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Ace Attorney Files: Maya Fey, Ace Spirit Medium

Mar 13, 2019 // Kellen Haney

With Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy out in just a few weeks, it’s once again time to check in on the colorful cast of characters that grace the courtroom. Last week we covered the pointy hair and pointed finger of Phoenix Wright, but this time we’re moving the spotlight over Maya Fey! Seasoned veterans need no introductions, but if you’re new to the games, now’s a great time to learn more about Phoenix’s spirited assistant.

A lively young woman who loves to poke fun at Phoenix about anything and everything she can, Maya is a constant companion throughout many of Wright’s early cases. Offering valuable insight (and some good-natured teasing) to investigations and courtrooms alike, Maya brings lots of colorful commentary and perspective to dire situations. As the younger sister of Mia Fey (Phoenix’s mentor and boss), Maya knows her way around a court case and has even helped her sister in the past by holding on to key pieces of evidence. Maya’s support can be invaluable when Phoenix has nowhere else to turn, typically only asking for payment in her favorite food: hamburgers! Phoenix still has to foot the bill, of course.

Maya is certainly more spirited than most others, which you may have noticed from her unusual clothing. It causes her to stand out, and there’s a reason for what she wears! While her older sister Mia left their home village of Kurain to study law, Maya stayed behind to train as a spirit medium, learning how to channel the spirits of the recently departed via the Kurain Channeling Technique. In addition to summoning a spirit to speak through a living person, this technique causes the medium to take on physical characteristics of the person they’re channeling, often with surprising results. The occult plays a central role in one of the cases in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, but you’ll have to play for yourself to understand just how this unique form of channeling works.

Even when Maya isn’t around, she finds ways to help Phoenix in spirit. Early on in Justice for All, Maya provides Phoenix with a magatama (the comma-shaped gem she wears on her necklace). Far from just a fashionable accessory, this spiritually charged stone can help Phoenix see the secrets that people are hiding in the form of Psyche-Locks. These are a manifestation of the blockades people have on their hearts to hide away the truth – typically from others, but occasionally even from themselves. With the right piece of evidence, Phoenix can break each lock and uncover even the deepest secrets that people have sealed away.

You’ll get to know lots more about Maya, including her love of the Steel Samurai and keen eye for ladders (it’s a “‘step’-ladder” by the way) when Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam on April 9th!