Singing Attorney Press KitVERDICT BY MIDNIGHT ／ 歌劇裁判

One lineabout 20 words

Expose the contradictions. Deduce the lyrics to the truth. Every lyric is hiding in the testimony — a musical courtroom mystery.

Shortabout 90 words

Expose the contradictions. Deduce the lyrics to the truth. Every word you gather in court becomes a line of the heroine’s song. Singing Attorney: Verdict by Midnight is a musical courtroom mystery adventure: find the holes in the testimony, tear it apart with evidence, then build your deduction from the words you gathered and sing it back at the prosecutor. A famous director is murdered at a game festival, and the accused is popular streamer Tsubame. Defending her is Kanade, a rookie lawyer who has just come to in court with no memory. Episode 1 takes about two and a half hours, and one case is closed.

Longabout 750 words

Expose the contradictions. Deduce the lyrics to the truth. Every word you gather in court becomes a line of the heroine’s song. Singing Attorney: Verdict by Midnight is a musical courtroom mystery adventure: find the holes in the testimony, tear it apart with evidence, then build your deduction from the words you gathered and sing it back at the prosecutor. One episode, one case closed, in about two and a half hours.

Kanade comes to at the sound of a gavel, and finds herself at the defense bench of a courtroom. The rookie defense attorney can't remember anything, not even her own name. Her senior in the next seat, Shigure, has noticed she has no memory, and whispers: "Let's not mention that in here."

The defendant is Tsubame, a streamer who holds the speedrun record for the hit game Night Lantern. “Let’s speedrun a not-guilty today!” she calls, waving from the defendant’s seat.

The case goes back two months, to the game festival Neo Candela. In the demo room of a studio’s booth, the famous director behind that game was found dead. The murder weapon, a trophy, has only Tsubame's fingerprints on it. Earlier that day, on stage, the director had laughed at her and called her a liar.

And in his hand, the victim was holding an old handheld game console. On its screen, the ending kept on playing.

Across the courtroom sits Haneda, a prosecutor in his very first trial. The prosecution’s theory, they say, will be presented in song.

No memory. Only testimony and evidence. Expose the contradictions. Deduce the lyrics to the truth.

• Tear the testimony apart with evidence. Hear witnesses one line at a time, and Probe any line that doesn’t add up until they restate it. Examine the evidence yourself, find the one point that clashes with their story, and Rebut with it to bring the testimony down.
• The hero remembers nothing, either. Kanade stands in court with no memory, so she finds out how trials work and who everyone is right alongside the player.
• In this country’s courts, they sing. The prosecutor sings his theory of the case. Everyone in the courtroom thinks this is perfectly normal. And Kanade, with no memory, sings right back, reworking his lyrics with her own deduction to expose the contradictions.
• A cast with character. Tsubame, a cheerful streamer whose voice gets startlingly loud. Haneda, a first-time prosecutor who sticks to procedure. A judge quick to tears, with a keychain from his grandchild hanging inside his robe. And Shigure, who quietly covers for Kanade in court. Behind the banter, everyone has their reasons.
• A case at a game festival. A booth made to look like a dark forest, posters of a robot, a ten-year-old handheld. Through the stories of people who love games, the shape of the case comes into view.
• Finally, deduce the lyrics to the truth. Slot the words you gathered in court into the blanks of the Record, and complete the “lyrics to the truth” yourself.
• One episode, one case closed. Episode 1 takes about 2.5 hours (1.5 to 3). From the opening of the trial to the verdict, it all gets settled in this one episode.
• First case? You won’t get lost. Review people and evidence any time in the Case File. Get it wrong? You can try again.
• Call the culprit early. During a break in the trial, go with your gut and name the culprit. You can also skip it and play on. It doesn’t affect the story or the mystery.
• Three difficulty levels. Casual, Normal and Hard. New to mysteries? Enjoy the story on Casual. Play mysteries now and then? Go with Normal. Love mysteries? Take on Hard, where you can’t use hints and there are more blanks to fill.
• Sing in Self Musical. An extra mode for anyone who wants to sing the musical, and something to come back to. Sing along as the lyrics change color. With a microphone, you can also get a score (whether this works depends on your setup). You can play to the end without singing.
• Song Gallery. Clear the episode to unlock the lyrics and replay the courtroom songs.
• Defense Score. Clearing the episode gives you a card with your results and a title. Look back on cross-exams with no damage, hints used on the Record, remaining life, difficulty, and your culprit guess.

From the developerfrom the developer’s story

“I make this game by myself, late at night.”

“I left out investigation segments and focused on what I love most: the exchanges and conversations in court. I aimed for a length that’s easy to play, with each episode wrapping up one case.”

“The back-and-forth as a cast of strong personalities argue it out in court, and each one’s circumstances coming into view, little by little, as they argue. That satisfying moment when all the clues planted along the way finally connect into one line. I’d be happy if this game lets you enjoy that side of courtroom mystery adventures.”