Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Beast of Reincarnation Looks Pretty Interesting

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Jan 232026
 

There was an Xbox live stream yesterday, which I forgot to watch, but it included a new overview video about Beast of Reincarnation.

We discussed Beast of Reincarnation briefly when it was announced last year at the Xbox Games Showcase.

It’s an action RPG being developed by Game Freak for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and it especially stands out because it looks so different from their other games.

(Of course, we all know Game Freak’s best game finally came to the Nintendo Switch in 2024, but all anyone talks about is Pokémon.)

We didn’t know much about Beast of Reincarnation at the time, but the new trailer provides a lot of information.

It has a futuristic setting, and the main character Emma is someone who can manipulate plants and absorb the world’s blight into her body. She works with Koo, who is a dangerous creature known as a malefact.

Although it’s an action RPG, where you fight and parry attacks using Emma’s katana, you can also unleash Koo’s powerful skills through a command-based system. They’re also calling it a “one-person, one-dog RPG,” which is such a funny way to describe it. I love it.

When the game was announced last year, I came away from the trailer with a general “could be neat” impression, but after watching this overview, I’m actually really interested in it!

What do you think about Beast of Reincarnation?

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Confirmed for Fall 2026

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Dec 192025
 

A remake of Trails in the the Sky SC was pretty much confirmed already due to a teaser included at the end of the first game’s remake, but now it’s been officially announced.

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter will launch for PS5, Switch, Switch 2, and PC in Fall 2026, once again as a worldwide release.

The trailer actually starts with a spoiler warning, so it’s nice to see them taking into account that it will spoil the first game for people who haven’t played it. In fact, so does the art revealed at the end with the release window, which is why I’ve used an awkward cropped version in this post.

It also spoils one character’s role in 2nd Chapter itself, so keep that in mind, too. I wouldn’t actually recommend that new fans watch the trailer.

(For those of you who already saw the teaser at the end of the remake, this is the same trailer, just with a title and release window at the end.)

Since the next new game in the series hasn’t been announced yet, some fans are concerned that it might be even farther off than we thought.

This comes from a shareholder presentation in which Falcom also revealed much-less-welcome news: that they are “cautiously” proceeding with the use of generative AI. They specifically referenced using it to brainstorm scenarios.

For me, that’s one of the last things I want to hear about a developer that makes story-driven games like Trails especially, so I hope they change their minds.

This is also right on the heels of the controversy over Larian Studios and Sandfall Interactive talking about their use of AI, so it’s quite a time out there right now.

Anyway, how do you feel about the Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter remake? A demo of the upcoming Trails Beyond the Horizon is also now available.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties Direct Announced for December 22

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Dec 172025
 

RGG Studio has announced a showcase for next week to provide a closer look at the upcoming Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties.

The Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties Direct will be on December 22 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET.

In case you’ve missed the announcement, this is a full remake of Yakuza 3, bundled together with a new Gaiden-style prequel game starring Mine.

As a Mine enthusiast, I went from “Yakuza 3 is fine and doesn’t need a remake” to “Wait, this is amazing!” when Dark Ties was revealed. The new content being added to Kiwami 3 also got my attention, because more slice-of-life content with the kids is exactly what I wanted. The one thing I was worried about was that they might make too many story changes, although they’ve said Kiwami 3 is meant to exist alongside Yakuza 3 rather than replace it.

…That statement is a little harder to believe after recent developments, as they’ve delisted the original Yakuza 0 to replace it with the Director’s Cut, despite the story additions in the Director’s Cut being controversial at best.

A shadow also fell over Kiwami 3 because one of the new actors added for the remake was accused of sexual assault, and RGG Studio hasn’t even acknowledged the backlash against hiring him. (The recasting decisions were already controversial even without that, so it’s been a firestorm out there now.) So I have to admit, my enthusiasm for Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties was dampened somewhat by everything that happened since its announcement.

That aside, I don’t know if I’d want to watch the Direct anyway, just because I don’t want too much of the game spoiled for me. They already showed combat and mini-games when the game was announced.

How do you feel about the Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties situation? Are you going to watch the Direct?

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