Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Let’s Talk About Yurukill: The Calumniation Games

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Apr 062022
 

One upcoming game we haven’t talked about yet that has intrigued me for a while now is Yurukill: The Calumniation Games.

As described on the official website, you play a character falsely accused of killing 21 people, now imprisoned and forced to play a game to win your freedom.

It’s a mystery game that features puzzles, cross-examinations, and…

…shoot ’em up segments.

That’s the one thing that has kept me from making up my mind about Yurukill just yet. The story and overall style looks like my sort of thing, and I like that sort of death game/escape game premise, but I’ve never been a big shoot ’em up fan.

Still, it’s an unusual combination and the game seems pretty interesting. A new story trailer came out today, which is what caught my attention.

It will be out on May 25 in Japan, July 5 in North America, and July 8 in Europe, for PS5, PS4, and Switch, with a PC version to follow sometime as well.

What do you think of Yurukill: The Calumniation Games? Are you planning to pick it up?

(In unrelated news, the replacement of the broken mobile Phoenix Wright Trilogy with a better port has now been confirmed for the west as well, but I didn’t think that warranted its own post.)

The Nine Sols Demo is Out and Seems Promising!

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Apr 042022
 

Last week we talked about Nine Sols, the upcoming Taopunk action platformer from Red Candle Games, and how a demo was supposed to come out.

Well, the demo is out now on Steam, so I tried it out over the weekend.

I was surprised by how quickly I became interested in its story and characters. The demo seems to be the start of the game, with Yi living alongside a human child before a sinister ceremony causes him to embark on his mission.

Combat has a few different elements that took a bit of getting used to, but once I practiced with it, I liked it. In addition to your basic attack, you can deflect enemy attacks to build up energy and then unleash it in a special attack.

That attack is much more effective than simply hacking at enemies, which led to a rhythm of deflecting strikes and then attacking.

There are certain spots where you can rest, restoring your health and healing items and acting as a checkpoint. It doesn’t seem as though you’ll level up stats in that way, though. Instead, there are unlockable nodes on a skill tree to provide you with upgrades and benefits.

The demo lasts up through the first boss fight, but a second, more challenging boss is also accessible from the main menu afterwards.

I enjoyed the Nine Sols demo a lot, so I’m looking forward to the main game. The only concern I have is that combat could start to feel repetitive (especially long boss fights), but overall I liked what I saw in the demo and am interested in how it will progress.

I’ll probably back the Nine Sols crowdfunding campaign now, so be sure to take a look at the Nine Sols demo to see what you think.

Amnesia: Later x Crowd and Other NGPX Highlights

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Apr 012022
 

Yesterday was the New Game Plus Expo, which you can watch here if you want to catch all the announcements.

The biggest news was probably that we’re getting the Switch port of Amnesia: Memories, along with Amnesia: Later x Crowd.

Amnesia is an otome visual novel we discussed last year, but Later x Crowd is a bundle of the two fandisks (Amnesia: Later and Amnesia: Crowd) that were never released outside of Japan.

So while seeing an Amnesia port wasn’t too exciting, seeing it followed by Later x Crowd was big news.

Now, I had mixed feelings when I finished Amnesia, but I’ll pick up Later x Crowd for the sake of the two love interests I really liked, and because apparently Later has part that focuses on Waka, the unromanceable side character I preferred to half the actual love interests.

It also looks like the limited edition will allow you to choose whether you want Amnesia: Memories, Later x Crowd, or both, so that’s cool.

Aside from the Amnesia news, Idea Factory also showed off the trailer and June 28 release date for Birushana, which would have been much more exciting if the trailer hadn’t accidentally gone live last week. It also turns out that Aksys is handling the Jack Jeanne localization, not IFI or PQube, and that was officially shown as well.

So does this mean Amnesia was the mysterious third otome title teased by Idea Factory last year? That’s unclear. It seems probable, but they haven’t actually said so yet.

(They also teased an unannounced game, with their hints being a black cat and a cauldron, which has added to the confusion since they didn’t specify if that’s otome or something else.)

Anyway, outside of the otome news, there wasn’t a lot at NGPX that caught my eye. Dusk Diver 2 localization had already been announced, but was featured prominently at the event, and that looks like it could be cool. The PS2 stealth game Kamizawa: Way of the Thief is also being remastered, so I’m curious about that. And even though NIS Classics Vol. 2 isn’t out yet, a third collection has now been announced, containing La Pucelle: Ragnarok (the La Pucelle remake that was never translated before) and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (based on the PlayStation version).

None of the other games stood out to me as much, but let me know if I overlooked one that was a favorite for you!

Oh, and I’d just like to point out that Amnesia: Later originally came out in 2012. Amnesia: Crowd originally came out in 2013. After all this time, they definitely fit into the “that’s never getting localized!” category, so I’m adding it to the list of unexpected localizations. The Yakuza spin-offs are surely next (please).

Are you excited for any of the games announced or showcased at the New Game Plus Expo?

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