Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Nov 282022
 

With Black Friday having just passed, today is Cyber Monday, and we’re heading toward the holidays. That means it’s a time of great sales, so if you’re looking to do some video game holiday shopping or want to pick up a few games yourself, here are some highlights that I’ve seen.

…And by “highlights,” I mean I’ll be focusing on some of my favorite series and games that otherwise interest me.

Ace Attorney Sales

Ah, Ace Attorney, my beloved Ace Attorney. While we wait anxiously for news of a new game or collection, several games from the series are currently on sale to help you take the plunge into this series or talk your friends and relatives into it.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for the Nintendo Switch is currently on sale for $29.99 at Amazon. You can also find the sale deal at Best Buy. Meanwhile, digital copies are on sale in the Nintendo eShop for $24.99 and on Steam for $24.79.

Although the game is also available digitally on PS4, it doesn’t appear to be on sale there right now.

Set well before the events of the main series, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a collection of two games following Phoenix Wright’s ancestor, Ryunosuke Naruhodo. I enjoyed the first game and can’t overstate my love for the second, so please play these games.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Wright Trilogy is on sale for $14.99 at the eShop, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and Steam.

If you want both of those, you can buy the Phoenix Wright Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles together in a digital bundle from the eShop for $34.99 and Steam for $34.79, an additional discount.

What about the other games in the series? Well, while Capcom has yet to port the rest of the series to modern platforms, Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice are all on sale in the 3DS eShop for $4.99 each. With the 3DS eShop shutting down in March, getting these games on sale is probably a good idea (although I’m still hoping for a collection announcement).

All right, we probably should talk about some other games so that this doesn’t become just an Ace Attorney deals post.

Yakuza and Judgment

So let’s take a look at my second-favorite series, Yakuza. Linking to all of my Yakuza reviews might be a bit much when you’re looking for sales, so I’ll just let my glowing review of Yakuza 0 give you an idea.

You’ll find a lot of good prices on the Yakuza series on Amazon, though none seem to be actual sales.

For digital copies, however, you can get Yakuza 0 for 4.99 at the PlayStation Store and Steam. From PlayStation, the same price also applies to Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2. If you’re sure you want to jump into the series, the Yakuza Origins bundle also lets you buy those three games together for $14.49.

While there’s no sale on the remastered collection of 3-5 at the PlayStation Store, they’re on sale separately for $7.99 each (Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5).

Steam has similar Yakuza sales: Yakuza 0 for $4.99, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 each for $5.99, and a bundle of those three for 16.12.

Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 are on sale on Steam for $6.99 each, but Steam also has them bundled at $19.92 for a tiny additional discount.

(There are also sales on Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon, but since I haven’t played them yet – I’m working on it! – I haven’t included links here.)

Then there’s Judgment, a spin-off following a lawyer-turned-detective. As you might imagine, given my love for Ace Attorney and Yakuza, this idea tremendously appealed to me, and I absolutely loved it. The truly spectacular Judgment sales have unfortunately passed with the end of the weekend, but the Xbox Series X version is still on sale for $19.99 on Amazon and $15.99 at the Xbox Store, while the digital PS4 and PS5 versions are on sale at the PlayStation Store for $14.99 and $15.99 respectively, and Steam brings in a sale at $29.99.

Other Games

More sales you should know about!

Kingdom Hearts 3 is on sale at Amazon for $12.78 for the PS4 version and $7.99 for the Xbox One version.

Nier Automata recently came to the Nintendo Switch and is now on sale for $29.99 at Amazon. The PS4 remake of the first game, Nier Replicant, is also on sale at Amazon for $19.99.

Digital copies of AI: The Somnium Files are on sale for $7.99 at the eShop, PlayStation Store, and Steam, and I implore you to play this game if you like mystery/detective stories, because it is amazing.

Persona 5 Royal – which I haven’t played yet, but I loved the original – is also on sale at Amazon for $29.99 for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions.

(Meanwhile, some new games I haven’t gotten to play yet, like Star Ocean: The Divine Force and Harvestella, already have decent discounts, which has me tempted… but I’m resisting. So far.)

Conclusion

Many more sales will undoubtedly come and go, but this should help you get started on your 2022 video game holiday shopping! Did you pick up anything in the sales? Did you notice any great sales I’ve overlooked? Do you think this post is just me trying to get more people to play Ace Attorney and Yakuza? Let me know in the comments!

Nov 192021
 

Black Friday isn’t until next week, but the sales have already started to appear. This is a great time to find a good sale on a game you’ve been waiting on, or maybe start your holiday video game shopping.

Looking around, I’ve already seen a lot of great deals (some on games I love, some I intend to buy), so here are the ones that stood out to me the most:

Yakuza and Judgment

Best Buy has some notable Yakuza deals, specifically Yakuza: Like a Dragon for $19.99 (PS4, PS5, and Xbox One), Judgment for $19.99 (PS5, Xbox Series X), and Lost Judgment for $29.99 (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X).

Amazon also has that same Lost Judgment PS4 deal.

I haven’t played Yakuza: Like a Dragon or Lost Judgment yet, so usually I wouldn’t promote them specifically like this, but my experiences with the series so far have left me confident in them. As for the first Judgment, I absolutely loved it, and you can check out my review here.

Resident Evil

The Resident Evil Village sale at Best Buy jumped out at me right away, since it’s on sale with a free steelbook for $19.99 (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X). While I might have had some mixed feelings about Village, I can’t deny that it’s worth it at this price.

The Resident Evil 2 remake is also on sale for $14.99 (PS4), and that’s one that I loved.

The World Ends With You

NEO: The World Ends With You is on sale for $29.99 at both Best Buy and Amazon, although only the PS4 version so far.

Trust me, this game is fantastic, and it’s a shame it hasn’t seen more attention. Where is my review, you might be asking? I finished the main game a while ago now, but I still have to wrap up the post-game. After that, I’ll definitely share my thoughts.

Nier

Nier Replicant is on sale for $29.99 at Best Buy (PS4, Xbox One) and Amazon (PS4, Xbox One).

I haven’t finished Nier Replicant yet, since I took a break from it for personal reasons, but keep in mind that I thought the original Nier was incredible, and Replicant just takes that same great game and makes it even better.

Persona

Persona 5 Royal is on sale for $24.99 at Best Buy and Amazon. Best Buy also has a sale on the sequel/spin-off Persona 5 Strikers, $29.99 for the PS4 version and $34.99 for the Switch version.

While I didn’t get to Persona 5 Royal yet, you can read my glowing review of the original, and I also found Persona 5 Strikers to be a great game and sequel.

13 Sentinels

Best Buy also has 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim on sale for $19.99.

This game is a masterpiece. If you aren’t familiar with 13 Sentinels, take a look at my review, and then go grab it in this sale if you enjoy story-driven games!

Kingdom Hearts

The Kingdom Hearts All-In-One Package is on sale at Best Buy for $19.99. This collection includes everything from the 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8 collections, and Kingdom Hearts III, so it’s pretty much all of them except for Melody of Memory. Alternately, Kingdom Hearts III is on sale on its own for $9.99.

That Kingdom Hearts III deal, at least, is also at Amazon for both PS4 and Xbox One.

I have too many Kingdom Hearts reviews to list them all here. The sheer number of Kingdom Hearts posts should give you an idea of how I feel about these games. And yes, while some people criticize Kingdom Hearts III, I personally loved it.

First-Party Switch Games

GameStop put several Switch games on sale for $26.99, but I avoided it since their definition of a “new” game can be… lacking (lacking a case, for example). However, Amazon has now matched it.

Switch games you can get for $26.99 include Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, which I highly recommend, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which I will someday return to for my remaining routes.

Conclusion

More sales might well appear as we get closer to Black Friday, so I’ll keep this list updated!

(For my part, I picked up Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Catherine: Full Body, and Paper Mario: The Origami King, so hopefully I’ll have played and reviewed them in a reasonable amount of time. If I haven’t touched them by next Black Friday, yell at me. …I picked up both Golden Wind anime volumes, too.)