Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Capcom is “Making Preparations” for The Great Ace Attorney’s Anniversary

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jan 062025
 

Since we had all of our end-of-year / start-of-year posts to go through, I held off on discussing this until now, but it’s been on my mind ever since I saw it.

Each December, many video game developers and publishers make a short statement about what they have planned for the next year. These are often vague, but sometimes they offer intriguing hints about upcoming announcements.

From this year’s messages, translated here by Gematsu, there was one in particular that caught my eye.

You see, 2025 is the 10th anniversary of The Great Ace Attorney.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole 10 years since The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures first came out in Japan on the 3DS. We had to wait all the way until 2021 to finally get an official localization! Now the second game in particular has become one of my all-time favorites, and there’s nothing I’d like to see more than more Great Ace Attorney games.

Anyway, Kei Hashimoto, a programmer with Capcom, said that they’re “making preparations to ensure everyone can enjoy the 10th anniversary” of The Great Ace Attorney.

That statement doesn’t necessarily mean they’re making a new game. It could be anything. It could just be merchandise, or even a special event in Japan. It’s too early to get excited.

On the other hand, we still don’t have a satisfactory explanation for the mysterious Van Zieks captions, and I still hope they were misplaced dialogue from a Great Ace Attorney Investigations game. Between the captions, the 10th anniversary, and this statement about celebrating, I can’t help but feel a little more optimistic.

Click for major The Great Ace Attorney 2 spoilers
Also, 2025 is the Year of the Snake, and Kazuma’s prosecutor design has snake inspirations/motifs, so basically this would be the perfect year for a game with him as a central character.

I remain hopeful that a new Ace Attorney game will be announced this year. I’d assumed it would be Ace Attorney 7, but if we get a new Great Ace Attorney game instead, I certainly won’t complain.

How do you think Capcom intends to celebrate the 10th anniversary?

Operation Backlog Completion 2025

 Video games  6 Responses »
Jan 032025
 

It’s getting worse!

So, after finishing 66 games in 2023 instead of the 100 I’d hoped for, I set last year’s backlog goal at 75 games… and finished 45.

The reasonable thing to do now would be to drop this year’s goal to 50, but I’m going to stick with 75. After all, last year’s numbers were hindered by me playing some very long games. If it repeats itself this year, then I’ll consider lowering the goal.

Operation Backlog Completion 2025

So how about those specific goals? Out of the 26 games I said I intended to play last year, I finished 5, have 2 in progress, and intend to start 1 this month. Plus one was delayed, so that doesn’t count.

Okay, that’s better! For this year, I’ll keep the remaining games from that list and add my most-anticipated games of the year, plus Stellar Blade because I intended to play it last year but got sidetracked by other games (and Nine Sols, because I was a backer), which gives us:

  • 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 (unless I decide to wait for the remake)
  • Aurion: Curse of the Kori-Odan
  • Dies Irae
  • The Great Gaias
  • Trails in the Sky the 3rd (followed by Trails from Zero)
  • Triangle Strategy
  • The Good Life
  • Tokyo Xanadu eX+
  • Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
  • Final Fantasy XVI
  • Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (assuming it comes out)
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio
  • Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
  • Stellar Blade
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
  • Professor Layton and the New World of Steam
  • The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
  • Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
  • Nine Sols

Of course, quite a few of these are long games, so I might be setting myself up for failure. But they’re games I’ve intended to play for a long time, and maybe this will be the year!

(Speaking of which, last year did not end up being my “Year of Trails,” since I only played one. And it was long. Very long. But hey, aiming to finish two this year will at least put me on the path toward catching up.)

I still believe I’ll play every game on my backlog someday. Do you have any specific gaming goals in mind for this year?

Top 5 Most Anticipated Games of 2025

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with:
Jan 012025
 

Yesterday, I talked about my favorite games that I played in 2024. Now it’s time to look ahead toward 2025 and the upcoming games I’m looking forward to the most.

2025 doesn’t seem quite as packed with must-play games for me as last year – which is a relief, since I still haven’t finished most of those. It’s definitely got some heavy-hitters, though, so here are my top 5 most-anticipated games of 2025!

5. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The announcement of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a highlight of this year’s game announcements, and everything we’ve seen about it so far looks great. Its dark fantasy world, what little we know about the story, and the turn-based combat all have my attention.

We still don’t know a lot about it, so maybe I shouldn’t have it among my top 5. But still, a new turn-based RPG with what looks like a pretty high budget is enough to intrigue me, and its reveal trailer was so good.

There’s no release date yet, but it’s set for 2025, and I’m really looking forward to it!

4. Professor Layton and the New World of Steam

Despite my worries about Level-5 lately, I can’t have a year where a new Professor Layton game is coming out and not put it on the list. I’ve loved every Professor Layton game except for Layton’s Mystery Journey, but even my thoughts on that one aren’t enough to dampen my enthusiasm.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam looks like it should be a return to form, with the gameplay previews and puzzle samples both seeming promising so far. I have high hopes that its story will be a return to the usual Layton insanity, too.

Of course, I do have doubts about whether or not it will actually come out this year… but Level-5 still says it will, so for now I’ll have faith.

3. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

A few weeks ago, I found myself realizing that I miss Danganronpa. Those games have a particular style that just isn’t found anywhere else (not even in Rain Code). Well, we might not have a new Danganronpa game coming out, but we do have The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy from Too Kyo Games.

Any game from the creators of both Danganronpa and Zero Escape is going to catch my attention at least a little, and a lot of what’s been shown so far looks very similar to Danganronpa. The biggest exception is the gameplay, because it’s… a strategy RPG.

Sign me up!

In short, Last Defense Academy has a ton of ingredients I love, and I just hope they come together into a satisfactory whole. It’s definitely one of the games I’m looking forward to the most this year.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

I still can’t believe it’s real.

So many years I spent hoping Xenoblade Chronicles X would make a return on the Nintendo Switch, to give it a second chance at life and pave the way for a sequel. I’d given up and started hoping it would be remastered for the Switch’s successor instead, but here it is as a Nintendo Switch game after all!

I loved Xenoblade Chronicles X despite it being an open world game. Something about it just really made it click with me. Now it’s getting a second chance at life, and since I’m now caught up on the series thanks to finishing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Future Redeemed, I’m looking forward to starting a new adventure in Mira after all these years.

That leaves just one game that I’m looking forward to even more than Xenoblade Chronicles X, and you might be able to guess what it is…

1. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

I know what you’re thinking. “Come on, Sam, weren’t you saying the premise is too silly?” Yes, I have some misgivings about the direction for the story of this game. But… it’s Like a Dragon.

The Yakuza / Like a Dragon series has yet to let me down. Even my least favorite entry is still one I have to praise as a great game. Besides that, everything I’ve seen about Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has me excited for what looks like a fun-filled adventure.

So yo ho ho, I’m ready to set sail with Cap’n Majima anytime! …As soon as I finish Infinite Wealth, that is.

Conclusion

There are many more exciting games coming out besides these, like Tales of Graces f Remastered, Fantasy Life i (which was on my list last year), Death Match Love Comedy, Pokémon Legends Z-A, and lots of others. However, when I looked at them all, these five are the ones that ended up at the top of my list.

Which 2025 games are you looking forward to the most?

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