Video Game / Turnabout In The Lighthouse Of Lunacy

Turnabout in the Lighthouse of Lunacy is an Ace Attorney-style fangame created using the Ace Attorney Online trial editor. The author of the case is Blackrune, author of Turnabout of Courage (among several other significant trials).

The game was originally made as an entry for the trial competition Broken Commandments where the competitors had to create a mystery that breaks in one way or another at least one of so-called "Ten Commandments" of Knox's Decalogue, yet still tells a compelling story and can be solved.

And yes, intentional or not, the title's abbreviation reads TiTLoL.

This fan case provides examples of:

• Air-Vent Passageway: At first it seems like the vents in the lighthouse are too small for any adult to fit through. Any ADULT, that is…
• Auction: The centerpiece of the whole case, given how it all started with the belongings of the lighthouse’s former owner being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Given who he was, quite a few were interested in them, including Aurelia herself.
• Big Bad: Junio Zanoch Driehl is the true mastermind behind the murders of Melanie Holden and later Luis Gardt, going to great lengths to frame Aurelia for the former.
• Bluff the Impostor: What Aurelia winds up doing to Driehl, during his stint as “Ander Cova”, thanks to Cova Strawberry Crisis. Though the problem wasn’t with the fact the cake HAD no secret ingredient: it was with the fact that Aurelia was already told that by the REAL Ander Cova.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Curiously this concerns none of the characters, but rather the lighthouse itself. Many onlookers reported being creeped out by the thing.
• Darkest Hour: A lot of Act III winds up being this, starting off with Gardt’s murder. Right after that, an argument occurs between Aurelia and Lilian, with the former being left completely on her own, and the latter being under suspicion for the current crime. Somehow, however Aurelia manages to pull through and manages to put some doubt on the case, all the while providing an explanation for the “Reaper’s Curse”. Soon however it all crashes down with the key to the crime scene being found inside her stomach, forcing her to accept one truth: someone is going to great lengths to frame her for this crime. And on top of THAT, Victoria blackmails her with a mysterious book, forcing her to admit to Melanie Holden’s murder, all the while completely glossing over Gardt’s. And to rub salt in the wound even further, the stress of the whole situation causes her to push Lilian away, seemingly for good. Which leads to the trope below.
• Fission Mailed: The ending of Act III counts as this. It seems like the story’s going to conclude with Aurelia being found guilty of Melanie Holden’s murder, having finally lost all hope of being found innocent, capped off with “The End.”. Suddenly, the player is transported to the next part: Act Δ
• Foreshadowing: Three rooms on the lighthouse's lower floor are named after pillars of medical ethics: Beneficence, Autonomy and Justice. In reality, there is another pillar called Non-maleficence, which points to the existence of a fourth room.
• In Medias Res: The story starts off with Aurelia caught up in the murder of Melanie Holden. Right after that introduction, we get to see the events which led her to this point.
• Interface Screw: Right after the Thought Route segment, the entire court record starts glitching up as a result of Aurelia’s Heroic BSoD, along with descriptions becoming much more ominous. On top of that, the screen begins glitching up, nearly the entire health bar gets depleted, concluding with the entire court record disappearing altogether.
  • This continues in Act Δ as well, with the evidence and profiles becoming completely garbled, depicting nothing but static. The only coherent part that remains are the descriptions, which are replaced altogether by Than Leid’s mockery and taunting.
• Left Hanging: Just what exactly happened during the BU-2 incident is never properly answered. Neither is the matter of just who exactly sent Aurelia the package which contained all the information on Than Leid.
• Metal Detector Checkpoint: One winds up being triggered by Aurelia carrying her concealed gun. Not just that, but the key in her stomach as well, which went completely unnoticed by Gardt.
• Multiple Endings: Downplayed, but variables do change some of the dialogue depending on what choices you’ve picked.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Quite a messy one happens between Aurelia and Lilian in Act III, starting off with Gardt’s death. Having finally had enough with her secrecy, Lilian retaliates in kind and for a good while, Aurelia is completely on her own, left to cross-examine witnesses without Lilian’s intuition. She does eventually return, attempting to get the court to talk about the second murder, all the while trying to snap Aurelia out of her funk, trying to appeal to her emotion. It fails, ending with Aurelia snapping back, finally pushing her to the point of tears. They do eventually patch things up, however.
• Police Are Useless: A standard for Ace Attorney, but one particularly baffling incident is revealed through the Silent Detective’s notes. This is also partially the reason for Susan holding the entire lighthouse hostage.
• 6 Is 9: What helps Aurelia determine that the suitcase in the display room belongs to Mono Poly: the initials don’t say “dW”, but rather “MP”
• Switching P.O.V.: In Act I and II the perspective shifts between Aurelia and Lilian, usually when the matter of investigation is concerned. Briefly in the final act, we see a flashback preceding the whole case from the culprit’s perspective as well.
• Unlockable Content: Depending on what the player winds up presenting during the investigation, there’s a chance to unlock some optional scenes towards the end. Examples being:
  • Usually, the dialogue right after the victory leads to a conversation between Aurelia and Lilian, leading the latter to hug Aurelia to console her after everything. However, depending on the options you picked if you chose to present Lilian during the investigations, the CG of the hug is replaced with Lilian kissing Aurelia on the cheek instead, much to her surprise. Shocked at what she just did, Lilian runs back to the Lighthouse, encountering Hellinger in the process. The ensuing conversation reveals that the person who told Driehl about Aurelia going to the Lighthouse was Lilian herself, albeit partly unwittingly.
  • A scene where the real Ander Cova winds up surviving being thrown off the Lighthouse, albeit not without some damage.
  • Scene where Susan talks with someone who’s very heavily implied to be Viola Cadaverini. It details her backstory and reveals that she is not Holden’s biological daughter, but wound up being adopted by her after her real parents, the Lussems, wound up taking the fall for possession of illegal substances. Oh, and she gets her debt canceled entirely.
• Spanner in the Works: Quite a few people wound up being this to the true culprit, Driehl. Examples being:
  • Jones Dowe. Driehl was aiming to create a hole in Melanie Holden to further sell the illusion that Aurelia shot her. Due to the rotating floor however, he missed the mark completely, drilling into his foot instead. Which left not only quite the noticeable trail of blood due to witness’ hemophilia, but also the creation of two holes on the floor.
  • Mariko, and by extension, Mono. Mariko wound up sneaking around the tower searching for treasure, disappearing right from her father’s nose. During her adventure through the vents, she winds up accidentally triggering the TV earlier than expected through the tuning fork she took for herself. Whereas Mono in his search for his daughter wound up looking everywhere, even including the outside of the tower, which led to him noticing a shadowy figure in the lower floor. Along with taking away the platform, leaving Driehl stuck there.
  • Luis Gardt, during the excursion to the lower floor. He was the one who wound up noticing Driehl hiding in the Justice room, leading him to panic. He tried to stab Gardt with the pen, but that proved fruitless, necessitating the use of the second gun. And just as it so happens, he wound up emptying nearly the entire magazine into him, due to the bulletproof vest hidden underneath the uniform, leaving him with no means to eliminate the other witnesses.
  • And finally, Ander Cova, even though it didn’t seem to be that way at first. Cova wound up being yet another witness to his presence at the crime scene, which led to Driehl knocking him out and taking his disguise. Pity however that his acting was subpar, to say the least, with Aurelia delivering the finishing blow through the Cova Strawberry Crisis.
• Wham Line: Occurs right before the climax of Act III, just as it seems Aurelia’s about to turn the case around:
  Hellinger: I performed an appropriate check of the defendant's body, as per her insistence. A key was found inside her.