Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Persona Mobile Game Persona 5: The Phantom X Announced

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Mar 172023
 

Do you remember a couple years ago when a mobile game called Code Name: X was revealed?

It appeared to be related to Persona, although some people weren’t even sure if it was an official collaboration at first.

Well, it is, and now it’s been officially announced as Persona 5: The Phantom X.

According to the details translated by Persona Central, Persona 5: The Phantom X will be a free-to-play mobile game with in-app purchases (probably gacha, although that hasn’t been confirmed).

The most interesting thing to me is that this game has its own cast. Despite being set specifically in the world of Persona 5, you play as a new protagonist, who gains a partner in the form of an animal (an owl, this time) and awakens to his Persona along with classmates of his. Igor has a new assistant in the Velvet Room as well, a woman named Merope.

It features the daily life and bonding mechanics, as well as exploring the Metaverse at night to fight enemies. In short, it looks and sounds exactly like a regular full-fledged Persona game.

If I saw those trailers without context, I wouldn’t guess it was a mobile spin-off.

I’m intrigued by Persona 5: The Phantom X, although wary since it’s most likely a gacha game. Since the gameplay looks like a regular Persona game, I’d imagine gacha elements would be introduced by having either Personas themselves be gacha, or party members added through gacha. There’s going to be a closed test on March 29, so hopefully we’ll learn more about it after that.

So far, Persona 5: The Phantom X has only been confirmed for a release in China. What do you think of what we’ve seen so far?

Thoughts on the Process of Elimination Demo

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 152023
 

Last year, we discussed the announcement of a detective game called Process of Elimination.

It looked intriguing, and now a demo is out so you can play through the start of the game (and transfer your save data to the full game once it’s out later this year).

Process of Elimination is an unusual blend of genres. It’s a visual novel about a group of detectives trying to stop a brutal serial killer called the Quartering Duke, and like many detective visual novels, it has gameplay for the investigation sections.

Except here, that gameplay is almost like a strategy game.

When an investigation begins, you’re given an overhead look at the area and have a limited number of turns in which to investigate the scene. The detectives have stats, which you’ll match up against the “mystery points” needed to find pieces of evidence. There are other actions you can do as well, such as analyzing a piece of evidence to find new areas to investigate.

It’s… strange. Since some of the stats/actions use similar terms, I found myself struggling to remember the difference between inferring and inspecting, or assigning two detectives to inspect an area versus having one assist the other. I’m sure those aspects become easier to grasp once you’re more familiar with the game, but it’s still odd to check a detective’s stats to see if they can find evidence. If you don’t assign actions to the detectives, they’ll act on their own, too. Detectives simply can’t be trusted to work together efficiently without guidance.

After completing the investigation in the demo, the characters discussed the case. While they largely figured it out themselves, there were a handful of questions for the player to answer, so those probably will become more central to solving the case later on.

The demo left me interested in the story, but puzzled by the gameplay design. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to playing the full game. Process of Elimination will be out on April 11 (April 14 in Europe and Australia). Are you looking forward to it? Have you tried the demo? What do you think of its investigation style?

Saint Maker: Religious Horror and Growing Dread

 Reviews  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Mar 132023
 

Back in February, developer Yangyang Mobile sent me a review code for their newest horror visual novel, Saint Maker. Now that we’re free of romance month, it’s time to take a look.

Saint Maker follows Holly, a girl who signs up for an event at a convent in order to get away from her current home situation. There she meets Gabby, who would rather be anywhere else, and Sister Adira, the strict nun in charge.

The story deals with religious fanaticism taken to extreme levels, together with some supernatural happenings. At first, it felt slow and more depressing than anything else, but once the creepy incidents around the convent took a stronger focus, the story picked up and had me invested in seeing what would happen next.

As you play, you have numerous choices to make, but most only result in minor changes. This serves a narrative purpose; for example, Holly has trouble speaking her mind, so picking that sort of option will result in her backing down because she can’t do it. Some do affect the ending, as there’s an extended ending scene if you pick certain choices, but the majority of Saint Maker feels like it’s one step away from being a kinetic novel despite the number of choices. Having so many choices with little or no effect made me wish for fewer choices instead.

There also is no narration. Internal monologue helps a bit, but not entirely. This means that scenes with action usually mean the screen shakes and you have to use the context from the dialogue to figure out what happened. Narration would have helped to make those parts flow better.

The art is fine, with CGs that have some slight movement instead of being still images, and the music works well for the story. It is fully voice acted, as well.

Getting back to the story itself, some parts were predictable, but it also had some surprises in store. While the early hours might feel like it’s against religion in general, it becomes clearer later on that its true indictment is against people who use religion as a defense while they do terrible things and faith that becomes twisted into something unrecognizable.

Once the supernatural aspects of the story come into prominence, it gets quite creepy, as well. I’m not sure if I would say it’s scary, exactly, but it’s certainly unsettling, with a growing sense of dread the more you realize things in the convent are not all right. I wish the supernatural elements had been explained in more detail, although some ambiguity serves this sort of story well.

Saint Maker is short, probably taking between 3-6 hours depending on how fast you read, but it doesn’t feel rushed. The short length fits its story, and I’m glad I had this chance to review it.

If the developer’s name sounds familiar to you, their past games include The Letter – not the survival horror game of the same name we discussed once, but a horror visual novel I’ve been meaning to get around to for quite a while. Maybe this will be the year!

 Older Entries  Newer Entries