Someone has been spraying graffiti around Holohigh mocking the student council president, and Gawr Gura was caught at the scene. She is innocent. Establishing that falls to you.
That premise drives HoloTrials: Case Covered, a Steam release from September 10, 2026 that carries no price tag and has had players buzzing since it went live. The platform is flooded with free titles week after week, and the vast majority are not worth the install. This is one of the exceptions.
Your avatar is Watson, and the pun is intentional
The role handed to you is Amelia Watson, a defense attorney more by accident than by plan, working a case that unfolds over two days. Comb the scene for evidence. Piece the facts together. Then step into court and clear your friend’s name against an accusation stitched together from lies and misinformation.
Think schoolyard murder mystery built on a Sherlock Holmes skeleton, and the game is entirely upfront about the sources it borrowed from.
The nod to Ace Attorney is the entire premise
Theatrical accusatory finger jabs. Dialogue boxes lifted from comic panels. Visually the style is soft and cartoon-like, yet the presentation language is pulled directly from Capcom’s trilogy, and the developer plainly intends homage instead of imitation.
That extends to how it plays: a side-scrolling adventure, investigation of the crime scene, then cross-examination in the courtroom. A single complete case, beginning to end.
Mini-games feature. So do puzzles. A self-aware gacha parody is also buried inside, and it lands far better than it ought to.
These VTubers are more than a cosmetic layer
Members of HoloEN’s Myth and Council appear with hand-drawn animation, and that expressiveness pulls genuine weight. Combine it with writing that is both witty and properly funny, and the result lands well beyond the standard free-to-play tier on Steam.
The score confirms as much, and the write-ups are affectionate enough to leave a small indie studio flustered.
A couple of hours well spent before GTA 6 swallows the calendar
PC parts are expensive. Triple-A releases are worse. A courtroom drama this polished that demands neither counts as a small kindness, and it has no business being this strong.
Ace Attorney fans will see it through to the end. So will anyone who turned up purely for HoloLive. With Grand Theft Auto VI looming on the horizon, a two-day case you can actually wrap up makes for a solid evening.
Any reason to skip it? Not on my watch.