Operation Backlog Completion 2026

I Finally Played Fate/Stay Night (and it was Another Wild Ride)

 Reviews, Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Nov 052025
 

We may have just finished our October contest, but there also was a contest back in May, and the winner tasked me with playing Fate/stay Night, which is simple now thanks to the remaster.

That was the start of June, so why are we talking about it in November? Because it’s a long visual novel. I mean, it’s a long visual novel.

But now I’ve finished, so let’s talk about Fate/Stay Night!

I’ve been on the periphery of the Fate series for a long time now, having played Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime from the same universe, as well as the Fate/Extella spin-offs. You’d think that would give me an idea of what to expect, but I went into Fate/Stay Night with little actual knowledge of what the original visual novel is like.

I was probably thrown off because of my light experience with the franchise, in fact. The Extella setting is so different that I wasn’t prepared for Fate/Stay Night to star a protagonist who’s living in a regular town and going to high school and stuff like that, even if I probably should have expected it because of Tsukihime.

Similar to how the Tsukihime remake has two routes but makes you play them in order, Fate/Stay Night also has a set order for its three routes. (On a side note, when I saw the first route was called “Fate,” I fully expected the next two routes to be called “Stay” and “Night.” This is not the case.)

The first route is with Saber, a character so iconic I know her even from just being on the fringes of the fandom. I really enjoyed this route, and the romance between Saber and Shirou felt to me to be the truest.

Despite that, some of the most interesting characters to me are ones who feature strongly in Rin’s route, so I thoroughly enjoyed the second route as well. In fact, despite what I just said about the Saber/Shirou romance feeling the truest to me, Rin’s route is probably my favorite in terms of story progression.

But I also loved Sakura’s route, because it has much more of a horror atmosphere than the other two and gave me backstory for another character I liked a lot. It really felt like a great way to finish.

Now, you might also think that my loose knowledge of the Fate series would have spoiled me on some things, but not as much as you’d expect.

Click for Fate/stay night spoilers
I did know Saber was King Arthur, and I recognized Gilgamesh when he appeared, but that’s about it.

Looking back on it, I’m pretty sure I’d seen Archer referred to as Emiya before, but since I didn’t know it was a spoiler when I saw it, it vanished from my mind so completely that when I learned Shirou’s name, my only reaction was “Oh, so that’s Emiya,” and the reveal about Archer in the second route still came as a complete surprise to me.

On the other hand, something that did stick in my memory was that I’d once seen a certain priest compared to a certain other visual novel character, and the result was that I was TERRIFIED of Kirei for the entire Fate route. He wasn’t as scary as I expected, which makes my terror funny in retrospect.

There are plenty of bad endings along with way, with little comedy skits after each one that let you know what you should do differently to avoid dying. I loved that in Tsukhime, so I was delighted to discover that it’s a thing in Fate, too. The flowchart makes it easy to jump around between scenes once you’ve seen them, so I went back through after I finished to get every bad ending and at least most scenes (I may have missed a couple that are just minor variations).

Overall, I really enjoyed playing Fate/stay Night. I liked Tsukihime more, but this was another another fantastic visual novel and another wild ride with lots of twists and turns.

And you know what happened as soon as I finished? Fate/Hollow Ataraxia went on sale. My backlog says no, but my heart says yes…

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Fate/Stay Night?

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Tormented Souls

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Oct 312025
 

Happy Halloween!

I’d wanted to conclude this year’s Celebrating All Things Spooky with Silent Hill f, but I realized I wasn’t going to finish it in time unless I rushed – and it’s not a game I want to rush!

I also considered Tormented Souls II, but I didn’t think I’d finish that in time either… and then I realized I’d never blogged about the first game before!

I’ve mentioned it a few times in passing, but now it’s finally time to talk abut Tormented Souls.

Tormented Souls is a survival horror game styled after the classics, and I love it.

I reviewed it for MonsterVine back when it came out in 2021, so be sure to check out my full review there.

Suffice it to say it’s an excellent survival horror game with fixed camera angles, nightmarish enemies that create a tense atmosphere, and all the exploration and puzzle-solving I could want.

It really captures the feeling of classic Resident Evil and similar games.

I’m excited to play the sequel, and even if it doesn’t surpass the original, I hope it at least comes close. Anyway, if you love classic survival horror games and haven’t tried Tormented Souls yet, it’s definitely one you should check out.

In fact, I even added it as a last-minute addition to this year’s possible contest prizes, so keep that in mind! All comments on this final day count, after all.

Celebrating All Things Spooky: Asylum

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, Reviews, Video games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Oct 292025
 

It’s been a long, long time since we first talked about Asylum.

I first mentioned Asylum back in 2013 in my review of Scratches, the previous game from the same developer.

Asylum was the first game I ever backed on Kickstarter, and after a twelve-year wait, it finally came out earlier this year. And as we approached the end of October, it suddenly occurred to me that I should play it for spooky month!

Set in the crumbling Hanwell Mental Institute, you play a man searching the asylum for answers so he can find out the meaning of his hallucinations by learning what happened to him when he was at the asylum years earlier. It has a haunting, ominous atmosphere as you make your way through the almost-abandoned halls.

It is a point-and-click adventure game, and that actually took me by surprise; even though I knew it was an adventure game, I expected to walk around in 3D.

But no! Just like Scratches, you’ll use the point-and-click interface for everything, including walking around a room. While having only a few set areas in each room you can walk to makes exploration take a little getting used to, I adjusted to it in time and found its gameplay approach almost nostalgic. As you explore, you’ll find documents to read, occasional puzzles to solve, and a handful of characters to talk to.

There are a few oddities. For example, I can’t help but wonder why interacting with the projector had a cutscene for getting out and putting away each film reel when most interactions just had item disappear and reappear as needed.

Nevertheless, it takes a little under 10 hours to complete, and I found it to be a satisfying experience. Although I enjoyed Scratches more due to the way its sense of horror and dread slowly builds up, Asylum still has a great sense of atmosphere, and I felt I really knew the location by the end. The ending seems controversial, and I did find it puzzling at first, but the more I think about it, the more content I am with it.

Now, having waited 12 years for it, I have to admit I had built it up to be bigger and grander in my mind, when it really feels more like… another game in line with Scratches.

But when I think back to how I felt when I played Scratches and what I’d have wanted from another game in that style, I’m happy with what I got in Asylum. It was a good choice to play this October.

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