Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Armed Fantasia Cancelled (At Least by the Publisher)

 Video Games  1 Response »  Tagged with: , , ,
Sep 252026
 

I’ve had both good and bad experiences with games backed on Kickstarter (as well as a backlog of backed games I still need to play), but this one might be the most painful.

Back in 2022, we discussed the double Kickstarter for Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood, spiritual successors to Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts respectively.

Although I found the dual Kickstarter format to be somewhat confusing, I backed the campaign in eager anticipation of both games.

I was a little worried because of how ambitious the projects were, but I still had optimism. Well, the years since then brought a sequence of disappointments on the Penny Blood side. After a while, the Penny Blood updates didn’t say anything about game development at all and only expressed their inability to pick up a publisher, and then the developer filed a lawsuit against Dangen Entertainment over unpaid costs. At this point, I’ve resigned myself to the possibility that the roguelike spin-off Penny Blood: Hellbound and novels set in the Penny Blood universe might be all we ever see.

But I still held out hope for Armed Fantasia, because even though updates were short and infrequent, at least they were still about the game.

Well… maybe that was too optimistic after all. Digital Bros, the parent company of 505 Games, announced the discontinuation of development on two games, one of which is Armed Fantasia.

(Did we know 505 Games had picked up Armed Fantasia? I feel like I’m going crazy, because I can’t find anything about the publisher being announced, yet I could have sworn we knew something. Maybe it’s just that we knew the game had a publisher, unlike Penny Blood.)

No update has been sent to Kickstarter backers yet, which is a little disappointing. After news like this, I’d like to hear what’s going on from the team. Maybe there’s still hope that they could find a different publisher; I haven’t completely given up on it yet.

But right now, it looks like Armed Fantasia might remain just a dream.

Lufia I & II Remaster Collection Announced

 Video Games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 232026
 

It’s been a great time lately for old JRPGs coming back!

TAITO and Clear River Games have announced Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga, a collection of the first two Lufia games, to be released in 2027 for Switch, Switch 2, PS5, and PC.

The first game, Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, seems like it’s viewed somewhat fondly by fans but much less so than its sequel. Meanwhile, I’ve seen a lot of people describe Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals as one of the all-time hidden gems.

Both were originally released on the SNES, so I never had a chance to play them. Although there was a DS re-imagining of Lufia II, it sounds so different from the original that it would be like playing a completely different game. So I’m excited for this new collection!

While the initial announcement didn’t reveal too much, the Steam page includes messages from the developers that shed a little more light on it.

First, it will keep the original pixel art but have enhanced gameplay. Second, the original writer and director Masahide Miyata is back, and he is rewriting the script (because he’s no longer bound by SNES hardware limitations, so the changes probably won’t be too drastic).

It’s a shame that the third game isn’t included, but I’m pretty excited for this collection. Are you interested in Lufia I & II: The Sinistrals Saga?

Thoughts on the Professor Layton Situation

 Video Games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Sep 212026
 

All right, I want to talk about the Professor Layton situation.

I’ve mentioned a few times now how I lost my enthusiasm for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam because of Level-5 going all-in on generative AI.

For quite a while, I kept saying that I would wait to see if any AI was used in the game before deciding if I would buy it or not.

Now, here we are. After a Level-5 showcase that included AI in its presentation, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino issued a statement addressing fans’ reactions to the AI-heavy showcase, saying they only use AI for efficiency, and claiming it will reduce development times. As you can imagine, this didn’t go over well, especially when they released an AI-generated promotional picture for their TGS booth a few days later.

Shortly after that, Level-5 issued another statement mainly denying that the powerlines in the Yo-kai Watch 2 remake trailer were AI-generated and claiming it was human error instead.

There is also a single statement near the end saying AI wasn’t used in Professor Layton and the New World of Steam.

So that should be what I was looking for. Now I can confidently go ahead and play the new Professor Layton game, right? Wrong! Because I don’t trust them.

I didn’t realize it until that statement came out, but they’ve been so pro-AI that I simply can’t trust their word about this. Some people are already concerned about some of the backgrounds in the game. Others have said we’ll know once the Steam page is up, but Inazuma Eleven doesn’t have an AI disclosure and we know they used AI during that game’s development. On top of that, it feels questionable to support the studio while they’re going in this direction.

In short, despite the recent statement, I still can’t feel good about getting Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. But what about you? How do you feel about it?

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