Capcom's next Ace Attorney game is a pretty radical departure, setting itself in the 19th century instead of a take on modern times. A new interview with series creator Shu Takumi and producer Shintaro Kojima sheds more light on what this means for the series, and how the writers are striking a delicate balance with the time period.

“While it’s not a main-numbered Ace Attorney title, it’s the start of a new series called The Great Ace Attorney," Kojima told Japanese magazine Famitsu (via Siliconera). "I believe that it’s becoming something that can show that it’s not simply just a derivative title. We can’t say too much about it for the time being, but we’ll be revealing more on the characters and their backgrounds next time, which we hope you all can look forward to. It’s really becoming something that we have high expectations for, so please look forward to it!”

Takumi also hinted that this will be a departure in gameplay from prior Ace Attorney games, saying "the image and feel behind its play will be quite different from all the other Ace Attorney games up until now."

Part of that comes from the time period, as Takumi said that the Meiji Period was defined by westernization. Since occupations like lawyers were new at the time, he and the writers are being careful to keep the dialogue grounded in that era. That also makes the game distinctly Japanese, and we still haven't been given any indication that it's coming westward.