Ace Attorney is back! But not in the way fans have been clamoring for. With the series still trapped in an endless rotation of remakes and rereleases that have followed the series ever since the release of Ace Attorney 6 in 2016, Capcom has announced that Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, the fifth game in the franchise, will receive a virtual reality-infused remake sometime next year.
For what is no less than the fourth release of this game since its original launch on 3DS in 2013, this new version is a from-the-ground-up remake of the title for VR, allowing players to enjoy a more immersive perspective of the courtroom action. The original game was notable for being the first 3D title in the series, forgoing the 2D and pixel-art aesthetic the series had adhered to since its debut on the GBA in favor of 3D character models and interactivity. It still retained many hallmarks of the visual novel series, but modernized for the upgraded hardware.
For this VR edition of the game, scenes have seemingly been completely remade to better suit the first-person perspective. The courtroom has been revamped to allow players to stand directly in the shoes of Phoenix Wright and co., allowing players to physically swing their arm to object to the contradictions of the prosecution. Gameplay footage so far only showcases the inside of the courtroom, where players present evidence and question witnesses and suspects, but the assumption is that the investigations each case entails will also be remade to suit the platform.
The only question is: why? Currently there are no Ace Attorney titles available in VR, and while this is certainly an easier game to port to the platform than other entries in the series considering the original game was also developed in 3D, porting an Ace Attorney game to VR at all seems like a bizarre choice. Fans are clamoring for a new entry in the series, and many are questioning why yet another remake is coming while the wait continues for a fabled Ace Attorney 7, as well as why the choice was made to port the game to VR.
Fans will have to wait until 2027 to play the game for themselves, provided they own a Meta Quest headset. It’s not the game that fans may have wanted from the Ace Attorney series, but the chance to step directly into the shoes of Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice in first-person without spending years in law school should at least ease the wait for a new entry. Maybe.
