Aviary Attorney

the chick plottens or something. I have no clue how much game I have left, but what started as a pun-filled, birdie courtroom comedy, has turned out into some serious thriller. and I'm all for it.
also I'm a crazy bird person, so, birds.
EDIT: so there wasn't all that much game left, I guess. but it was GOOD. well to be fair I still need to get the other endings.

Interesting and fun.

A short game and story I really enjoyed. If you can go into this game with a mindset of solving puzzles and enjoying the story at whatever pace it takes you to solve the mysteries, rather than about solving things as fast as possible, it can be a wonderful experience. This game was a lovely story for me, I enjoyed voicing the characters and playing it with a loved one. I think it wasn't too short nor too long, and I still appreciate the writing, characters, and good memories from play it.

This game is so much fun! The artwork is immaculate and the music is absolutely immersive. I love games where your choices change the game-play and outcome of agame. I would hands down recommend this game for anybody that wants a cozy, low-stakes (not for the characters), low commitment game to play while relaxing after work. I don't normally gravitate towards this genre, but now I'm hooked!

One of the best game in this genre.
The art style is original and very nice.
Hard, Funny, Interesting... it will make you lose track of time.
I played through it twice. Both games we amazing and ended differently.
Fan of Ace Attorney will love this.
I would buy a sequel to this in a heartbeat.
Masterpiece!

It's a nice short run for a game, definitely doable in a day for all routes even if you get stuck.

The trials themselves weren't difficult and it is definitely more about managing your time on the investigation days but I would definitely play more of this series if it ever happened

I played Small Saga before this game, so I had an inkling of the writing/humour to expect. And I was absolutely delighted to be right. The world play was full of treats to notice, the twists were dramatic and exactly what I was hoping for in this style of game. The art is unique and music fantastic- the swells during the dramatic scenes helped a ton.

I just wish I'd known there were multiple possible endings going in- now I gotta replay it! Oh no, the tragedy- playing a delightful game multiple times, what ever will I do~

Aviary Attorney is the perfect cross between a Courtroom Investigation and a French Historical Drama... with a perfect amount of birds

Aviary Attorney is a brilliantly stylized game based on J. J. Grandville's art and has you take place as the defense attorney, Jayjay Falcon and work to unravel the mysteries of 19th Century France and trying to bring justice to a system that's been marred by corruption.

Positives

Breathtaking Art

- Each and every visual in this game is beautiful, and the music certainly compares. Each cutscene you see, each character you meet, it captures your interest and leads you on an honest adventure.

Unique Spin on the Courtroom Gamestyle

- I've played a number of Attorney games, and I found that often the investigation side of the games are often left wanting. Namely: You're not allowed to miss any evidence, that it won't let you proceed to the trial until you've found everything. With this, you're given a time management system to ensure that you're efficient. Should you not properly investigate, or constantly backtrack, you may be left wanting for evidence on trial day. The game can be merciful at times even with these mistakes, but wasting your days away has consequences, and likewise it makes working efficiently to properly investigate everything feel worth it. To enhance this, the game incorporates a wallet system, one that allows you to pay your way to get information or evidence that you normally could not get that quickly... or sometimes, at all. Of course, if you never want to spend a dime, you can still get the best ending, but it may take cleaner investigations as a result. I never felt that the money I had wasn't enough, and I was rather generous to give it out freely to those in need. To make it simpler: It breathes fresh air into the Investigation aspect of these games.

Interesting Plot

- Having a focus on a growing (Chapter 3)French Revolution plot is something I certainly hadn't expected, but I found the game did a brilliant job of leading us to that path, and giving us a chance to actually decide upon our outcome. With three possible endings from your choices in Chapter 3, it helps us feel that we're apart of this plot rather than being a spectator with no way to change it. Likewise, the game puts a brilliant focus on the morals and ethics of what we're doing, and why. Are we correct for acting a certain way, if it means that justice is served. Likewise, if we act correctly but we still couldn't get what was correct, then what next? It hits hard hitting questions, and you can feel the pain in each of the characters.

Neutral

"Illusion of Choice"

- There are often times that it seems you have a choice to do either one option, or another, but ultimately it won't affect the Chapter in a meaningful way. Of course, discussing this without spoiling can be rather difficult, so I'll give one for early game. Spoiler for Chapter 1 Investigation. During the investigation, you're given the option to either break into the house of the photographer, or you can choose to avoid it. Even if you don't get the photo, you can still achieve the intended ending, so despite breaking the law and breaking and entering, it doesn't matter and you won't be treated differently for that. Of course, towards the late game with branching endings, you choices will start to matter, and there are some options that have lasting consequences, so it's not as much of an issue, but I would still argue it's worth knowing.

Characterization

- While I found the actual plot and story to be interesting, and I certainly find Jayjay's and the main prosecutor's characters to be equally so, I feel that there's a number of characters that I would argue feel hollow. They certainly aren't bad for the story, and they accomplish their goal, but I'm afraid that they feel one-note, that if given more runtime and dialogue, I feel it would've better served to flesh out these characters. Still, the important characters are ones that I would argue are done well, and it's the less important characters that suffer from these issues.

Negatives

Courtroom

- With as much of a brilliant job the game gives us with the investigation sections, I'm afraid that the courtroom sections can feel rather bland at times. Most trials will simply boil down to giving the correct piece of evidence twice, or maybe thrice. This isn't to take away from the grand mystery of learning exactly what happened, but at the same time with how quick the actual courtroom cases are in comparison to the investigations, it can't help but feel like a missed opportunity, even if logically it shouldn't operate on Ace Attorney logic where we keep listening to a character commit perjury for the third testimony in the world simply for the fact that they're pinky promising that they won't do it again. Of course, in turn it means the better investigation you do, the better your court case will go, which should always be the case... but still, I can't help but feel that after doing an in depth investigation, it feels almost lack luster for the trials to end so quickly, especially when the judges or presiding observers are simply seeking to end it as quickly as possible, and a *second* Cross Examination is sounding like it's too much.

Final Thoughts

I liked the game, I think it's a brilliant spin on the Courtroom formula, and I believe that it's worth playing. You won't be disappointed by the visuals and thoughts behind this masterpiece.

If you like Ace Attorney then it's a must buy. It may be a little short but it's a worthwhile purchase.

Good Ace Attorney like game. A bit on the short side and has a few bugs but the story and humor or very good. Great banter between the characters. I had a bug where a few text boxes were slightly cut off but otherwise worked great.

Sparrowson best assistant

A well-written Ace Attorney-like game. Things I liked:
* The art and music. I'm impressed that most of the assets are public domain.
* Even if you failed to get a "not guilty" verdict in a trial, the game would still continue into a different a story branch or with slight variations in the dialogue for the remainder of the game.
* You can fail trials by missing pieces of evidence. I didn't find this too annoying because the trials aren't very long. This is different from Ace Attorney where you basically click on everything until the game tells you you've collected enough evidence.

Things I didn't like:
* The lack of standard visual novel controls such as dialogue history and a fast forward button.
* No Steam achievements and cloud saves. The latter isn't a big issue since the game is relatively short.

What a charming game. Beautiful and unique art style smashing into cute humor. I love these dense bird guys.

Despite being somewhat short and mostly very linear, anyone who enjoys the Phoenix Wright series will like this one.

Great art style, suitably challenging gameplay without feeling too unfair, and there are branching paths toward the end that might prompt replayability. More than just an Ace Attorney parody.

Aviary Attorney is an amusing legal "simulator" that features a unique and artistic 18th century aesthetic! The lovely imbalance of levity and gravitas within the narrative amplified the enjoyability of the game tenfold!

Short and full of soul. Go into this game expecting nothing more than a gorgeous and sassy Ace Attorney knock-off and you will be very pleasantly surprised. One complaint - seeing this in a lot of games nowadays - if your game is basically a visual novel please please include standard visual novel controls (skip, fast forward, text history, quick save/load, etc). I wanted to replay the game to get all the endings, but the lack of a fast forward option made that very tedious.

Very lovely art style. Plays a lot like Ace Attorney with some Sherlock Holmes. Sparrowson is sassy AF. Game is really short, so be prepared for that. I waited for a sale and I'm glad I did. The story was fun and interesting, so check it out if you like these style of games.

I played this game years ago, but it is utterly fantastic. The music, art style, and narrative are great. It's not an overtly long or complicated game, but it's got a good mix of silly and serious, and just managed to be highly entertaining. One of my favourites, and would very much recommend to others.

Robespierre having a bird lawyer grandson. historically adorable 10/10

i think i have a crush on sparrowson

It's bird detectives with humor. Reloading is required for a few things and I recommend hitting the text bar to fast forward the dialog

Beautifully written game. Comparable to Ace Attorney or Later Alligator. Hilarious and very fun.

Charming and hilarious in the first half featuring some interesting crime cases. The second half sadly loses most of its initial charm and goes off the rails. Other than that, it's a funny Ace Attorney inspired little visual novel, so you can except the usual "gameplay". The cases are less complex and court trials less dramatic. The game makes up for it with its hilarious writing and characters.

completely unironically one of the best detective games. beyond the unique artstyle and the presence of real choice, two things that would be notable in any game, it also has a compelling story, memorable characters, good pacing, satisfying puzzles/trials, and a very reasonable price for a game of its genre. it is shorter than most (like sparrowson) and it is very by the books (like falcon), but these limitations enable it to polish what is there. just buy it already

If you're here, you're probably already an Ace Attorney fan, or at least a visual novel fan, and you want to know what makes THIS game special.

Well, this game is about attorneys in Paris in 1848, just before the founding of the Second Republic. Except every single character is an animal person. The main character is a falcon, his assistant is a sparrow, his opposing prosecutors are a rabbit and a cockatiel, the judges are a heron (?) and a wolf. The art style is extremely simple, consisting of public domain images by J. J. Grandville, yet it really works for the game.

What I particularly liked about this game is that it tackles the question of what justice really is. What happens if you defend a client who was actually guilty, and an innocent person gets indicted instead? Where is the justice in a legal system that imposes harsh punishments on poor people who committed petty crimes because they needed to eat? It resolves this so much better than the "Dark Age of the Law" storyline in Ace Attorney 4 & 5.

You will meet, among other characters, a grizzled old war veteran, a prince, a king, a poor mother and her child, an angry rebellion leader, and an angler who is not a fisherman. There are puns galore, and you can assume that any character name is either the name of that animal in French OR the name of a famous person associated with the revolution in 1848. In particular, Jayjay Falcon is using an assumed name, and you will likely be shocked when you find out who he really is.

My friend and I stream the game over Discord and act out the lines from each of the characters. So far we have done one "bad" route and the "good" route, and we still need to finish the other "bad" route. My friend thinks that Ending A, the "bad" route, was more satisfying than the "good" Ending B. I liked both. I really appreciate that there ARE multiple endings and that your choices mean something. It is possible at any point to go back and replay a previous day, if you find later that you didn't get a piece of evidence that you needed.

Obviously I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys Ace Attorney, but I also feel that the game is "meatier" than Ace Attorney. The graphics are simple but the concept and the text are rich. I'm genuinely sad that this indie games studio doesn't seem to have made any other games, because I'd love another game of this type.

This is the best Ace Attorney I've ever played.
Obvious joke aside, this really is spectacular outing in the adventure-lawyer genre. You really feel like there's a chance at failure instead of being forced along a narrative railroad, the jokes are great, and it even has multiple endings. It has a satisfying length with various branching content that will make a second play-through worth it if you choose to do so. Plus it has birds in suits and classical music, which you just can't beat.

Ace Attorney, but with French birds. Needless to say, I'm obsessed.

Would buy Aviary Attorney on sale ($8 or less). This game is obviously inspired by Phoenix Wright, but is captivating on its own right. You only have a certain number of moves during investigations, and you can miss important info before the investigation is over, making you enter a trial which is doomed from the start. Even better, the story continues on when you lose, and there are different story paths based on which route you're on. Compared to Ace Attorney, Aviary Attorney has a more melancholic and sad atmosphere with witty writing and a faster pace, all of which makes me appreciate the game. I really loved the third case especially, which is sad because the fourth case brought my enjoyment of the game down a lot — it's clear it was rushed to release the product and I lost interest in the story by then. Still overall a good experience though.