We didn’t even have time to anticipate this one in a blog post before it happened! Yesterday, Idea Factory announced that there would be a live stream today at which they’d announce their next otome game localization. And it turned out to be… 9 R.I.P. I’ve been intrigued by 9 R.I.P. ever since it was announced for Japan. It looks beautiful, and it has a supernatural theme, with urban legends and other spooky things. From what I’ve heard about it, it’s more spooky than outright horror, but it still looks like my sort of thing. While the announcement trailer only says 2024, the official website ..read more

With Professor Layton and the New World of Steam not due out until 2025, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. If you’ve seen any of my comments on it before, you know I’m both excited and nervous about finally getting a new Professor Layton game. When I got into the Professor Layton series, it skyrocketed to the top of my list. It was one of my few “immediate preorder” series, a series I had so much faith in I would immediately preorder any new entry. Then came Layton’s Mystery Journey, which I had… mixed feelings about. So now, nearly 7 years later, my feelings about Professor Layton a ..read more

Obscure video game revivals seem more common than ever these days, and the latest is an old RPG series called Tenshi no Uta. I’d never heard of this series before, so I looked into it after seeing the reports that it might be making a return. Developed by Telenet Japan, Tenshi no Uta came out in 1991 for the PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² (aka TurboGrafx-16 Super CD-ROM²). It received a sequel in 1993 for the same platform, and a third entry in the series came out for the Super Famicom in 1994. None of these games ever released outside of Japan, although the third game got a fan translation in 2018 ..read more

The other day, I was browsing Twitter when I saw a tweet about an upcoming 3D indie RPG called Runa. I see games being advertised all the time, but this one struck me because of how beautiful it was, so I decided to take a closer look. Runa is a turn-based RPG inspired by JRPGs. According to its Steam page, it will feature social links with over 15 romance options, elemental puzzles, base building, and mini-games (of which they specifically mention farming, fishing, and cooking). The page also lists a weather system, a day/night cycle, a calendar system, and dialogue choices, although despite ..read more

I’ve had a chance to play the Stellar Blade now, and I had quite a bit of fun with it. Now, it’s definitely not the Bayonetta-like I expected when I first saw footage. Combat is much slower, despite still having some stylish elements. You have light and heavy attacks you can string together into combos, as well as some special attacks. You can also parry enemy attacks if you block with perfect timing, and that’s very important. Parrying attacks not only protects you, but enough parries will break an enemy’s stance and let you use a powerful “Retribution” attack. The game is forgiving enough th ..read more

Like every other game, the otome game Sympathy Kiss came out earlier this year. And unlike all those other games, I’ve already finished it. Sympathy Kiss gives some weird impressions when you first start playing. The main character has no eyes in CGs and no spoken dialogue, which is normally used for self-inserts. However, the narration describes her dialogue, and instead of being very vague for self-insert purposes, it’s often specific enough that I wished she just had regular spoken dialogue. For example, “I told him that although I had just started, I found myself awed by the complexity of ..read more

Back when I played the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I quite enjoyed it, so I was disappointed when the DLC released in 2021 was PS5-exclusive. Since I didn’t have a PS5 until late last year, it’s taken me a while to get around to it. But after finishing Crisis Core a few weeks ago, I decided the other thing to do before moving on to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was to finally get the DLC. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intermission is a new story starring Yuffie, in which she heads to Midgar in order to steal materia from Shinra. Joining her is a young man from Wutai named Sonon, and they team up ..read more

Video game news on April Fools’ Day can be frustrating, whether it’s because of fake announcements you wish were real or yet another developer using “we’re making a visual novel” as the whole joke. But sometimes it leads to something genuinely cool, and that’s the case with the Reynatis joke this year. I’ve been interested in Reynatis since it was announced and thrilled when its localization was confirmed. It’s an action RPG set in Shibuya… …so what better game for a fake collaboration than The World Ends With You? As detailed by Noisy Pixel, this April Fools’ Day joke began with tweets from t ..read more

There’s a lot we could be talking about right now – Uchikoshi’s cryptic tweets, Corpse Party II localization, Cupid Parasite fandisc release date, Reynatis gameplay footage – but let’s talk about Miles Edgeworth instead. Around a month ago, Capcom opened an Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy popularity poll. Fans were asked to vote for their favorite character from the Apollo Justice Trilogy, and the top 3 characters would be featured in new artwork. Well, the results are in… and the #1 most popular character in the Apollo Justice Trilogy is Miles Edgeworth! Phoenix Wright (Apollo Justice ve ..read more

A little over two weeks ago, a Stellar Blade demo was released… and then quickly taken down. Apparently it was released earlier than it was supposed to be. Some people did manage to play it during that time frame, and their impressions left me eager to get a chance to play the demo myself. From the trailers, I had been imagining it as closest to Bayonetta or Nier Automata, but I heard a lot more Souls-like comparisons than I expected. Well, those of us who missed the accidental demo will have our chance at the end of the week. The Stellar Blade demo has been announced for March 29. Moreover, y ..read more