Video Game / A Burned Man Walks Down The Desolate Corridor

"All of our paths are intertwined in some way. Every decision, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, has the potential to change not only our fate, but the lives of people we may not have even met or heard of, as well. As the roar of the past echoes its way into the present, we find ourselves left with unanswered questions and perplexing mysteries. We really are so defiant to see the ties that bind us all. But we don't have to be. All we have to do... is walk down a certain corridor."

A Burned Man Walks Down The Desolate Corridor is a fan-made work of the Ace Attorney series created by DudeWithAMask using the Ace Attorney Online trial editor. Taking place in an Alternate Universe, the plot begins in 2036 where Apollo Justice and Kristoph Gavin are investigating a mysterious letter warning them about the impending death of Amelia Wonderley that appeared at their office. Things take a turn for the worse when they track down the sender to the office of Private Detective Joseph Sternwood, whose corpse is found in his locked office.

This fan case provides examples of:

• Alternate Universe: The setting of this fan game has several divergences from the main series. For starters, Phoenix Wright is a detective instead of a defense attorney.
• Always Murder: Played with. Though the death of Alexander Nell five years earlier and the deaths of Amelia Wonderley and Joseph Sternwood were all murders, they were made to look like accidents or suicides. It is also possible to reach either conclusion through the investigation, depending on the choices taken.
• Arc Words: "LY-17" comes up several times during gameplay.
• Asshole Victim: Pretty much everyone who can wind up dead in the story (with the possible exception of Apollo in the Body Bag ending).
  • Kristoph Gavin is implied to still be a corrupt defense attorney in this universe, which is part of the reason Klavier wanted him dead (the other part being to take his place after feeling a lot of shame in how he's perceived in the Prosecutor's Office).
  • Alexander Nell cheated on Amelia during their relationship.
  • Klavier Gavin was the mastermind of the LY-17 incident that killed Kristoph and disfigured Apollo, and Sternwood and Wright were complicit in it (although all three did come to greatly regret their role in the whole affair).
• Badass Longcoat: Sternwood wore a trenchcoat and fedora during his detective days.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: In the climax of the True Ending, Apollo is given a pistol by an unknown woman, later revealed to be Amelia Wonderley, who gifts it to him after hearing that he's rushing into what may be a murder scene, and uses it to take down Shelly de Killer.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Apollo was simply a person of interest to de Killer, who has crossed paths with so many people during his career that he doesn't remember attacking Apollo. However, de Killer was not involved in the LY-17 incident at all.
  Shelly de Killer: In my profession, my paths cross with so many people. Why do you think you're special to me?
• Calling Card: de Killer's infamous calling card is found at every murder he causes throughout the story except for one: Phoenix Wright. It's possible to reach the conclusion that de Killer was framed, which unlocks an ending.
• Chekhov's Gun: The fact that de Killer's identity has remained a secret due to the "wonders of facial surgery" is a detail that is mentioned in passing by Apollo at the beginning. It is fired when it turns out that the assassin murdered Phoenix Wright and changed his appearance to impersonate him.
• Combat Pragmatist: In the True Ending, Apollo takes down Shelly de Killer by shooting him while he was in the middle of a sentence.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Two notable examples.
  • First of all, the real Detective Phoenix Wright has been dead for more than a week by the time his body is found by Apollo in a body bag in de Killer's hideout. Other than for the events of the prelude, de Killer had been impersonating him for the entire game.
  • Secondly, the real victim from the events of the LY-17 incident 15 years ago was not Klavier Gavin, but his brother Kristoph. Klavier took his place and impersonated him for all those years.
• Death by Adaptation: Phoenix Wright and Klavier and Kristoph Gavin.
• Decoy Protagonist: The prelude and premise imply that Detective Joseph Sternwood is the main character in his final case. He's found dead shortly after starting.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Amelia mainly dated "Kristoph" just as a means to get closer to Apollo, and her main motive for keeping up with it all the way up to faking her murder at the hands of her roommate despite knowing full well it was going to happen (which includes procuring a dead body, which she herself caused), as well as later sabotaging her brother's plans to escape arrest following the assassination of the three LY-17 investigators that attempted to frame his family name, were all just so that Apollo could eventually remember his promise to her 15 years ago back when he was hospitalized after being severely burnt. When Apollo asks her why she didn't just ask him out instead of going through all of this, she says she didn't want Apollo to break his own promise to her that they'd meet in 15 years. Apollo is just exasperated at this revelation, though he admits that just for the effort he'll take her out for coffee before he calls the cops on her (which instead becomes a noodle date when Amelia asks if they'd get something to eat instead).
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: Ending 11 - The Body Bag ends with Kristoph, Wright, Sternwood and Nell dead, and Apollo's fate at de Killer's hands is ultimately left ambiguous.
• Faking the Dead: After learning that Helen Nell wanted to kill his sister, de Killer helped Amelia Wonderley fake her death. Amelia provided a corpse to serve as a "fake" Amelia, destroyed the few pictures of her that existed and then replaced her sleeping pills with candy. When Helen "killed" Amelia, de Killer was present in case something went wrong, and they placed the "fake" Amelia on the couch where a travelling salesman saw her. Amelia later changed her appearance to disappear.
• Jerkass: Joseph Sternwood was quite rude to pretty much everyone in the prelude.
  Sternwood: I have a "be an asshole to everyone" quota I need to fill. You'll excuse me.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Implied and played straight in ending 11. Phoenix has the location of de Killer's hideout on some of his papers, which Apollo finds on his desk when he comes looking for him late at night. Apollo plays it straight by rushing in after him without telling anyone, and believes that Phoenix fell prey to it after finding his corpse in a body bag, believing him to have rushed in alone to take down the master assassin. The truth is far more sinister: Phoenix has been dead for more than a week, and de Killer has been impersonating him the whole time. He kept Phoenix's body hidden so nobody would find out.
• Left Hanging: While most of the mysteries are answered by the end of the True Ending, the mystery of who killed Alexander Nell in the prelude is never explicitly answered. It's heavily implied to be Amelia Wonderley, and when Apollo asks her about the incident she simply pleads the fifth (she does admit to killing the woman used as the fake Amelia, though).
• Legacy Character: The "de Killer" active during the course of the game isn't the de Killer from the original Ace Attorney series; rather, it's his son and successor who's briefly seen in the prelude, going under the assumed name "Ethan Doe".
• Mole in Charge: While impersonating Detective Phoenix Wright, de Killer was in charge of both the Wonderley and Sternwood cases, and due to the presence of possible hideout locations on his desk was presumably one of the officers in charge of tracking down the elusive assassin - himself. This also allowed him to fake his sister's death by swapping the blood sample at the mortuary with a sample of Amelia's actual blood, keep his hideout away from the police and manipulate the entire investigation. One of the endings has him plant a pistol in Kristoph's home to implicate him in Sternwood's murder and arrest him, giving de Killer an opportunity to kill Kristoph. "First come, first serve" indeed.
• Multiple Endings: The game revolves around choices to reach one of the twelve different endings:
  • Ending 1 - Suicide
  • Ending 2 - A Dead End
  • Ending 3 - A Nightmare
  • Ending 4 - Wrapped Up
  • Ending 5 - All's Well That Ends Well (the first 'Part of the Puzzle' ending)
  • Ending 6 - A Visitor
  • Ending 7 - Paranoia
  • Ending 8 - Into The Mist
  • Ending 9 - Hands In The Air
  • Ending 10 - Gotcha? (the second 'Part of the Puzzle' ending)
  • Ending 11 - The Body Bag
  • Ending 12 - True Ending
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The 'Hands In The Air' ending; after Apollo goes back to his home without any evidence to confront Kristoph about his apparent involvement in Sternwood's death, he just bluntly tells this to Ema (who's also his roommate) and then says he's just gonna quit his job entirely.
• Secret Test of Character: The letter Kristoph received was sent by Amelia herself, who wanted to see how much he actually cared about her. However, he did nothing to stop Helen's attempted murder or even see if Amelia was alright.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: How Amelia disguised herself after faking her death. Unlike her older brother who went through plastic surgery, she used a much simpler method.