Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Birushana: Winds of Fate is Worth It for Shigehira

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Jun 292026
 

I played the otome game Birushana back in 2022, and I’d been hoping for the fandisc ever since.

Not only did I love the characters, but it also has short mini-routes for four of the side characters, who have actual routes in the fandisc. It was like a teaser of what to expect.

So when Birushana: Winds of Fate was finally confirmed for localization, I was ecstatic. As soon as it came out, I pushed it to the top of my list.

I finished it over the weekend, so how did it turn out?

Winds of Fate has two types of stories: 3-chapter epilogues for the first game’s main love interests and 5-chapter routes for the new love interests. The epilogues are okay; most of them involved too much miscommunication for my taste, but despite these annoyances, they were still enjoyable and had some good CGs. Noritsune’s route was the highlight for me, because even though it still had miscommunication, it was such a funny route that I didn’t mind as much.

Now, the side character routes are shorter than the routes in the original game, but that didn’t bother me much since they branch off from events partway through the main game. Because of that, I felt the pacing of the routes was fine.

I went into Winds of Fate looking forward to Shigehira’s route the most, because his mini-route in the first game was so surprisingly enjoyable it left me dying for more. Indeed, his route was a delight, absolutely the best in the game. I loved everything about it, and the tragic ending was horrifyingly dark.

I only have two complaints about his route, one being that it had a few dialogue box errors (with the weirdest being one where a line of dialogue seemed to appear in the wrong conversation before showing up later in the correct context) and the other being that Shigehira’s sadistic personality doesn’t really show up at all. Don’t get me wrong, I loved his character growth, but I thought that part of him would show up at least a little.

(Oddly enough, I have a similar complaint about Takatsuna, whose first chapter hints at him having a dark, dangerous side, after which I spent the rest of the route waiting for that to come up again.)

The other three routes are… fine. They’re just fine. A few annoyances, some cute moments, and overall nothing that really stood out to me one way or another.

And that’s what I’d say for the whole game overall. Birushana: Winds of Fate isn’t a must-play like it’s predecessor, but it has some nice scenes, and Shigehira’s route delivered (almost) everything I’d hoped for. My reaction might be subdued compared to the excitement I felt going into it, but I’m still glad I played it.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is… Not What I Hoped For

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Jun 192026
 

All right. It’s time to talk about Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

The winner of my last contest picked the review prize and had me play Pirate Yakuza, and…

Wait, I know what you’re thinking. I didn’t do contests this past February or May. Yes, I’m talking about the winner of my Celebrating All Things Spooky contest, back in October.

So how did it take me this long to finish one of the shorter games in the series? Two reasons: first, I had to finish Infinite Wealth before starting Pirate Yakuza, and second…

I hate to say it, but I honestly found Pirate Yakuza to be a bit of a slog.

If you follow my blog regularly, you might remember I had mixed feelings about Pirate Yakuza early on. Its premise felt too silly to me, and I would have preferred a historical pirate spin-off instead. That said, I started to warm up to the idea after a while and hoped I would at least enjoy it as a fun, silly adventure.

(Don’t forget, I’m a Dead Souls defender, after all.)

Let me start with the positives. There are some great substories in this game. The substory about Majima and the other pirate captain going through training about workplace compliance ranks up there with the funniest in the series, and Masaru’s Love Journey, which I’d worried I’d find boring, was so uncomfortable that it circled around to being hilarious.

The story, however, falls flat, and not just because of suspension of disbelief.

First of all, it’s not actually “a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas” like I described it when anticipating it in my earlier blog post. I imagined Majima and his crew sailing from island to island, searching for the location of a treasure they know is out there somewhere… but that’s not really the direction the main story takes. The main narrative focuses on a few locations you travel between.

This includes Madlantis, a haven for all these modern-day pirates who act like old-fashioned pirates… and some of the most boring antagonists I’ve seen.

I thought Infinite Wealth’s antagonists, aside from Yamai, were pretty boring, but they’ve got nothing on these guys. Maybe it’s because there were too many of them, forcing the already-thin story to be spread even thinner across its villains, but I just didn’t find them compelling at all.

On top of that, there is something strange about Pirate Yakuza’s tone, and not just because its premise requires such suspension of disbelief. I’m a fan of romanticized treasure hunter pirates like in Skies of Arcadia, and I love how the Yakuza series usually has moral protagonists despite the crime drama focus, but this game feels like it goes out of its way to emphasize that we’re the wholesome good guy pirates. It just feels a little off. Meanwhile, Majima’s amnesia feels nearly pointless, and I really think they could have told a more interesting story without it.

Click for Pirate Yakuza spoilers
Especially with the post-credits reveal that Majima wanted to find a cure for Kiryu, having Majima keep/regain his memories and actively search for the treasure because of that might have made the plot feel more compelling.

His amnesia feels like it’s just an excuse for him to not care about abandoning his duties, but wouldn’t him abandoning his duties on a desperate hope that he could save Kiryu be even stronger?

Instead of the Saejima scenes having a general tone of “Bro, you have responsibilities,” “Quit calling me bro! I don’t know what you’re talking about,” it could instead have been Saejima being more level-headed and rational about the likelihood of finding a magical cure while Majima is dead set on trying.

I don’t know, the amnesia just felt to me to be pointless at best, damaging to the plot at worst.

Now, you might think I’m being too harsh on the silly Majima pirate game. Who cares if it has a weak plot, right?

Unfortunately, when I mentioned the game feeling like a slog, that also extends to my feelings about the gameplay. I did find the combat fun, though; I’ll give it credit for that. I wasn’t sure about the combat system at first, especially since I didn’t like how jumping felt, but once Majima’s Sea Dog style got expanded with the gun and grappling hook, I started to have a lot of fun with it. It’s more focused on taking down large groups of enemies, but it has a lot of fun features.

Ship combat, however, I didn’t enjoy. This is partly because of a complaint that I also extend to the general gameplay: why is the ship so slow?

Why is the ship so slow??

Why is the ship so slow???

Maybe it’s for realism (in this, of all games), but the ship felt painfully slow to me whenever I wasn’t boosting… or sailing through the rings that boost your speed and carefully guide you down the paths from island-to-island that the game clearly wants you to take. Island exploration should have been interesting, at least… except it isn’t island exploration, not really; the optional islands are more like combat arenas that reward you with treasure for completing them.

The more I played, the more I started to feel nostalgic for Kingdom Hearts III, actually. In the Pirates of the Caribbean world, you got to sail around the map stopping at little islands to explore and find treasure, and I realized what I really wanted was a Yakuza version of that.

I loved customizing my ship. I loved being able to see all my crew members. But I didn’t love the actual ship gameplay.

My save file says I finished Pirate Yakuza in about 30 hours. I’m not sure I believe it. It felt like I was playing this game forever, although maybe that’s because it struggled to hold my interest. When I started Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, I worried I wouldn’t be able to take it seriously, but I never thought I just wouldn’t be having fun. More than anything else, it feels haunted by the specter of what it could have been, the sort of game that’s disappointing because you’d hoped for more from it.

It did have some great substories, and the combat was fun, and the post-credits scene was good, so I can’t completely complain about it. But Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii might be my least favorite Yakuza game now, and glad I’m done.

Nine Sols is a (Very) Challenging, Rewarding Platformer

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Jun 012026
 

It’s been over 4 years since we talked about the demo for Nine Sols, the most recent game from Red Candle Games.

It came out in 2024, and since I backed the crowd-funding campaign, I got a copy at launch.

But since my backlog is large and terrifying, I put it off and put it off (aside from briefly starting it)… until this year I finally started it properly and played it through to completion.

And you know what? It’s a hard game.

Nine Sols is a 2D action platformer. I’m not sure if it strictly meets the definitely of being a Metroidvania, but it’s definitely got some of those elements as well. There’s a lot of exploration, with upgrades to find and items to return for later.

Combat, meanwhile, has a strong emphasis on parrying. You will learn how to parry. Especially for bosses, learning the timing to parry each attack and then countering with a talisman attack often became the core of the fight. And it’s quite a challenge; I quickly got used to dying over and over.

(Nine Sols uses the Souls-like system where you lose your exp and money upon death and need to retrieve it from the spot where you died or the enemy that killed you, but fortunately, once you’ve gained enough exp to earn a skill point, the point stays even if you haven’t spent it yet.)

The gameplay is fun and challenging, and just like I noticed from the demo, there’s a good amount of story here, too. Early in the game, you reach a hub area, and a few different characters join the hub as you progress. Different conversations with these characters unlock as you give them gifts, and I loved returning whenever I had a new item to give someone (especially Shuanshuan, whose interactions with the main character are adorable).

There are a lot of bittersweet moments in the story, but also many heartfelt ones. The ending even made me tear up. I’ll probably be thinking about these characters for quite a while.

My one criticism is that I wish it was just a little shorter, since right about the point where I felt it had been a good length for this sort of game, I realized I still had a few more areas left to go. Still, that’s a minor complaint.

Overall, I’m happy I backed Nine Sols, and I’m happy I finally played it. I’ll be looking forward to whatever Red Candle Games makes next!

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