
• Case 3 has Phoenix entering a possible rebel hideout alone... and inevitably being knocked out and waking up in an old, dilapidated room with the recently-escaped Datz Are'bal. The sense of dread is defused when Datz is revealed to be a pretty jovial guy for a rebel, but it comes right back when he "tests" Phoenix by pretending to want to leave the rebellion, and when he "passes" reveals he was fully prepared to stab him to death right there if he turned out to be an agent of the queen. Remember, Datz is ex-military, so he would've made good on that threat. It's a good thing Phoenix was smart enough to talk his way out of that one because Datz is clearly someone whose bad side you do not want to be on. The whole situation makes the rest of the investigation extremely tense as Phoenix can't reveal anything he learned there to anyone, as if it got out he'd been speaking with someone essentially considered a terrorist... well given the Exact Words of the DCA, he'd be considered one himself.
• You thought that Dual Destinies's Final case was really that dark? Well, the final case of Spirit of Justice makes it look like a rainbow story full of joy. It features the death of not one, not two, but FOUR PEOPLE IN ONE SINGLE CASE, with one of them being Apollo's father! It's like a deadlier version of Turnabout Goodbyes!
  • Even though the first half of the case is a civil case, it turns out there has still been a murder on the scene. It seems that the Wright Anything Agency will be forever cursed with fatalities.
  • The Divination Seance showing Inga's last moments is downright haunting before Apollo can make sense of it. It isn't too bad to start with until Inga is stabbed in the back. Seeing "Pain" flash up on the screen is practically a Jump Scare here. In the final seconds before Inga's vision fades to black, he sees what appears to be a faceless Dhurke Sahdmadhi who seemingly laughs at him when the screen cuts to black before Inga succumbs to his injury. It's even worse for poor Rayfa, who initially has a very realistic-looking panic attack from having to process it.
  • We also get to see the pleasant scene of Dhurke getting shot thrice. With the 3D models. You also get to see Amara get shot in the stomach while testifying in court and then being told she only has a 50% chance of surviving.
  • The way Dhurke Sahdmadhi dies, first he gets shot in the chest thrice by Justice Minister Inga, and considering that Dhurke did not die almost immediately, the bullets probably penetrated his lung or lungs and not his heart, how long he stayed alive after being mortally wounded and if his cause of death is either blood loss or suffocation is unknown. But since Dhurke Sahdmadhi was shot, not only would he have labored breathing and dyspnea, it probably hurt for him to even breathe until he died. He PROBABLY had the worst way to die out of any Ace Attorney Victim, since it was a lingering death, and not only did he lose a lot of blood and it was hard for him to breathe but it also hurt for him to even breathe as he was dying.
    • Heck, even in his dying minutes, Dhurke Sahdmadhi becomes the Nightmare Fuel for Inga. When Dhurke steps in to save Maya, he gets shot in the chest to her horror... but doesn't even flinch. When Inga gets confused, Dhurke gives him a Death Glare that gets him in a panic (and don't forget that Inga has prosopagnosia so while he cannot see said Death Glare he can tell the atmosphere changed there), and Inga tries shooting him again and again in his futile effort to take him down for good... only to find that he's still standing like some kind of superbeing after two more gunshots. When Dhurke gives him the following Badass Boast, he gets all freaked out and runs away like the Dirty Coward he is.
      Dhurke: Heh... did you really think a peashooter like that... could kill a dragon?!
      Inga: (terrified at what he's done) What are ya, some kind of freak?! Nuts to this! (runs away)
  • One witness late into the trial has a "damage" animation that's practically a Jump Scare. Namely, a sudden lightning flash coming from behind Amara, scaring off her animals and showing her as a terrifying glowing-eyed silhouette for a split second. It's a good thing she's actually not evil, or it could've gotten even worse.
  • The last moments of the trial deserve special mention. It's one of the few times someone's life is threatened in court as the queen calls in the royal guard. Yes, for the last part of the trial PHOENIX AND APOLLO are held at gunpoint!
  • The low, droning music track that plays when you have to present The Reveal that Dhurke was Dead All Along. It sounds more like something out of a Survival Horror game, and perfectly captures the moment: both Apollo and the player know exactly what the solution to this contradiction is, but desperately don't want to believe it. And instead of a Take That! when you present it, you get a Scare Chord.
    • It's even scarier if you're still playing the game on a 3DS. It's bad enough if you press the "Present" button, but it's even worse because, if you're brave enough to shout "Take that!" on a working microphone, you press the "Microphone" (Y) button and all the sound becomes muted. Normally when you press the Y button in all other Ace Attorney DS/3DS games, you can shout "Hold it!", "Objection!", "Take that!", "Gotcha!" (games that involve Apollo Justice) "Eureka!" (Ace Attorney Investigations) or even "Yes!" or "'Scuse me!" (The Great Ace Attorney, 3DS-only) without fear. But here, the moment you turn on the microphone button before the Awful Truth, the silence becomes deafening with a sense of unease, making you afraid that you don't want to shout the two very words that come out of your mouth, but you know you reluctantly have to in order to progress further with the right evidence... and pray that the nightmare may pass without incident.
  • Jove Justice's Divination Seance. Imagine being a parent who is caught in a fire with your baby, desperately trying to escape with you and your child's lives until you're floored by a blow to the head. You drop your child to the ground, and in your final moments desperately try to reach out to your baby before your vision goes dark and the fire consumes you, with your last thoughts being that your child is going to burn to death and there's nothing you can do about it. This was exactly what happened to Jove Justice during the last moments of his life.
• Apollo nearly drowns. It's hard not to come out of that part feeling like Apollo did at that moment because of the way it's written and the speed the dialogue appears at. It's hard not to feel like you yourself are drowning while it's going on, since the scene drags out and makes you feel a sense of desperation and fear like nothing before in the series. No matter how aware you are that they won't kill Apollo here, the scene is terrifying and, on a second play or when talking about it with someone who's not as far in the game as you, can stir up feelings of anxiety. This one part of the game is traumatic.
• The Final Boss is without a doubt the most frightening Ace Attorney villain yet. This is a woman who, out of petty jealousy, framed her sister's husband for murder, used her own niece as a blackmailing tool to keep her sister and nephew in line so she could legally kill them later, and left an infant to die in a fire without batting an eye. This is a woman who is responsible for Khura'in's downright toxic and putrid legal system which has killed many lawyers and innocent people alike and makes it impossible for those accused of a crime to have a shot in court, almost leading to 9-year-old Ahlbi's death as well as being the reason why Beh'leeb and Tahrust have to resort to framing Maya for Zeh'lot's accidental death. This is a woman who is not afraid of rewriting the laws in court to suit her needs, including making standing up to her punishable by death. This is Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, a ruthless and sadistic dictator who comes dangerously close to getting away with all of her crimes if not for Apollo's quick thinking.
  • The moment she reveals what she's really like. Forget the fact that she looks like some kind of Evil Sorceress straight out of Dark Fantasy. It's also at that point that she decides to reveal she's completely fucking insane, changing the laws of Khura'in on a whim not only out of the desire to win the case to legally kill her own nephew but also out of raw sadism and mentally torturing her own family out of nothing but spite for her sister. Even the tone of her theme changes from intimidating but regal to discordant and shrill, as if the music itself were slowly losing its mind.
  • And if you needed proof of how frothing-at-the-mouth bloodthirsty she is, her second line as a prosecutor absolutely sells it.
    Ga'ran: Woe to you, O enemies of Khura'in, for I shall personally slice, dice, and grind you up into hog feed!
  • Let's not forget about her breakdown. She desperately tried to commune with the dead even when she knows she can't, and when she tried so hard and failed miserably she collapsed. When she woke up she was convinced that she was the Holy Mother whom she tried to channel. She essentially had a Sanity Slippage.
• Case 5 has Maya being held hostage for several days. While this has happened before, this time she actually has to be hospitalized and put on an IV drip when she's recovered. One can only imagine how much distress Phoenix felt at having to go through this all over again. Sure, it's revealed she was rescued earlier than was first thought, but that doesn't make it any less horrifying.
  • Speaking of flashbacks to 2-4, anyone suddenly start to have those when you realized that you are unknowingly condemning Maya to death with ease, just like Edgeworth? Or maybe you got those flashbacks earlier because you picked up on the fact that Phoenix was not acting like himself, and you went through all of that knowing why Phoenix would be acting so peculiar? It really doesn't help that, just like back then, his opponent, Apollo this time, has extremely good arguments that deftly shoot down his own just like Edgeworth's back then, while Phoenix's, by comparison, are weak and desperate and more than once, Apollo's skill forces Phoenix to play dirty, just like before.
• Dhurke's final request before expiring was for Maya to channel his spirit. He dies and Maya channels his spirit right then. Leaving aside how unnerving it must have been to watch someone die than try to channel them right afterward (Maya is only accustomed to channeling the deceased after some time had passed since their death), there's the matter that Dhurke was channeled right after he died, meaning the first thing he got to see was his own body lying on the ground, dead. Imagine having an out-of-body experience on an operating table but it's 100% real and you know that the only link you have left to the living world is the spirit medium channeling you at that moment. It's enough to drive a person mad but Dhurke perseveres on because he has Unfinished Business.
• Turnabout Time Traveler's premise: Sorin Sprocket is a time traveler because his amnesia resets his memory so he thinks the accident that killed his sister happened the day before. While that's bad enough, the case's culprit, Pierce Nichody is scary in his own right.
  • Nichody is gaslighting Sorin by messing with his diary he uses to record daily events, and gaslights Ellen by messing with her sense of time. All of this because Selena Sprocket wanted her brother saved first. What should've been a Heroic Sacrifice instead turned into a motive to kill someone, just so Sorin could feel the pain he did.
    • Nichody's breakdown, unlike the more comical or dramatic is him reliving the moment of Selena's death, panicking, and having a heart attack as he remembers her flatlining, before collapsing.