aka the Circus Case from Justice From All but not terrible
I really liked this one! A 5-to-6 hour murder mystery in the Ace Attorney style, where you investigate a death at a traveling circus through two different perspectives. The mystery is solid; there is one plot reveal that I found a little too convenient, but on the whole it's well-constructed, with some clever foreshadowing here and there. And most importantly, the game nails the crucial parts of a good AA case: fun characters and interesting hooks.
The cast of suspects gets a fair amount of depth: besides picking apart alibis and motives, there's a lot to uncover about their past and their life at the circus. Far more incidental conversations than you'd expect, either delving into someone's backstory or offering a funny anecdote. And the writing is witty and characterful enough to make each little chat session entertaining. You rarely get the "I don't know anything about that, ask me something else" default response. Which is important, given that...
There are a ton of leads and topics to ask people about, and not enough time for everything! You get a limited number of actions to spend each hour, with the deadline of the Big Show looming large above the growing number of mysteries to solve. Also, the two characters you alternate between have access to different areas, and suspects are not always available every hour. This creates the kind of enjoyable pressure you get in the Consulting Detective games: you have to pick your questions carefully, build your theories and make difficult choices about which lead to pursue. It doesn't feel overwhelming (important clues can be found via different paths, and you unlock more actions as the game progresses) but it makes you think and rely on the 'little grey cells', instead of asking blindly about everything, which is key to a proper interactive mystery imo.
And also the game is just really strong on the art side. Good music that manages to just evoke an unsettling atmosphere without going full "Creepy Circus"; same thing with the character sprites which are drawn in a beautiful style but animated in a way that reminds me of little paper dolls, instead of the goofiness and theatricality of the AA sprites.
So yeah! Check it out if you're up for some brain teasing under the big top; this one can join Aviary Attorney and Tangle Tower as inspirations that have enough new tricks to stand proudly next to the OG.