Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Aksys and Spike Chunsoft’s Showcases Recaps

 Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jul 042022
 

Over the weekend, our cluster of game showcases concluded with the panels at Anime Expo 2022.

Bandai Namco’s contained nothing new beyond the announcement that Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher, which we discussed last week, will get an official release in the west.

That left Aksys and Spike Chunsoft, and both turned out to be well worth watching.

Aksys Games

Aksys Games did not stream their showcase, but a fan in attendance streamed it, so I was able to tune in and see the announcements live. I didn’t expect much to be announced, but I hoped we’d get either a new otome announcement or Shibito Magire localization news.

They began with an overview of their upcoming games (including the release date of Piofiore: Episodio 1926 being moved up from September 22 to September 8) and soundtrack CDs available with some of them.

Update: the September 8 release date was a mistake; it’s still set for September 22.

Then they got into the announcements. The first game shown was Pups & Purrs Pet Shop, which I thought had been already announced, but apparently this is a series and I was probably thinking of the previous Pups & Purrs game.

The second game announced was Inescapable, a “social thriller” coming to all major platforms next year. It seems to have a death game sort of premise, and I’ve seen it described as Danganronpa-inspired. So that’s definitely something I’m interested in.

Then it was otome time!

Norn9 is coming west for the Switch. I played Norn9 on the Vita and found it to be enjoyable, though I disliked the incomplete feel of the story and said I’d pick up its fandisc Last Era if it was ever released in English, since Last Era is supposed to fix a lot of those issues.

…and sure enough, yes, they followed the Norn9 trailer with a trailer for Norn9: Last Era, which is being translated at last.

Yes, they’re separate releases instead of a dual pack, but I’m just happy that we’re getting Last Era.

Then they showed another trailer, for another otome, Radiant Tale. This one is about a girl becoming the producer for a circus troupe in a fantasy world, and what stands out to me the most is how beautiful and colorful it looks.

The next game was also otome, one I’ve seen a lot of people hoping would be localized, Shuuen no Virche ~Error:Salvation, which is on the other end of the spectrum in that it appears to be about death and darkness and despair.

(I’m intrigued.)

Then the final trailer began, and when I saw “Shibito Magire” appear on the screen, I nearly screamed.

Yes, the third Spirit Hunter game is being localized under the title Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II. …Which I’m sure will cause no confusion whatsoever with the second game in the series, NG.

That was the last of the announcements, and they spent the rest of the showcase providing more details about the announced games. I went into it hoping for at least one otome or Shibito Magire, and I got four otome announcements AND Shibito Magire.

In short, 2023 is already packed for me with games to look forward to, and I’ll play NG soon.

Spike Chunsoft

Spike Chunsoft also didn’t stream their showcase, and again it was streamed by a fan who was there.

They mainly highlighted already-announced games, but they did confirm that Chaos;Head Noah will be coming to PC on October 7 alongside the Switch launch of the Chaos;Head Noah / Chaos;Child dual pack.

Their showcase also had one other announcement: Anonymous;Code localization. Yes, the newest entry in the Science Adventure series is coming west in 2023 for Switch, PS4, and PC.

I’m excited to play Chaos;Head Noah and Chaos; Child, and I’m looking forward to Anonymous;Code as well… although I still need to get Robotics;Notes in the meantime!

Miscellaneous

Apparently Sekai Project had a ton of visual novel announcements at Anime Expo, including Nekopara After and the Nekopara spin-off Inapura: Dog’s Paradise. Type-Moon was also there and confirmed that Witch on the Holy Night is not only getting an English translation (which we discussed) but also a western release on December 8.

And there were plenty of other announcements of visual novels I’m less familiar with. In short, as a visual novel fan, this was a crazy weekend for announcements. The upcoming lineup from Aksys alone already has my backlog crying out in pain.

What do you think of the games that were announced at Anime Expo 2022?

Valentine Video Games Festival: LoveKami -Healing Harem-

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 232022
 

Last year I mentioned that I’d picked up the third LoveKami game in another visual novel bundle, so let’s keep the tradition going and talk about LoveKami -Healing Harem-.

Like its predecessors, it’s set in a world where goddesses have come to Earth to learn more about humanity.

It starts when the protagonist helps out a Tatarigami, a goddess whose powers bring trouble and misfortune, and she immediately declares herself to be his wife.

This causes conflict with the region’s guardian goddess, who is a reformed Tatarigami, and another goddess close to the protagonist (who also brings misfortune, but more in a “bad luck” sort of way than the dark powers the other two have), who then declare themselves to be his better half and mistress respectively.

As usual for the series, Healing Harem is largely a kinetic novel, with a single choice partway through that puts you on one of the three routes.

It goes all in on the fanservice, and as you might guess from the title, it doesn’t even try to pretend it’s anything other than a harem fantasy. Two of the routes specifically involve the goddess in question dealing with her jealousy of the other two, although the remaining route focuses more on the goddess wanting to do nice things for the community.

The story is lighthearted and has some interesting moments, although the romance feels a bit odd since all three are already in love with the protagonist to some degree.

(One of them is also a yandere, and her route basically runs with that as a character quirk you must accept.)

Healing Harem’s story setup makes me wonder if it would have worked better as a fully kinetic novel with all three stories occurring at the same time, since the route structure doesn’t make as much sense when they’re a harem anyway. Anyway, it’s a more interesting story than Divinity Stage, but not as entertaining as Useless Goddess.

So if you’re there for the fanservice or the jealous harem fantasy, or really like the LoveKami universe, LoveKami -Healing Harem- makes for a decent addition to the series. Are there any diehard LoveKami fans out there? And don’t forget, the previous two LoveKami games are among the prizes you can win just by leaving a comment in this year’s contest!

(Meanwhile, on the other end of the visual novel spectrum, an official tweet suggests we might actually get the Chaos;Head Noah/Chaos;Child bundle in English!)

Valentine Video Games Festival: Love Cypher Demo (and Kickstarter)

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 182022
 

It’s been a while since we’ve had a crowd-funding campaign to discuss, and during the Valentine Video Games Festival no less!

Love Cypher, currently seeking funding through Kickstarter, is a near-future romance visual novel set in the 2040s. You play a new student at a university studying artificial intelligence advancements.

It is a galge with four romance routes (and the possibility for more if Love Cypher should meet both its goal and subsequent stretch goals).

A demo is also available, and I played it after seeing the Kickstarter campaign. The demo is fairly short and follows the protagonist as he arrives at the university and meets the heroines.

From the demo, Love Cypher comes across as a lighthearted romantic comedy, with some silly situations and classic misunderstandings.

However, the description mentions that the advanced AI technology in this world “re-sculpts one’s identity, while keeping the individual unaware of their transformation,” which suggests there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Alongside the rom-com antics, it looks like it will deal with themes of identity and humanity.

(Nowadays I’m suspicious of anything that looks fun and lighthearted with hints of something else, but the developer has said online that the story will be philosophical, but still fun, so I don’t think we have to worry about this one being secretly depressing.)

Love Cypher will be an 18+ visual novel once it’s complete, although the demo has no 18+ content since it’s the beginning of the story.

The art looks very nice, and all around it looks like it will be a high-quality production. Although it has stock backgrounds for now, the Kickstarter page says they will be replaced in the final version. It’s tough to judge the story from the demo this early on, but the premise sounds intriguing.

So if you’re looking for an upcoming romance visual novel, you might want to check out Love Cypher’s Kickstarter page to learn more about it.

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