case by case apocrypha: of the devil episode 2, pt. 2

02 Mar, 2026

Welcome back, beloved readers, to Case by Case Apocrypha, in which we are playing through of the Devil right now! Last week we started in on Episode 2, and this week we are, as foretold, finishing it. This does mean, regrettably, that this series will now be returning to its hiatus as we wait for Episode 3. As much as I'd like to spend more time with this series, in this world, with these characters, this is all we have for now. Anyway, spoilers below.

So, you may recall that last time we went into the city's underbelly to do some shopping and that shopping trip went pretty badly. We spent most of the time last week investigating, trying to piece together what happened, and ultimately failing to figure anything out. We should all be fairly familiar with being in that situation from our experience with Ace Attorney, where we never go into the first trial segment fully prepared--usually we have just enough to keep our hand in at best.

As I ultimately ended up predicting (after initially predicting the opposite), we did indeed have another investigation segment, in which we learn . . . a great deal! We have the classic cyberpunk narrative framework of ultra rich families feuding with the crime family they betrayed to get to where they are, some interesting twists on why all of the things that happened in the lead-up to our serial murder happened. It was already clear that we had found ourselves involved in forces much bigger than we are, but a lot of little details recontextualize themselves to give us a glimpse of the bigger picture. Plus we get some flashbacks from Morgan's past. So that's fun!

You will hopefully recall that four of the five murders our client has been charged with were, in fact, our doing; the fifth one was a cop, and this series being a criticism of the hell world we currently live in, that's kind of the only one we care about. We are able to prove, using the fact that we did four of the murders and tried to frame our client, that our client couldn't possibly have done the first four murders (and thank the Spirit of Justice we aren't in Japanifornia because we are not able to pin those on the guy who did the fifth murder). That just leaves the murder of the cop; this one proves to be a little tricky, but we are able to show, as is traditional, that the room isn't quite so locked as it seems.

The cop was murdered by his partner, for reasons that are complicated but ultimately boil down to "the dead cop was a rich asshole nobody liked with aspirations of a political career and just discovered evidence that would fuck over the slums but would look very good on his resume when he revealed it when he discovered the crime scene".

This is interesting. We hadn't actually met the dead cop's partner prior to this segment, but we knew he was famously kind of an incompetent fuck-up (hence being stuck babysitting the rich cop no one liked); I hadn't given him any consideration as a suspect before, but it feels like something you could probably work out if you work through the crime and ask "who could have done this?"--obviously the alleged first person on the scene would have the time to do a bit of tampering. (It is, indeed, usually the only reason our clients in Ace Attorney are suspects in the first place: they were there first.)

I tend to not spend a lot of time when playing through these trying to solve the puzzle that isn't currently in front of me. So apart from briefly wondering if the Huntsman that was mentioned last time might have done it I didn't give much consideration to the identity of the true killer. Works for me, but, y'know, I sometimes wonder what I could work out if I took the time to make a conspiracy board on my own time. I have minimal interest in calling my shots or whatever, but . . . something to consider and subsequently ignore, I suppose.

The killer just being the cop's partner, in a spur of the moment thing, is such a nice narrative touch. This story sees us delving into the depths of the city underworld and rubbing elbows with the city's elite (who have themselves ascended from that underworld)¹, and while a lot of the revelations speak of conspiracy and treachery, watching the movements of giants, in the end it was something small, something personal--and it shows us so cleanly that the personal is political. These things are inextricable. After seeing the city's heights and depths we return to a personal, relatable scale.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this one. I love the world-building, the characters are fascinating. These games rule.

There are some nice flourishes on the established mechanics here but no major novel introductions here, which is about what you'd expect, three cases in. Just means there's less for me to remark upon.

There was, however, a very funny climactic sequence which seems to be a parody of the "well, I'm stuck at the climax and have no idea what to present so I'm just going to present everything." It's scripted--you aren't given a choice what to present--but you get a little tutorial prompt with text something like "They won't go all in if they don't think your hand is shit. Put on a show." and then you really ham up incompetence before finally landing on the correct item and thereby catch our murder man in a lie because he's just so aggravated at how inept you're being right now.

And with that, Case by Case Apocrypha once again returns to its rest . . . for now. We will be back. But in the meanwhile, stay tuned soon (I think probably next week[^2]) for Engagement Farming. I will see you then, friends.

#case by case #case by case apocrypha #of the devil