Video Game / Hexepta: Mayor Attack

The cover art.

Hexepta: Mayor Attack is a game based on the Ace Attorney series. It was inspired by a fan project named "Hexepta: Logic Hack," despite its cancellation. The game, however, makes use of the trickle of information that was released about Logic Hack, as well as the author's blind predictions, to serve as an "unofficial sequel."

The game is set in the humble town of Hexepta, in the year 2024. Four years ago, a law student named Argus Hakan fought in a court system run by his school. Having taken down the headmistress and bringing an end to this corrupt system, Argus begins to truly study to become a defense attorney. However, when he accompanies his mentor to watch one of her trials, he ends up becoming the lead defense attorney of the case. From there, his life briefly spirals out of control as he gets caught up in one case after another until, by the end of the week, he has gotten knee-deep in a grand criminal conspiracy - and his dear mayor is the target!

The game can be downloaded here.

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This game provides examples of:

• Always Murder: Despite being the norm for Ace Attorney, this is not the case. Only the final case is about murder, while the rest of the game's crimes include hacking, jaywalking, arson, larceny, chocolate-eating and plagiarism.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Storm Sente is the protagonist of the fourth case, 'Turnabout Apprentice'. Also within said case, Richard Kingsley is briefly playable.
  • Due to circumstances, Storm Sente becomes playable in the first half of The Sculpted Turnabout's first investigation.
• Arrows on Fire: The solution to Case 3 involves Honor setting shooting a flaming arrow from a crossbow out the dining room window.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Applies literally.
• Asshole Victim: Perry Tour. Not only was the stolen painting first stolen by him, but it turns out he is Killian Timm, the man who stole the mayor's medal.
• Awesome McCoolname: Storm Sente, Sine Sententia; both of Storm's names work - to the point where the headmaster of Hexepta Legal Academy is barely able to hold back his laughter.
• Back from the Dead: Turns out Karen never actually died. In fact, she was Adrianna Lockheart the whole time!
• The Beautiful Elite: Florent L'Belle appears in one of the bonus cases, being set three years before Dual Destinies.
• Big Bad: Truman Timm, the forgotten older brother of Vick Timm, is hinted at early on in Case 3, but only truly makes his presence known in Case 6. He appears to be behind a revenge scheme against the mayor for stealing a powerful position that was rightfully his.
• Busman's Holiday: Storm gets hit with this, getting involved in both an arson case and a murder case when he's supposed to be on vacation.
• The Butler Did It: Storm is determined to accuse the butler in Case 3.
• Butt-Monkey: Richard.
• Chekhov's Gun: The top secret information in Case 1 seems to be about The War - or so the butler believes.
• Childhood Friends: Argus Hakan and Storm Sente, the protagonists of two completely different games by completely different people, have become this.
• Cliffhanger: Happens at the end of multiple cases.
  • Case 1: The very last line, spoken by Argus, simply says that a disaster occurred later that night.
  • Case 3: The mayor receives a text message from a mysterious thief who claims that the mayor's medal had been taken to Bell Island. The case ends as Argus vows to catch this thief.
  • Case 5: Storm calls Argus, telling him that something happened to the mayor. The case ends before he can explain.
• Clueless Detective: Camille.
• Crying Wolf: Upton O'Goode claims that a monster is rampaging across town in an attempt to sell protective charms, not that anyone believes him. Turns out he was actually onto something, he just completely misread the situation.
• Continuity Nod: Not everything the author writes into the game has been verified to be canon to the "original" game, but they are there.
  • Some exist for Acquittal: Induction too.
  • Phoenix Wright's post-disbarment appearance in a bonus case can count too.
• Contrived Coincidence: Bob and Upton decide to execute their criminal plots at the exact same time, to each others' detriment.
• Creator Cameo: Not the author of this game, but two developers of Hexepta: Logic Hack appear in Storm Sente: Asinine Attorney. The case makes fun of an incident where the lead developer discovered the main composer for the game had been plagiarizing his music for months.
• Crime After Crime: The mayor becomes a victim of four crimes in four nights. And that's not even including the plagiarism of his own music that may or may not have happened in the middle of it all.
• Crossover: Once Storm Sente and Richard Kingsley from Acquittal: Induction get involved.
  • Even moreso in the bonus case, Storm Sente: Asinine Attorney, in which even Sebastian Donovan and Justice Sullivan show up. The case's canonicity is ambiguous.
  • The game even crossover with Ace Attorney in Argus Hakan: Asinine Attorney when Phoenix Wright himself appears as a witness. Florent L'Belle from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies appears too. Trucy Wright is implied to be the judge in a costume.
    • As well as those three, Conrad Cross from the recently-released Burden of Proof appears as the prosecutor.
• Designated Victim: The mayor just can't catch a break, being a victim in four of the six cases, and the defendant in another. Turns out he's being targeted by the same organization throughout the game.
• Determinator: Once Argus sets his eyes on a case he will never back down despite the overwhelming circumstances. Most extreme in Case 2.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Gerard White is arguably this. Until it turns out Anton Frost isn't actually the final boss either.
• Drives Like Crazy: Upton O'Goode. He is so determined to drive at high speeds that he steals a sign from the road and then tries to claim the road in question has no speed limit.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Upton sees the claw of Bob's crane descend from the sky and, due to the darkness, perceives it as a giant, ugly spider monster.
• Enigmatic Minion: Adrianna Lockheart's motives are unknown until her true identity is revealed.
• Evil Twin: Truman to Vick.
• Failed a Spot Check: Argus isn't actually a defense attorney for most of the game but nobody ever questions it.
  • Some people become suspicious when Argus, perhaps foolishly, show them his badge, but nobody ever properly thinks about it.
  • Also when Storm, a world-famous defense attorney from Britain stands as a prosecutor.
• Faking the Dead: Karen.
• Fan Game: Of the now-defunct game, Hexepta: Logic Hack.
• Figure It Out Yourself: Adrianna insists Argus solve the murder on his own in Case 6.
• Flashback: There's a brief one in Case 3.
  • Case 4 is also one, set five years prior to the rest of the game.
• Foreshadowing: The introduction to Case 2 shows a mysterious man standing in an unknown room, speaking to someone as if he's controlling the events of the game from the shadows. Later on in Case 6, Argus and Richard walk into this very same room, and it turns out to be right outside the Headmaster's office. The headmaster does indeed turn out to be this mysterious man.
• Framing the Guilty Party: DePaint's plan is designed to incriminate one of the men who stole her painting.
• Gold Digger: Melissa Foster is implied to be this.
• Good Lawyers, Good Clients
• Heel–Face Turn: Adrianna's got a few of these.
• He Knows Too Much: Some people are said to have come to close to exposing the plot against the mayor and are used as scapegoats for the organization's crimes. Kate's sister being among them.
• Hidden Villain: Truman.
• House Fire: Case 3.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All six of the main game's cases have "Turnabout" in their names. The two bonus cases are both referred to as "Asinine Attorney" cases.
• Idiot Hero: Argus is frequently seen as incompetent, especially during the early part of the game. He's clearly not as stupid as people make him out to be, however, considering he makes short work of any complex mystery he gets involved in.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Storm didn't want to endure the stress of being the only lawyer in all of London, so it came as a shock to him that his position was the goal behind Lawrence's evil plan. Similarly, Shane Timm didn't want anything to do with the feud within the Timm Family, and killed Truman Timm after learning his plan was to have 'him' become mayor.
• Impersonation Gambit: When Anton Frost disguises as the mayor to cement the thrown-off time of death.
• Interquel: In the Ace Attorney universe, this would be set in between Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice. This only particularly concerns one of the bonus cases.
• I Shall Return: Upton's parting words to Argus at the end of Case 2. He has not returned.
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: The mayor's position is at stake when he carelessly crosses a road.
• Joke Item: Argus' cardboard badge, similar to the one used by Furio Tigre in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations.
  • Eventually gets swapped out for a real attorney's badge.
• Kangaroo Court
• Killer Cop: Detective Camille becomes the game's Final Boss in the final chapter after he kills Frost in a fit of rage.
• Kill It with Fire: What Honor Gesst intended to do to the mayor.
• Law of Disproportionate Response: The reaction to the mayor's jaywalking.
• Locked Room Mystery: The crimes in Cases 1, 4, 5 and 6.
• Marathon Boss: Anton Frost is on the stand for the majority of Case 6's second trial. He has a total of seven cross examinations - though the sixth one is a repeat of his fifth testimony.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The organization first makes themselves known through hacking and jaywalking-framing.
• Motionless Chin: None of the characters from Acquittal: Induction move their chins when they speak.
• Mr. Exposition: The mayor's butler.
• The Mentor: Karen Foster.
• Mysterious Woman: Just who is Adrianna Lockheart? She's Karen.
• Narcissist: Bob, White and L'Belle.
• Never My Fault: Upton O'Goode, upon being accused of running over a pedestrian, blames the pedestrian himself for the incident.
• Never the Obvious Suspect: In Case 2, Upton makes himself look really suspicious, but he is not the main culprit. He is responsible for the hit and run and "premeditated speeding," however.
  • In Case 3, Warren is made to look like the most suspicious character, but, despite being an unwitting accomplice, the culprit was actually his much-less-present sister, Honor.
• Never Suicide: Karen Foster never actually died. Anton Frost's death was initially claimed to be a suicide, but only by the man who actually killed him.
• No Badge? No Problem!: Argus never actually passed the bar, he just made his badge out of cardboard.
• Non-Standard Game Over: There are a few.
  • Case 5 features seven such endings, each occurring when Argus receives too many penalties at specific points in the case. These are:
    • 1. Any point before the first investigation. Argus fails to dispute Perry Tour's case against the ship captain, and the case goes cold.
    • 2. Any point during the first investigation. The police get annoyed by Argus' ridiculous claims and kick him out.
    • 3. While questioning Dellen in the village. Dellen declares Argus an annoyance and leaves.
    • 4. Any point during the second investigation. DePaint simply asks the police to kick Argus out after she finds him rummaging through her drawers.
    • 5. While confronting DePaint. Everyone decides Argus is crazy and Detective Camille takes over. Clearly, this does not work out.
    • 6. While confronting Tour. Tour kicks Argus and Camille out of his office, but not before pickpocketing the medal from Argus.
    • 7. After Tour's transformation. Tour snatches the medal from Argus and destroys him right before his eyes.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Upton is genuinely afraid of this "spider monster" he saw in the dark.
• Nothing Personal: Cooke isn't framed for the arson incident for any personal reason, it just conveniences the culprit.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Perry Tour. Argus also tends to do this on occasion, often to annoy witnesses.
  • Case 5 also has one where Argus, Storm and Richard fail to find a way out of the freezer warehouse and die.
• Older Than They Look: Perry's face is all just a work of cosmetics, he's actually somewhere around eighty years old, possibly even older.
• Old Soldier: Warren Gesst was involved in The War.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Storm's real name is Sine Sententia, but everyone calls him Storm. Frost finds this amusing.
• Only One Plausible Suspect: The mayor is caught red-handed by the police and a witness crossing a road that may not be crossed. How could there possibly be another culprit in such an Open-and-Shut Case?
• Only Sane Man: Argus feels like this throughout Case 2.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The horse wearing a Richard Kingsley mask in Argus Hakan: Asinine Attorney.
• Parental Abandonment: Melissa Foster left the Timm family after Fergal's death during The War, leaving Vick with only his grandfather. He was 30 at the time, but still.
• Playing the Victim Card: Perry Tour claims the stolen painting is his. It actually belongs to the "thief."
• Punny Name: Just about every witness who appears in Cases 1 to 5.
• Reunion Vow: Storm's parting words, "until we meet again, Argus Hakan."
• Revisiting the Cold Case: The explosion incident twenty years ago.
• Rube Goldberg Device: Basically the Case 1 solution.
• Shout-Out: Bob Bildit for Bob the Builder couldn't be any more obvious.
  • Also, Melissa Foster has the same name as Dahlia Hawthorne's alias in the fourth case of Ace Attorney 3.
• Spare to the Throne: Vick Timm, after his older brother gets caught up in the explosion incident.
• Suddenly Voiced: Frost, despite not being a defense attorney or prosecutor, gets a voiced objection.
  • Sample applies to DePaint and Tour, likely because they both function as the case's rivals.
• That One Case: The explosion during The War is brought up frequently. Even the mayor seems to be hiding something about it.
• To Be Continued: Just before parting with Argus at the end of the game, Storm mentions an impressive pair who came from the Victorian Era being among FemCon's few survivors.
• Twin Switch: Early in Case 6, Truman pretends to be Vick to confuse the later investigation. In reality, the mayor was already dead.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: While most of the game is based on the original Ace Attorney trilogy, Case 5's gameplay is based on the Investigations spinoff, featuring both Investigation sections in it's style and logic. Testimonies are also heard out of court, too.
  • In a similar vein, there's also Case 6's psyche lock section and escape room, the latter also making use of the logic mechanic.
• Victim of the Week: The mayor has a really bad week, beginning with false jaywalking accusations and ending with his own murder.
• Villainous Breakdown: Bob sets both his hair and the courtroom on fire. Honor opens her briefcase, causing banknotes to fly out before revealing the incriminating gas stain. Killian laughs and laughs until all his make-up runs out, exposing his true face. Even Payne, though not a villain, has his glasses shatter after his scream in defeat.
• Zany Scheme: Bob the Builder hatches an extreme plot to frame the mayor for jaywalking - he uses his most powerful crane to switch a small road with a part of the highway, then uses the different types of concrete to prove that crossing the former at any time is an act of jaywalking. Lampshaded by both Argus and the judge.