In Sunset Rain, Interrogations are conclusive events to major arcs of the story. It is then, when all you’ve learned - from the investigating, talking to people and puzzle solving - will be put to a test. If you are familiar with trials in Ace Attorney series(or even something like Danganronpa), which was a big inspiration for this game - you should know what to expect, however - this game presents a bit of its own spin on the formula. I’ll guide you, partly, through the entire “process”, mostly ignoring fine details - as these should be left for your actual playthrough… It’ll still be a bit long-winded, so get comfortable!

The Interrogation always opens with selecting an appropriate topic, regarding the case at hand. Generally, you will start with one or two topics available, but with progressing the Interrogation - more may be added. There are times, when you can tackle the topics in whichever order you want, so feel free to ask the suspect about what interests you or what you think is most important, at the moment.

Just one more thing, before you start grilling some poor sap - remember to Check your Evidence! Make sure you understand, what you have in your arsenal and how it may be useful, to the topic you are about to select.



PHASE 2 - TESTIMONY/QUESTIONING

This is where things get serious! After choosing a topic, your next step is to interrogate the witness/suspect… as you may expect. The goal is to go through the testimony, while looking out for possible contradictions. If you’re not sure - there are two things you can do. First, you can check your evidence, just like during the topic selection and decide if it may be connected to the current statement. If there are still doubts - you can ASK the suspect to elaborate on the current statement. This may(or may not) confirm your suspicions and give you a hint, to focus on.

ASKing will not be easy, however, since each time you do it - the suspect’s fragile patience will deteriorate, which is symbolized by their Tolerance Meter (or BTM). Nobody likes their arguments to be questioned, after all! Asking for elaboration is a powerful tool, in every interrogator’s arsenal - just be sure to use it wisely and not overdo it!

This is it! The moment of truth! You have found a contradiction in witness’ testimony! The only thing left to do, is to navigate to the statement you think is fishy and SHOW evidence, to disarm the suspect’s weak argument!

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Just make sure it’s the right one, or the suspect will not appreciate it, which will drain your remaining Tolerance Meter, for this topic. As stated in the previous “Phase”, you can check your evidence at any time, while going through the testimony.

This may also be a good time to go through the type of evidence, every Problem Solver will encounter on their journey:

Normal Item - Items useful during your journey through the game, mostly related to many puzzles you will encounter. You won’t have to worry about these during Interrogations.

Evidence - “Hard Proof” used to pinpoint contradictions in the testimony, to the suspect. Sometimes, these may be updated with new context or information, during, or out of the Interrogation.

You can easily find them in your inventory, by {E} next to their name. (just pretend, there is {E}, not {D}, in the screenshots…)

Clues - Not “items” in a physical sense, but thoughts, hunches and loose pieces of info, which sometimes can be connected to actual evidence, to update it with new information. Connecting these always happens, before the Interrogation takes place, so there is no penalty for getting it wrong, just remember - some clues may never be useful or connect to anything, in any meaningful way.

You can discern Clues in your inventory, by {?} next to their name.

PHASE 4 - REFUTATION (FOR REAL THIS TIME)

So, you have found a weak point in witness’ testimony AND the exact evidence needed to break it. Congratulations! You can now enjoy your opponent scrambling, to salvage their feeble lies! Don’t relax too much, though - they may still fight back and put your proof into question. You will have to think on your feet and be ready to counter their new claims, to emerge victorious…

But, when you do - the topic is done for and you will be able to go for the suspect’s next line of defense. After exhausting all the available topics, an option to select a CONCLUSION will become available - where you will have a chance to finalize your argument and ultimately prove, whether the witness was really telling the truth, or not…

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And… that’s it. It took some time to explain, for sure, but this was a general overview of how Interrogations work in Sunset Rain. Nuances were left out of course, but hopefully - you will all enjoy discovering them, while playing the game.

Thank you all for reading this and I hope this post made you a bit more familiar with the game, than any “general” translation progress post would do. There is still quite a way to go with the translation itself, but hopefully - I will be able to deliver some news about it soon, too.

Have a nice day!