Operation Backlog Completion 2026
Jan 082021
 

Famitsu always closes out the year by interviewing Japanese game developers about their plans for the next year, and this year’s interviews include some exciting teases.

Gematsu has the full round-up translated here, so let’s take a look at some of the most interesting ones…

Fatal Frame

Koei Tecmo’s Keisuke Kikuchi, who was the producer for the Fatal Frame series among many other notable titles, mentioned that 2021 is the 20th anniversary of Fatal Frame. As such, he’d like to “celebrate it in some way if possible.”

That doesn’t sound definite enough to expect a new Fatal Frame this year, but I’m hopeful it means we might see a new port or remaster. Fatal Frame V is one of the noteworthy Wii U exclusives that hasn’t made it to the Switch yet, after all.

Project Re Fantasy

Katsura Hashino from Atlus asks fans to look forward to their upcoming fantasy RPG, naming it in contrast to the contemporary settings their games often have. This is a reference to Project Re Fantasy.

We barely know anything about Project Re Fantasy beyond it existing, but since 2020 finally brought news about Shin Megami Tensei V, maybe 2021 will be the year of Project Re Fantasy news.

Dragon Quest

It might be Fatal Frame’s 20th anniversary, but it’s Dragon Quest’s 35th anniversary. That’s incredible. As such, Square Enix’s Noriyoshi Fujimoto wants to announce something related to Dragon Quest this year.

Early last year, Dragon Quest XII was confirmed to be in development, so maybe we’ll get to see that (and maybe I’ll have played more Dragon Quest games by then).

Fantasian

Finally, we have an update from Hironobu Sakaguchi about Mistwalker’s 2021 plans. Mistwalker’s new JRPG Fantasian will be released for Apple Arcade this year.

Playing The Last Story left me dying for more games from Mistwalker, and while another mobile game isn’t exactly what I was hoping for, it might be too soon to write it off. Fantasian is being designed with handcrafted dioramas and looks at least visually interesting from the tweets shared by Mistwalker.

(Besides, Shantae & the Seven Sirens released for Apple Arcade first and was fantastic, so it’s not a death knell.)

Several more games and goals are mentioned in the interviews as well. Which ones stand out the most to you, and which teased games are you most interested in?

Jan 062021
 

Once again, I’m ready to make a new list of writing goals for the upcoming year!

By 2022, I will:

  • Send out regular batches of queries for my novels in the querying stage.
  • Finish editing A Prince’s Price based on feedback.
  • Revise Mage’s Test.
  • Revise The Sunken Sapphire.
  • Write at least 1 new pulp fiction story and 3 additional short stories.
  • Increase traffic to my side websites 500+ visits per month.

That’s right, no book signing goals for this year – things are too uncertain for that to really be in my hands right now.

I hope to make good progress toward those editing goals, though. I started out by ranking my WIPs based on how marketable they seem and how extensive the required revisions will be and then prioritized them accordingly, which is how those three ended up at the top of the list. Ending the year with all three fully revised would be fantastic.

And of course, I’ll write a new novel draft in November for NaNoWriMo, as I do every year!

Do you have any writing goals for 2021? Let me know in the comments!

Jan 042021
 

To no one’s surprise, I did not complete my backlog in 2020, but of course that means it’s time for another round of Operation Backlog Completion!

Last year, I finished a massive 91 games, so this year I’m raising the goal to a terrifying 100 games.

Operation Backlog Completion 2021

That should make a dent in my backlog, even though it’s always offset by bundles, review games, and other situations that increase my backlog even as I work through it.

My goal last year also included 17 specific games I intended to play. I only actually finished three of them, but I have two more currently in progress, two were delayed, and one was removed.

So here is this year’s list, which includes the remaining games from last year’s list and my most-anticipated games of 2021.

  • Batman: Arkham Knight (followed by Arkham Origins)
  • The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (followed by The Witcher 3)
  • Dragon Quest XI
  • Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
  • Yooka-Laylee
  • Aurion: Curse of the Kori-Odan
  • Dies Irae
  • The Great Gaias
  • Bug Fables
  • Tales of Arise
  • Yakuza 3
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After
  • God of War sequel
  • NEO: The World Ends With You

(I also add any new games I crowdfunded that came out in the previous year. However, for 2020 that was only Chuusotsu 1.5, which I played right away, and The Wonderful 101 Remastered, which I backed largely to support it since I played the original.)

I have Bug Fables and Yakuza 3 in progress already, so maybe this will be the year I actually play my prioritized games.

What about you? Do you have any specific video game goals set for 2021?