Overall, Staffer Case is fairly decent as a deduction-based point-and-click visual novel with roughly 13-16 hours of playtime (including alternate case endings and the side stories).

The localization isn't perfect, but it is effective and doesn't impede any puzzles.

The UI is a little bit clunky. The deduction UI is slightly unintuitive and the transitions between gameplay segments are a little slow, but those are otherwise small nitpicks. If you try to collect all the alternative case endings, it's difficult to return to the branching point if you start on the "true" path, which may lead to needing to replay the full case again to get certain endings.

The logic isn't difficult; all the evidence is collected before deductions so you could solve the case first on your own, however, there are red herrings and enough twists that the cases aren't too easily predictable. There were only a handful of times when I needed to reference a guide online or use hints to get past a few obscure puzzles in the game. There were some moments where I had to suspend my disbelief about the cases and characters, but I otherwise enjoyed the puzzles.

The demo features Cases 1 & 2 out of a total 5 cases. I would recommend playing the demo to get a feel for the gameplay, but I will preface that I think Cases 1 & 2 are the weakest in the game. Cases 3-5 feature stronger puzzles and further expansion of the world-building, characters, and themes. Some gripes I had with the writing and Cases 1 & 2 were addressed in later cases.

Spoilers-ahead:

I found the alternative (non-truth) ending to Case 1 to be a far stretch, even attempting to suspend my disbelief. The case mentions the victim was napping before he died of blunt force trauma, but we're supposed to believe that the cast would logically conclude that he was suicidal and intentionally launched himself from his chair into the ceiling during the middle of his nap. While all of the non-truth endings have logical contradictions, of course, this one feels particularly glaring and difficult to believe that the cast would accept this hypothesis.

I was also skeptical of some of the character writing in the beginning. As some other reviews have mentioned, I was baffled by some of the incorrect logical leaps or fallacies that the cast would present. It initially gave me the impression of weak writing by purposely curbing the cast to be less intelligent to create an artificial sense of Notrick being "exceptional" and for the sake of adding another mechanic to the game. In hindsight, I still think some of these instances are a bit exaggerated for my taste and difficult to believe, but I was relieved to see that it was intentional writing and see it mostly pay off during Case 5. After the reveal that Pandoria was purposefully trying to mislead investigations, I felt affirmed that I was not going crazy when I consistently looked at her statements, going "Huh? You don't actually believe that, right?? There's no way.". That aside, I really enjoyed Case 5. It was a satisfying conclusion and seeing all the previous foreshadowing come together was rewarding. It was more emotional than I anticipated, and I appreciated the slightly bitter yet hopeful conclusion.

Encompassing everything, I enjoyed Staffer Case, and I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series. I hope the sequel continues to expand on the world and characters.

Played the demo and I was hooked, had to buy it no question about it
Only got better from there, interesting until the end.

The negatives I can say are some quirks with the UI (have to unpin a clue, to select another clue in the same document for instance)
The lack of a gallery mode.
Looking forward to more like this, this game was a great time.

very good spiritual successor to ace attorney, especially for the price

i also think it has a much better overarching story, and the last case actually came close to punching me in the balls emotionally

more plz