Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Valentine Video Games Festival: Code: Realize – Future Blessings

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 092022
 

Last year, one title we looked at during February was Code: Realize – Guardians of Rebirth, which quickly became one of my favorite otome games, and one I’d recommend whether you’re generally interested in otome or not.

So it’s fitting that this year’s celebration includes Code: Realize – Future Blessings, the first fandisc released for Code: Realize.

(A fandisc is similar to a sequel, but more like an extended epilogue. I’d describe a fandisc like this: you earned your happy ending in the main game, and now you get to enjoy it.)

Future Blessings is made up of several parts, so let’s take a look at each of them. First up are the after stories, stories for each of the love interests that focus on their life with Cardia after the events of their route in the main game. It’s nice to see each route get its own follow-up, and I found these stories to be cute, funny, and very sweet.

Click for Future Blessings spoilers
…except for Victor’s, in which Idea delivers an ultimatum to Victor and Cardia since they see her as a danger in that route. It was still a heartwarming, romantic story, but considerably more intense than the others.

I also played it second, so it was a bit jarring to go from Van Helsing’s “we’re having trouble communicating because we’re each so focused on the other’s happiness” conflict to Victor’s “either you become an immortal killer or we’ll kill Cardia right now” conflict.

(I would have expected Saint-Germain to get a high-stakes after story, if anyone, but nope, even his was more relaxed than that.)

I can’t think of anything better for this Valentine’s Day celebration. Since these stories focus specifically on the relationship between the protagonist and love interest after they’ve become a couple, romance is their primary focus.

(But someone, please tell me why the writers treat Abraham Van Helsing and Victor Frankenstein as though “Van” and “Franken” are middle names? I can get on board with affectionately calling Van Helsing “Van,” but Victor being referred to as “Professor Stein” bothers me every time it happens!)

Aside from the after stories, Future Blessings also includes two whole new character routes, a romance route for Herlock Sholmes and a platonic route for Finis. Both of these routes are great and have similar intensity to the routes in the original game. I enjoyed both of them quite a bit.

Click for Future Blessings spoilers
And it just felt so nice to finally see Finis get a happy ending.

Plus his route included new scenes with Nemo, and more of that crazy man is always appreciated.

One more story, “Lupin’s Gang” is a new adventure set during the original, in which Cardia and the others become entangled in a plot involving the Mafia. This story is not romantic due to effectively being part of the original’s common route, but it’s a fun adventure with entertaining new characters, even if the pacifist Mafia family did make me raise my eyebrows a bit (Kiryu would love them).

Finally, as you complete each story in Future Blessings, you unlock a series of short chapters featuring Delly. These are all incredibly cute and often funny.

Click for a no-context reference to a Future Blessings joke
1. Eat the cookie.
2. Eat the cookie!
3. EAT THE COOKIE!

Overall, Code: Realize – Future Blessings was a delight to play. The after stories are wonderfully fluffy and romantic, and reminded me of how much I love this cast of characters, the new routes are exciting and satisfying, and everything has a great blend of excitement, humor, and romance. If you enjoyed Code: Realize and want more of its romance, I definitely recommend picking up Future Blessings.

Valentine Video Games Festival: Meeting in the Flesh

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with:
Feb 072022
 

At first glance, this next title might look like it belongs in our October celebration rather than this one, but that is not the case.

Meeting in the Flesh is a free visual novel set in a horrific world of monsters… but it’s not a horror story.

You play as Vil, whose job is to deliver salt to the inhabitants of this town since they need it to live. Over the handful of days in which the story takes place, you interact with several of Vil’s monstrous associates and get to know them. A key choice puts you on one of three monsters’ routes, with additional choices that then lead to either a romantic ending or not.

(The love interests are all male, but Vil’s gender is never stated, so I’m not sure if it would be considered otome.)

It’s fairly text-heavy, with dialogue and narration written on one side of the screen while character sprites appear on the other side. Most of its worldbuilding carried by its writing, therefore, although there are a handful of CGs for important moments as well.

Despite being set in a world of flesh and blood and a fair amount of body horror, it’s surprisingly sweet and wholesome.

All three of the love interests are nice and personable, despite their monstrous appearances and everything else that comes with this setting. Each route follows a similar pattern of being introduced to the character’s situation and then having a choice to make at the end, but the conflicts faced by each character are pretty distinct.

While you do need to be okay with some unsettling descriptions and situations, it’s a very sweet visual novel. I’d go so far as to call it fluffy.

Click for Meeting in the Flesh spoilers
I never thought I’d say “my love interest just ate me, what a sweet and fluffy ending,” but here we are.

To be fair, the eating occurred in order to fuse into one being.

…but it still happened. And it came across as sweet.

Crafting a nightmarish world in such a way that it feels cozy and comfortable is an impressive feat of Meeting in the Flesh, and it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a monster romance.

Valentine Video Games Festival: Adventure of a Lifetime

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Feb 042022
 

Let’s kick off this Valentine’s Day (month) celebration with a look at a visual novel called Adventure of a Lifetime.

Adventure of a Lifetime follows a young man named Hiroki who returns to the islands where he grew up to help his grandmother during summer vacation.

There, he reunites with his childhood friend Chisa, and also meets a mysterious girl named Emily who has come to the islands in search of sunken treasure from an old shipwreck.

The three of them soon make it their quest to find the shipwreck and retrieve the treasure that is so important to Emily. Scuba diving is a key part of the story due to the sunken treasure focus, and it puts in a surprising amount of effort into explaining details about diving and safety measures.

As someone who loves treasure hunt stories, I found that to be an especially enjoyable aspect to the story. It really did convey a sense of treasure hunting and, well, adventure, as promised by the title.

A small handful of choices made throughout the visual novel will determine whether you end up following Chisa or Emily’s route. I thought Emily’s route felt more central to the story due to the focus on the shipwreck, but Chisa’s route had its share of great moments. Romance didn’t feel like a huge focus, but was still an important part of the routes and felt believable enough.

The art is also beautiful, and I liked how many CGs it had for a visual novel you can finish in a few hours. It has a good soundtrack, too.

Adventure of a Lifetime is a nice visual novel to play if you’re looking for an island-set romance with a focus on diving and treasure hunting. It’s also the first game to be added to the list of prizes in this year’s contest, if you’d like to dive into this romance yourself!

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