Operation Backlog Completion 2026
Feb 032021
 

Yes, you read that right. In honor of the holiday season, I decided to kick off this year’s celebrations with the… questionable holiday visual novel Santa’s Big Sack.

You play Rudy Noel, Santa’s new assistant who has just arrived at the North Pole.

He quickly learns that the North Pole has more going on than just toy-making and holiday cheer… like his unexpected attraction to Santa, Mrs. Claus trying to seduce him, and a sinister plot unfolding in the shadows.

In keeping with the Christmas theme, most of your choices are presented as simply “Naughty” or “Nice,” with a helpful explanation ahead of time telling you what actions they’ll lead to.

However, there aren’t really branching paths or multiple routes. It’s a pretty linear story where a few key choices lead to optional sex scenes (with non-explicit imagery but dialogue and screen-shaking to give you the idea) and different dialogue before returning to the main path to continue the story just as if you’d picked the other option.

Santa himself is the main romantic interest. I don’t think there’s any way to not hook up with Santa (which is not a sentence I ever expected to write).

There actually is a bit of a plot here in addition to the romance, but it’s fairly absurd. Don’t expect anything too serious or meaningful, just a goofy story that is so outrageous it does manage to be somewhat funny… and will present you with all the Christmas-themed innuendos you could ask for.

Let me put it this way: if you’re considering playing a visual novel with as questionable a title as Santa’s Big Sack, you probably already know what you’re getting into and that’s what this visual novel will provide. No big story or heartfelt romance, but innuendo-laden antics with Santa Claus and other denizens of the North Pole.

Don’t worry, the next review will be a bit more romantic. In the meantime, feel free to share your own thoughts on Santa’s Big Sack in the comments below!

Feb 012021
 

Much like we celebrate spooky games in October, last February saw our first “Celebrating All Things Romantic” theme in honor of Valentine’s Day… so let’s bring it back for 2021!

My own romance works include the short story “A Special Present” in the holiday romance anthology Love Under the Mistletoe and the isekai rom-com visual novel Ascendant Hearts, available for PC and Switch.

I also wrote the script for the supernatural otome The Last Act, which is coming soon. You can check out its Steam page now!

And if mobile games are more your speed, I’ve written a number of romance visual novels for Genius, such as the recent Shisa – The Lost Souls (okay, so that one is horror/romance).

February will be filled with romance game reviews as I dive into my backlog, and of course you’ll have a chance to win prizes by leaving comments throughout the month!

2021’s Celebrating All Things Romantic Contest

This year’s prizes are:

  • Ascendant Hearts (gift sent through Steam)
  • Muv-Luv (gift sent through Steam)
  • A Kiss for the Petals – Remembering How We Met (gift sent through Steam)
  • LoveKami -Divinity Stage- (code)
  • LoveKami -Useless Goddess- (code)
  • If My Heart Had Wings (code)
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you pick the review prize, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although it can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in March.

Rules

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between February 1, 2021 at 1:00 PM EST and February 28, 2021 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any blog post here = 1 point.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Romantic blog post = 2 points.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • You must have at least 10 points at the end of the month to win.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and so on, until all prizes have been given out.
  • The winner will be contacted by March 2, 2021.

Sound good? Then let’s start playing some romance games!

Jan 292021
 

You might recall that last year PlatinumGames launched the “Platinum 4” website, teasing four new announcements.

These four announcements turned out to be:

  1. Wonderful 101 Remastered
  2. Project G.G.
  3. PlatinumGames Tokyo studio
  4. Sol Cresta (April Fools’ Joke)

But after the April Fools’ Day joke, PlatinumGames updated the Platinum 4 website to tease a fifth announcement. Since then, we’ve been waiting.

In a new interview with VGC, PlatinumGames co-founder Atsushi Inaba said the fifth Platinum 4 announcement should be seen as “something extra” that is “a little smaller in scale” but should make fans smile.

Originally, my guess was that the fifth announcement would be another self-published game, but now I’m not so sure. If it’s smaller in scale than all of the Platinum 4 announcements, including the game that was just an April Fools’ joke and doesn’t really exist, I’d say a new game or even another remaster are definitely off the table.

Some fans think it might be a mobile game, but I’m thinking the final announcement will be more along the lines of merchandise – a shirt or figurine, something like that.

What do you think the fifth Platinum 4 announcement from PlatinumGames will turn out to be?