Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Aksys Showcase: Only One Otome, but Other Exciting Announcements

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jul 042025
 

As we discussed, Aksys held its Anime Expo showcase yesterday, with the promise of new announcements.

Now, let’s get it out of the way, they only announced one new otome game. That was a little disappointing.

But they had some other interesting announcements as well, so let’s take a look.

Although they didn’t stream their showcase, some people who were there in person were sharing updates as it went, so I kept track of the news that way. The first piece of information was the one I’d been anticipating, a release date for Mistonia no Kibou. With the official English title of Mistonia’s Hope: The Lost Delight, it will be out on November 13.

They also announced Path of Mystery: A Brush with Death, a murder mystery game that looks right up my alley.

The next few announcements didn’t interest me as much. There was Q Collection, a collection of three drawing-based puzzle games, Tristia: Chronicles, a bundle of two town/shop management games, and C.A.R.D.S. RPG: The Misty Battlefield, a card-based RPG. They also announced a Metroidvania called The Good Old Days that could be interesting.

Next up was the sole otome announcement, Otome Daoshi -Fighting for Love-, and while it sounds decently interesting, the reception to this one in Japan was pretty poor. It’s due out in 2026, but this is one I’ll probably wait on.

All right, so it’s rather frustrating that they had only a single new otome game announcement and it’s not a well-received title. I’ve seen a lot of fans wondering why they picked that one. (Maybe it’s because Idea Factory secretly has a huge lineup planned, but since they only announced two last time and one of those got delayed to 2026, I don’t know…)

Anyway, they finished with one final announcement, and… it’s one I’ve been following ever since it was announced three years ago, but I didn’t expect it to show up at an Aksys showcase! They’ll be handling the console release of Project Code M, the new game from the developer of The House in Fata Morgana.

(Judging by Novect’s follow-up posts, it’s still coming to PC as well.)

I was not expecting that at all, but it was a nice surprise to see Project Code M! It makes up for the disappointment of only getting a single otome announcement…

Which games from Aksys’s showcase stood out to you the most?

The 428: Shibuya Scramble Successor is Titled Shibuya Scramble Stories

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , ,
Jul 022025
 

Back in April, we discussed the announcement of a new successor to 428: Shibuya Scramble from its executive producer.

I still haven’t played 428: Shibuya Scramble, although I did start it. I’d hoped to finish it as one of May’s mystery games, but it was too long (and being balanced alongside too many other games) for me to get there.

But since I’ve started it, here’s hoping we’ll get back to it soon.

Anyway, let’s get back to talking about the successor. It now officially has a title, Shibuya Scramble Stories, revealed in a short trailer alongside some additional members of the cast.

They also blasted past their crowdfunding goal, as their Ubgoe page currently has them at over 700% of their intended goal.

(Speaking of crowdfunding, Volontés also made its goal, so I’m excited about that! They got an extension for their campaign and still have the rest of this week to hopefully hit the Steam version stretch goal.)

I’ve been enjoying what I’ve played so far of 428: Shibuya Scramble, so I’m happy to see they’re doing well with Shibuya Scramble Stories! Here’s hoping we get to play it someday too!

Celebrating All Things Mysterious – Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Chapter IV

 Celebrating All Things Mysterious, Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
May 282025
 

Three years ago, we talked about Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, an Ace Attorney inspired indie game.

Season One included three cases, with the promise of more to come, and now Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Chapter IV: “Sacred Feathers” is available as its own separate release.

I was a little uncertain at first about buying a single case on its own, but Chapter IV took me a full 6 hours to complete, compared to the 8 hours I spent on all of Season One, so I’d say it’s well worth it.

Like Season One, investigation segments have you investigate environments and gather information from a top-down perspective, and trial segments play nearly identically to Ace Attorney, with witness statements to press for more information and then present evidence against when you find contradictions.

The trials in Chapter IV are fine, with some tricky contradictions to spot, although I couldn’t help but notice that almost all (if not all) testimonies have their contradiction in the final statement.

Now, when I reviewed Season One, I mentioned that I wasn’t too crazy about the investigation gameplay being broken up by mini-games. That happens here again, this time in the form of side-scrolling brawler battles. I didn’t mind it as much, however, because its inclusion into the narrative felt pretty smooth and the battles weren’t frequent enough to get annoying.

As for why there are brawler battles…

Do you remember how the first Nina Aquila game included actual supernatural elements? Well, this case involves investigating a murder during the rehearsal of a magical girl show, but it turns out magic is real and the city is under attack by monsters. Nina gains magical girl powers, complete with a transformation, to help defend the city. Although I did feel a slight pang of disappointment that the case wasn’t entirely mundane in nature, the magical girl aspect of the story is important enough that I warmed up to it.

Nina and Dylan both saw some good development in this chapter, and the case had a good cast of characters as well. I also really enjoyed the mystery itself and how all the pieces came together for the final revelations. Meanwhile, the new elements of the overarching story have me looking forward to the fifth case!

Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle, Chapter IV: “Sacred Feathers” might only be one case, but it’s a lengthy addition to the Nina Aquila storyline that anyone who enjoyed the first season should play.

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