Operation Backlog Completion 2026

My Absurd, Out There, and Improbable Game Awards Announcement Hopes

 Video games  7 Responses »
Dec 062024
 

The Game Awards is next Thursday, just a week away, and we already discussed some notable nominees.

So what about announcement predictions?

The announcements are the main reason I tune in to the Game Awards each year, and in the past ahead of this or other game events, I’ve tried to predict what games might be shown.

But with my backlog overwhelming me and many of my “pipe dream” announcements already coming true, making reasonable predictions of games with a good chance of being shown just doesn’t seem as much fun this year.

Instead, here are my ridiculous predictions of games that definitely won’t be announced at the Game Awards (but wouldn’t it be awesome if they were?) this year.

Ace Attorney 7

You knew Ace Attorney had to be on the list, right? While I don’t actually think the series is big enough for a Game Awards announcement, it would be an incredible moment. Just picture it: Geoff is talking about this game or that when suddenly–“OBJECTION!” The iconic shout would cut him off as the world premiere of Ace Attorney 7 begins to play.

With the Apollo Justice Trilogy and the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection being released in the same year, it feels to me like they wanted them out to make way for a new announcement. It didn’t happen at TGS, so why not at the Game Awards?

The Great Ace Attorney Investigations

But why have one Ace Attorney announcement when you could have two? I haven’t forgotten the mysterious Van Zieks captions we still have no explanation for. Maybe they were misplaced captions meant for a Game Awards announcement video all along! Yes, after the long-awaited announcement of Ace Attorney 7, they’ll keep the Ace Attorney train going with the announcement of The Great Ace Attorney Investigations!

(It’s one of my most-wanted games, so I’ll probably start putting it on pipe dream lists from now on. You know, unless it’s announced at the Game Awards.)

Judgment 3

While we’re at it, how about a new Judgment game? Infinite Wealth being nominated at the Game Awards surely means RGG Studio’s games are big enough to get an announcement there, right? We’ve already got the pirate game coming out in February, but that’s practically here already!

So let’s return to the Judgment spin-off series with a third game instead. It would pair nicely with the Ace Attorney news to really appeal to the mystery game crowd this year.

Xenoblade Chronicles X2

Let’s move on from mysteries… and into space! Not content with just announcing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition last month, Nintendo could turn this into a Bayonetta 3 situation where they follow up the remaster news with an announcement of a sequel. Now, Xenoblade Chronicles X2 probably won’t be for the Switch, but nothing says they can’t tease a game for the Switch’s successor before it’s even been shown.

Announcing a remaster and sequel at the same time is actually a legitimate hope I had for the Switch 2’s launch, until the remaster was announced on its own. It could still happen. Maybe.

Kingdom Hearts Missing Link (as an offline game)

Now I’m legitimately hoping for a Kingdom Hearts IV trailer, but this isn’t the post for those sorts of predictions. Instead, what about the upcoming mobile game Kingdom Hearts Missing Link? It’s been delayed and delayed… so what if that’s because they decided to abandon the GPS gacha game concept and rework it into an offline single-player game? I’m intrigued by Missing Link’s story, but I’d be much happier if it was a smaller scale regular game instead of a gacha game.

For bonus points, they could troll everyone by showing off the Bloodborne-esque environments first before revealing it to be Kingdom Hearts.

Rhythm Thief Remaster

And finally, we’ll head back to Sega for the return of that long-neglected gem, Rhythm Thief. Sure, I want a sequel more than a remaster, but like Xenoblade Chronicles X, its best chance of getting a sequel is if more people can play the original game. With the Nintendo eShop closed, Rhythm Thief is not easy to come by. A modern remaster will give it a new chance to shine and pave the way for that sequel.

It deserves it.

Conclusion

Absolutely none of these games are going to be announced at the Game Awards, but if they are, you’ll probably hear me screaming all the way from wherever you are (followed by a series of half-hysterical tweets and posts). What are your most outlandish Game Awards announcement predictions?

The Hundred Line: -Last Defense Academy- Will Be Out on April 24

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Dec 042024
 

The Hundred Line: -Last Defense Academy- is the upcoming new game from the creators of Danganronpa and Zero Escape.

We talked about it when it was shown during that amazing Nintendo Direct earlier this year (alongside other amazing announcements like the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection).

It looks very Danganronpa-inspired aside from being a strategy RPG, and since I like the creators’ past games, I’ve been looking forward to it.

Today, Xseed announced that it will be out on April 24, 2025 for the Switch and PC in the west, the same date as its Japanese release.

Alongside the release date and a new trailer, they also revealed a Limited Edition for the Switch version that includes the game, a soundtrack CD, an art book, a short novel, 15 character art cards, a lenticular art card, an acrylic diorama, and a metal collector’s pin. That’s a pretty good Limited Edition, especially since it looks like it’s going to cost $99.99.

(I’m particularly interested in the short novel.)

It’s strange to have a post like this without talking about games I still need to catch up on, but I finished the last of the Danganronpa games last year as well as Rain Code! I’m all caught up on Zero Escape (and AI: The Somnium Files), too. So for once, I have no reason to not eagerly anticipate this game.

The mix of Danganronpa-like systems and strategy RPG combat has me curious about what to expect from The Hundred Line: -Last Defense Academy-. It’s definitely among the games I’m looking forward to the most next year.

Are you planning to pick it up?

9 R.I.P.: A Flawed But Entertaining Supernatural Otome

 Reviews, Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 022024
 

Of all the otome games coming out this year, 9 R.I.P. is one I was looking forward to the most due to its spooky, supernatural premise.

I originally intended to play it as one of October’s games, but since it’s on the longer side due to having 9 different routes, that didn’t end up happening.

Instead, I finished it this weekend, so let’s talk about it!

9 R.I.P. follows a young woman named Misa who is stressed about her plans for after high school. Her mother is pressuring her to go into medical school, but that isn’t what she really wants. There’s a legend that says someone with significant worries will be spirited away – and depending on your early choices, Misa will find her path crossing with those of ghosts and spirits in one of four different scenarios.

Similar to Winter’s Wish, which I we discussed last year, 9 R.I.P. has a branching common route that focuses on only a couple love interests before splitting off into the individual routes. I’ve found that I like that format for a game with numerous routes like this. It lets you get to know the characters before starting their routes without requiring a common route lengthy enough to accommodate all of them at once.

While 9 R.I.P. isn’t a horror game, it has levels of spookiness that vary depending on which scenario you’re playing. Well, for three of the common routes, that is. The fourth is a comedy, and that ended up being my favorite.

Despite what seems like a high stakes premise – getting stuck in the world of the dead or being stalked by vengeful ghosts sounds like it should make for an intense game – the whole game actually has a fair amount of focus on slice-of-life situations and individual character dynamics. There are some tense moments, but they aren’t the norm. Even so, I wasn’t expecting one of the common routes to be a wacky comedy instead, nor did I expect that to be exactly what I needed. It was just fun.

(Really, I could have played an entire game just of that scenario and their goofy antics.)

Anyway, an otome with this many routes sometimes suffers from feeling rushed… and unfortunately there were several routes that felt like they progressed too quickly or like they would have benefited from an extra chapter or two to help flesh things out. There were even a couple that had me baffled at how what on paper sounded like a perfect route for me could end up feeling so boring.

Fortunately, they aren’t all like that. There are some excellent routes here as well, and the grumpy spirit Koharu was pretty much worth the price of admission alone as far as I’m concerned.

This being a story about romance between a mortal and ghosts/spirits, a lot of the routes end up feeling bittersweet instead of truly happy. Still, there were enough good feelings there that I’d say it’s still a happier game overall – although one perplexing aspect is that most of the time, the low affection endings are more positive than the high-affection endings. Not always in a subjective way, either. It’s an odd quirk of 9 R.I.P. that I don’t quite understand, although I do have a theory.

Click for vague/general 9 R.I.P. spoilers
My guess is that the high affection endings ended up worse more often than not due to the dangers of being obsessively in love with a ghost or spirit. So without that extreme attraction forming, the characters could resolve things more reasonably and achieve a happier ending.

It’s still weird though, because it flies in the face of how romance games (otome, galge, or anything else) almost always do things. If it was meant as an intentional subversion, they didn’t make that clear.

Overall, while I did finish several routes with mixed feelings and criticisms, I enjoyed my time with 9 R.I.P. and found it to be an entertaining experience. More importantly, I liked the characters enough that if they localize the recently-announced sequel (please), I’ll definitely get it.

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