Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Village in the Shade Coming West This Fall

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Mar 252026
 

NIS America has announced that the NIS farming game Hono Gurashi no Niwa will be released in the west this fall under the title Village in the Shade.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m so interested in this farming sim, of all games.

(After all, we could be talking about the new Tomodachi Life demo, but I decided this news was more important.)

Village in the Shade is from the same team that developed the Yomawari games, and while I don’t think it’s officially a Yomawari spin-off, it definitely has some overlap.

You begin a new life in a small, welcoming village, but there are certain rules you must follow… and strange beings might be encountered after midnight.

Interestingly, there’s also a “Peaceful Life Mode” if you just want to play the life sim part, where you can’t break the rules so nothing scary happens.

It sounds pretty neat, and as a Yomawari fan, I’m glad it’s coming west.

More details are available at the official website, and there’s also a limited edition available. (The Switch 2 version is sadly a key card.)

I might not be the world’s biggest farming sim fan, and I still haven’t even finished a Rune Factory game, but this game looks too interesting for me to ignore.

Are you planning to get Village in the Shade?

Stranger Than Heaven to be Featured in Xbox Partner Preview

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Mar 232026
 

There’s going to be an Xbox Partner Preview on March 26 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, and one of its featured games will be Stranger Than Heaven.

Stranger Than Heaven, in case you’ve forgotten, is the upcoming new game from RGG Studio originally revealed under the working title Project Century before being given its official title.

We’ve seen two trailers for it so far, one set in 1915 and one set in 1943.

Both have been scant on details, so there are a lot of different theories right now. Personally, I’m a fan of the theory that the protagonist is immortal and the game will follow him in different eras across 100 years (hence “Project Century”). Other people think it could actually be set in the Yakuza universe and be a prequel story leading up to the formation of the Tojo Clan.

(Then there are the Daidoji theories, but let’s not get into that.)

Well, between the Xbox Partner Showcase having “an in-depth look” at Stranger Than Heaven and an official Twitter account appearing for the game, it sounds like we should be getting a lot of answers soon. Even if the preview only takes a look at gameplay, it can’t be too much longer before we learn what the game is actually about.

All the controversy surrounding Kiwami 3 left me with negative feelings, so here’s hoping Stranger Than Heaven looks fantastic and lays any lingering fears to rest.

What do you think we’ll see from Stranger Than Heaven on Thursday?

9 R.I.P. Sequel Confirmed for 2026

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Mar 182026
 

A few days after last week’s tease, Idea Factory International confirmed an otome announcement live stream for this morning.

As expected, it was the sequel to 9 R.I.P.!

9 R.I.P. Sequel (yes, that’s its title both here and in Japan) will be out later this year!

When I was listing all of IFI’s 2026 otome games, I wondered if hoping for this one to also come out in 2026 was too much. That will make their fourth 2026 otome release, after all.

But it’s got a 2026 release window, so unless it gets delayed, this year is looking great!

(Maybe it will be released in October, like the original’s localization, so it’s in time for Halloween. While it’s not exactly scary, it does have a nice spooky, ghostly atmosphere.)

Anyway, I can’t wait to see these characters again. 9 R.I.P. has its flaws, but I loved so many of the characters. It sounds like there are follow-ups to both the Heavenly and Godly endings, so that should be fun.

Not only that, but it’s getting a Limited Edition!

I’m so happy to see that. I love IFI’s Limited Editions, and after their past few otome announcements have only had smaller-scale “Plus” editions at best, it made me sad that they’d seemingly moved away from the full Limited Editions they did before. I’ll be picking up this one for sure!

All right, now we just need to find out what Aksys has lined up next… and I need to get to work on my backlog.

Are you planning to play the 9 R.I.P. sequel?

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