Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Feb 012023
 

February is here, and that means we’re once again dedicating a month to romance in honor of Valentine’s Day. Celebrating All Things Romantic 2023 has begun!

(While I like the alliteration of last year’s Valentine Video Game Festival, the name didn’t seem as popular.)

As before, we’ve got a month of reviews and a contest with prizes to win!

One day a week will be reserved for a non-themed post in case exciting news arrives (such as the rumored Nintendo Direct I keep waiting for and the possibility of certain rumored remasters being announced).

So, what does this year’s Celebrating All Things Romantic event have in store?

Promotion

While there are no sales for this event, consider checking out the fantasy rom-com visual novel Ascendant Hearts (PC/Switch), the supernatural otome The Last Act, and other romance visual novels I’ve written for, all of which are included on the list here.

Contest

All month long, you can earn points toward winning a prize at the end just by joining the conversation and participating in the celebration!

The following prizes are available:

  • Ascendant Hearts (gift sent through Steam)
  • The Last Act (gift sent through Steam)
  • LoveKami -Divinity Stage- (Steam code)
  • LoveKami -Useless Goddess- (Steam code)
  • LoveKami -Healing Harem- (gift sent through Steam)
  • Nekopara collection (gifts sent through Steam)
  • Adventure of a Lifetime (gift sent through Steam)
  • Taisho x Alice complete set (gifts sent through Steam)
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!
    …and possibly more game prizes to be added throughout the month!

If you choose the review option, 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 the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in March.

So, how do you win one of these prizes? It’s simple! Just leave comments on the themed blog posts and/or retweet them to earn points. If you rank in the top 3 point-earners by the end of the month, you get a prize!

Full rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between February 1, 2023 at 12:00 PM EST and February 28, 2023 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Romantic blog post earns you 1 point.
  • Retweeting any Celebrating All Things Romantic tweet of mine earns you 1 point.
  • 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.
  • The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
  • 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 the person with the third most points will pick third.
  • In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible.
  • The winner will be contacted by March 2, 2023.

And there you have it. With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, let’s make this a fun month of romance-themed reviews and discussions!

Oct 032022
 

Cover art for The Book at Dernier, The Zombie Mishape, and It Came Back

October is here, and that means it’s time to celebrate ghosts, ghouls, and every manner of spooky thing with a new Celebrating All Things Spooky month!

So let’s get into the sales, the contest, and what you can expect to see this year.

Sales

I’ve got a special promotion to kick off the spooky season. From now until Friday, you can get a free ebook copy of The Zombie Mishap, my comedy novella about two scientists who accidentally create a zombie and set out to stop it before anyone finds out. Since it’s a comedy, it’s on the lighter side of things, so consider checking it out even if horror isn’t usually your thing!

Meanwhile, ebook copies of The Book at Dernier and It Came Back will be on sale for $0.99 each for the rest of October. These two are both horror novellas, with The Book at Dernier being cosmic horror about a scholar investigating a strange incident in a small town and It Came Back dealing with the supernatural curse of a demon stalking its victims in dreams.

Remember, the free promotion of The Zombie Mishap will last through this Friday, October 7, while The Book at Dernier and It Came Back will be on sale through October 31.

Contest

Between now and Halloween, you also have a chance to win a prize at the end of the month just by leaving comments and interacting! The contest rules are slightly different than they were last year, so be sure to read them carefully.

Prizes:

  • Not It: Spookiest Edition (gift sent through Steam)
  • Silent Hill 4: The Room (gift sent through GOG)
  • Resident Evil Village (gift sent through Steam)
  • Dead Age (Steam code)
  • Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location (Steam code)
  • Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
  • eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
  • eBook copy of It Came Back
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, 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 the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments and retweets made between October 3, 2022 at 12:00 PM EST and October 31, 2022 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post = 1 point.
  • Retweeting any Celebrating All Things Spooky tweet from me = 1 point.
  • 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.
  • The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
  • 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 the person with the third most points will pick third.
  • In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible.
  • The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2022.

Content

I’ve got an exciting lineup of spooky game reviews planned, so here’s hoping you learn about some new horror games you might have overlooked.

Like in our mystery game celebration earlier this year, I’ll leave open the possibility of having a non-themed post once a week in case some especially exciting news comes out in October (like if Capcom wanted to announce a new Ace Attorney game, just saying).

Now it’s time to begin our month-long celebration of games and other media that are spooky, creepy, or otherwise fitting for October! Do you plan to play any special games for Halloween this October?

May 022022
 

All right, this year we’re going to experiment with another themed month! Because what’s another genre we love around here? Mysteries.

There’s not a holiday paired with it this time, so I picked May for the sake of alliteration. (If I missed a better choice, do let me know.)

Promotions

I’ve worked a little in the realm of mysteries myself, with the biggest example being “The Domino Lady Takes the Case,” my murder mystery starring the pulp fiction heroine the Domino Lady, found in Domino Lady Volume 3.

(My subsequent story “The Domino Lady Deceived,” found in Domino Lady Volume 4, is not a mystery so much as a heist/crime story, but there’s some overlap.)

Another is Sacreya’s Legacy, my zombie detective story. It’s a free serialized novella, but it’s also one of my earliest published stories, so… keep that in mind.

(I keep telling myself I will one day revisit Sacreya’s Legacy, though it hasn’t happened yet.)

Announcements

Meanwhile, over in the world of video games, I’ll be working with Snowhaven Games to take over the development of the upcoming murder mystery visual novel Drops of Death, so stay tuned for more information about that!

Contest

Now, when we hold an event, that also means a new contest! Be sure to read the rules carefully, as they’re slightly different from previous events.

This year, the available prizes are:

  • Domino Lady Volume 3 (ebook)
  • Domino Lady Volume 4 (ebook)
  • Phoenix Wright Trilogy (gift sent through Steam)
  • The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (gift sent through Steam)
  • Master Magistrate (gift sent through Steam)
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

(Is this all a subtle ploy to try to get more people to play The Great Ace Attorney?? …I mean, the thought crossed my mind.)

If you choose the review option, 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 the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in June.

Rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between May 2, 2022 at 12:00 PM EST and May 31, 2022 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any May Mystery Game Madness blog post = 1 point.
  • Retweeting any of my May Mystery Game Madness tweets = 1 point.
  • 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.
  • The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
  • 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 the person with the third most points will pick third.
  • In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners.
  • The winner will be contacted by June 2, 2022.

You’ve got a month of mystery game content to look forward to and prizes to win at the end! This time, however, I’ll leave it open for one post a week to potentially be switched to a non-themed topic, so that we don’t run into another situation where we ignore exciting announcements for a whole month.

(I keep unintentionally writing murder mystery month, but that’s not necessarily true. I expect most will be murder mysteries anyway, but mystery games without murder are also viable!)

So let’s get talking about some mystery games! To kick things off, what are your personal favorite mystery video games?