Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Shantae & the Seven Sirens is a Welcome Return to Form

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Dec 232020
 

After Half-Genie Hero dropped the interconnected world of the previous Shantae games in favor of a level-based structure with no overarching plot, I was thrilled to learn the next game would return to the old style.

Indeed, Shantae and the Seven Sirens features a large world with Metroidvania-style progression, towns and dungeons, and a new plot as Shantae’s tropical vacation for the Half-Genie Festival is interrupted when the other half-genies are kidnapped!

Transformations have been streamlined a bit this time around, since instead of dancing to turn into a new form, you can transform instantly.

That does take away a little bit of the magic, but on the other hand, it makes everything feel so much faster and snappier. Meanwhile, you learn additional dance-based powers separate from the transformations.

Seven Sirens also introduces Monster Cards, a special type of collectible you get by fighting monsters that can be equipped for passive bonuses. This feature is pretty neat, and between that, the usual magic attacks, and the new powers, it feels like you have more options in Seven Sirens than ever.

At the same time, though, it also seemed easier than previous games to me… in the sense that I could eat damage while spamming attacks and then just heal because healing was so plentiful.

But I don’t play a Shantae game for some sort of hardcore combat; I want to explore dungeons and unlock new areas. As I played through Seven Sirens, I was delighted as I worked my way through the interconnected world and spotted areas I knew I’d need to return to later once I had more powers, and everything felt so good that I considered it might be the best Shantae game yet.

However, now that I’ve finished, I would still rank Pirate’s Curse ahead of this one. Seven Sirens has a big world to explore, and that’s great – but it makes backtracking for Heart Squids and other items tedious since there’s no way to track them.

By the time I had all my powers, I remembered areas I wanted to return to, but I’d opened up so many locations on the map that I couldn’t remember where they were without slowly backtracking through each area to see if I’d missed anything. Pirate’s Curse and Half-Genie Hero both indicated how many collectibles remained in a given area, so I wish they’d done something similar here.

And while I was happy to see an overarching story return, and there are some great character interactions, it could have done more (especially when it comes to the half-genies, who barely play a role as characters) to really stand out.

But hey, being my second-favorite Shantae game isn’t bad by any means! Shantae and the Seven Sirens is a really fun game and a wonderful return to form despite some frustrations, and I hope the next game they make will be even better!

Tales Anniversary Localization Hopes

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Dec 212020
 

As I mentioned before, the Tales anniversary live stream came and went without any announcements, only the promise that next year will be more exciting.

However, the celebration has made some of us hope against hope that we might get remasters of older Tales games… or even localizations of one that were never released outside of Japan.

From December 15 through December 19, the official Tales Twitter account celebrated its history. They started with Tales of Phantasia, the first game in the series, and continued on in order, looking at one game per day.

For each game, they tweeted a trailer and details about some of the major characters.

This first got fans’ attentions because each trailer begins with a PEGI 12 rating, even for games that were never released in Europe. However, it’s possible they simply wanted to rate the trailer content itself.

But then on the fourth day, we reached one of the unlocalized Tales games, Tales of Destiny 2.

(The game released in English under that title was actually Tales of Eternia.)

They didn’t treat Tales of Destiny 2 any differently. The English Twitter account tweeted about it with an English trailer and invited fans to “appreciate” this game we’ve never had a chance to play, and Bandai Namco US retweeted it (although Bandai Namco EU did not).

Now, it’s not like they made a full English trailer for this; these trailers feature dialogue-free gameplay sections and scenes broken up by a few narration-style English lines. But still, it’s almost mean-spirited for the English Twitter account to include a game we’ll never be able to play.

I expected them to keep tweeting a game a day until they reached the end of the series, but their Tales of Symphonia tweet said it was the end of the anniversary week and they would “continue next year with more revivals.” I’m not sure if that means they’ll resume in January or not.

So what do you think? Are they planning a Tales Anniversary Collection? Are they going to re-release and localize games like Tales of Destiny 2? Or did they just decide to highlight every game, even for an audience that never got them? (It’s probably that.)

Meanwhile, I have a lot of Tales games to catch up on already… Maybe I should work on those while I hope for news.

Reviving My Review of Detention

 Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with:
Dec 182020
 

After all of the chaos surrounding Devotion this week, someone brought it to my attention that my review of the developers’ first game, Detention, is another one lost to time.

So just like my 25th Ward review, I’d like to revive my review of the horror game Detention!

Detention takes place in 1960s Taiwan, during the period of martial law known as the White Terror. There are notes throughout the game that provide context for the situation if you aren’t familiar with it.

You play a student who becomes trapped in the school building after everyone else evacuates due to a typhoon warning. But the storm isn’t all you need to fear, because the school has been twisted into a nightmare mirror of itself, haunted by deadly enemies.

There is no combat, so you’ll use stealth to get past enemies, including a feature where you need to hold your breath if an enemy comes close. Those sections can be pretty tense, but it’s really the disturbing imagery, unsettling atmosphere, and dark story that build up its sense of horror.

Although Detention has a 2D perspective, the rest of the core gameplay feels like a traditional survival horror game. You’ll need to explore the school to find key items and use those items to solve puzzles and open the way to new areas. The strange puzzles, surreal (and symbolic) environments that get progressively stranger as the game goes on, and the way the story gradually unfolds reminded me a lot of Silent Hill – which is part of why I enjoyed it so much.

The story is pretty interesting, too. It kept me guessing as the pieces started to come together, and I was invested in learning exactly what had happened there.

Detention is a short game, but it’s a great horror experience that fans of the genre should definitely check out.

And I hope we get to play Devotion someday.

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