Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Mar 192025
 

We’ve got two new otome game release dates to add to the calendar!

First, Voltage and AmuLit revealed that their upcoming vampire otome The Red Bell’s Lament will be released on June 5.

It’s a worldwide release, so that release date is for both its Japanese and English versions.

I’ve been interested in this one since it was announced under the working title Project Code Vampire Hunter, but my interest has wavered after seeing concerns that they might be using AI-generated art for its backgrounds. So I’ll probably wait to see what the final verdict is there before deciding if I want to play it or not.

Meanwhile, Dramatic Create revealed a July 24 release date for La storia della Arcana Famiglia Rinato.

This one was originally a PSP game that got a Vita version with more content, which is now being ported to the Switch and PC (although the release date appears to be only for the Switch version). While it was never localized before, this new port lists English among its supported languages.

This one looks pretty interesting to me, so I’m looking forward to it. However, I’m going to wait to see reviews of its translation, since Meiji Tokyo Renka was localized by the same publisher and turned out… well… questionable.

It’s strange to have two release dates confirmed for games I like the looks of and yet both are firmly on a “wait and see” list for different reasons, but at least I have plenty to play in the meantime. What do you think of The Red Bell’s Lament and Arcana Famiglia Rinato?

Mar 172025
 

It took me a while, but I finally finished playing Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon.

I played the Switch version, but it’s also on PS4. There’s no Steam version yet, but Witch on the Holy Night eventually came to Steam, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Tsukihime does eventually.

While I might refer to this as the Tsukihime remake, it would be more accurate to say it’s the first part of the Tsukihime remake. Yes, to remake this visual novel, they decided to split it into two parts. A Piece of Blue Glass Moon covers the first two routes.

Now, let me tell you my Tsukihime story.

I was excited for Tsukihime because I enjoyed Witch on the Holy Night. I knew it was in the same universe and also linked to the Fate series, and that’s basically all I knew about it. I did see people say it had some spooky elements and involved vampires, so I started playing it in October (although I didn’t finish it nearly in time for our spooky celebration).

So I started playing Tsukihime not really knowing what to expect, and it seemed pretty straightforward at first, there was some humor, some mystery, some hints of supernatural things at work, and I was just settling in for a quiet slow burn when Shiki (the protagonist) passed a woman walking down the street and I quickly realized I had no idea what sort of wild ride I was in for.

Click for Tsukihime Chapter 3 spoilers
Everything seemed so normal right up until he followed her to her hotel, broke into her room, and dismembered her.

I was staring at the screen thinking, “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” It was amazing. I cannot describe the shock of hitting that scene without any idea at all that it was coming.

Shortly afterwards I learned that Tsukihime doesn’t just involve vampires; it’s about vampires. The vampires and all the zombies, ghouls, and other monstrosities they bring with them are actually a core part of the story, so not only did it blindside me with its plot events, but it also turned to be even more my sort of thing than I thought it would be.

So, why did it take me so long to finish? I can answer in a single word: Arcueid.

Arcueid, Arcueid, my beautiful vampire princess. She’s so funny, they’re so cute together, everything about them brought such a smile to my face.

You know, I’ve heard people talk about playing a galge or otome and falling so in love with one character that they couldn’t move on, and I always thought that was silly, so it’s really ironic that it finally happened to me with a girl instead of a character I’d be personally attracted to. But it’s true! I was so invested in Shiki and Arcueid and that the thought of starting the second character’s route felt like heresy.

Click for Tsukihime spoilers
Especially because of the way Arcueid’s route ended. Ohhhh where is my happy ending??? Those hints that Arcueid is eventually going to get a true route had better be true, because my heart broke at that ending.

Anyway, I finished Arcueid’s route in early October and didn’t start Ciel’s route until January because I was still so hung up on Arcueid. To make matters worse, Ciel’s route is full of Arcueid moments that did not dampen my preference for Arcueid over Ciel one bit.

But despite my complaining, Ciel’s route is also really good and has some incredible moments that stood out to me even more.

Click for major Tsukihime spoilers
Those scenes when Roa is awakening are so creepy and so good. It also makes great use of the medium. Shiki’s narration saying one thing while the visuals show something else creates such an unsettling disconnect, and the visual novel format makes it work so well.

I know I’m raving about what’s a comparatively minor part of the story, but that part was so well-done that it instantly elevated Ciel’s route to be on par with Arcueid’s in terms of enjoyment for me.

And when I went back through afterwards to see other choices and got the branch where Shiki/Roa has killed everyone in the mansion? That was so disturbing.

Tsukihime has a flowchart that makes it convenient to see what scenes and branches you’ve missed (although I wish you could move forward on the flowchart to scenes you’ve already seen instead of just backward from your current save), so I went back through after getting the main endings to see all the alternate choices and branches and bad endings that I’d missed during my playthrough.

I thought maybe my feelings would have changed – but nah, every new Arcueid scene was still pure gold that left me cheering for Shiki/Arcueid as the only true answer.

Now, if you see every ending, Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon ends with a teaser for Tsukihime: The Other Side of Red Garden, the second half of the remake. It seems like it might be a long wait, since they’ve barely said anything about it so far, but I’ll be looking forward to it for sure.

You might feel wary of playing a remake that only has part of the original content, but Tsukihime: A Piece of Blue Glass Moon definitely has enough content for a full visual novel on its own. Its two routes might not cover everything (and there were a lot of little hints that made me curious about the other routes), but they feel like complete stories in their own right. It’s definitely worth playing, and I’m happy I gave this one a try.

Mar 142025
 

As we discussed, yesterday was the Silent Hill Transmission live stream.

Although no other games were featured, we did learn more about Silent Hill f.

I went into it with nervous anticipation and came out with cautious optimism. I still have some worries, but we’ll get into that in a little bit.

First, they showed a new trailer, which gave us our first look at the protagonist, Hinako, and some story details. We also see some unsettling monster designs, what looks like an Otherworld transition (those red plants/flowers look like they’ll be the dominant theme of Hinako’s Otherworld), and a scene of what looks like some sort of ritual.

That last part is especially interesting to me, because one of my top hopes is that the game will involve the cult in some form. Granted, the masked people in the trailer don’t look like the Order we’re used to, but I’d be happy with a Japanese branch of the same cult as a connection back to the main series.

The Steam page also provides some hints about the story and themes, as it includes a content warning for “depictions of gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying, drug-induced hallucinations, torture, and graphic violence.” It sounds like the psychological horror will definitely be there.

Getting back to the Transmission, they followed the trailer by talking more about the game’s writing, music (with the Fog World music being composed by Akira Yamaoka), and the overall direction.

While they didn’t show any gameplay, they did show a story summary that describes Hinako “solving puzzles” and “fighting strange enemies.” That, together with Hinako wielding a pipe at times in the trailer, makes it pretty clear that this will be a survival horror game with both puzzles and combat.

The other thing that stood out to me the most was their reason for setting this game in Japan, since the other games are set in America. Apparently, they felt the series was starting to lose its Japanese identity, so they decided to make the new entry completely Japanese.

That’s an interesting perspective, especially since it does feel like the later games were missing something.

Now, the biggest question that remains for me is whether Silent Hill f will actually connect back to the main series in some way or if it will be entirely separate. They said there will be references for longtime fans, but that still leaves it unclear. And that’s my biggest concern. It looks like it will be an interesting horror game, but if it’s being called Silent Hill despite being set in a completely different country from the town of Silent Hill, I want to see a connection.

Since we don’t even have a release window yet, I’m sure they have plenty more to show us about Silent Hill f. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it turns out to be a great Silent Hill game.

(And in unrelated news, NIS announced five new games today, including one called Shinigami Hime, which is a new game from the team behind The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince and The Cruel King and the Great Hero, so you know I’ll be anxiously waiting for a localization announcement. In even more unrelated news, there’s going to be a live adaptation of The House in Fata Morgana, which… I don’t even know what to think about.)

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on Silent Hill f?