Visual Novel News:
Aniplex have announced that Fate/hollow ataraxia REMASTERED will be released on the 7th August, 2025 (6th August for much of the world due to timezones) on PC and Nintendo Switch. This follows the story of Fate/stay night, which was rereleased as Fate/stay night REMASTERED in 2024.
Half a year has passed since Shirou Emiya won the Fifth Holy Grail War. In the wake of the conflict, Shirou and his friends are readjusting to peaceful, everyday life. Meanwhile, in a desolate mansion on the outskirts of Fuyuki, a mage awakens: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Seal Designation Enforcer from the Mage’s Association…and former Master in the Holy Grail War. “Come on, let’s continue the Holy Grail War, Bazett Fraga McRemitz. All so we can find your wish this time,” a shadow sneers at her. Its name is Avenger, Servant of an eighth class who never existed in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Their unlikely encounter signals that the battle is far from finished. Shirou Emiya, aspiring champion of justice, steps onto the stage of the Holy Grail War once more. What fate awaits him beyond these four days of destiny?
MangaGamer have announced the date for their upcoming release of Lucky Dog 1 as August 28th, 2025. It’s a boy’s love visual novel from developer Tennenouji. It currently has good community ratings on VNDB, with an average score of 8.23 and 9 as the most commonly given score over 233 votes.
It all starts with the slam of a prison door. Four captains from the same Mafia family, the CR:5, are taken out in one fell swoop and left to rot behind bars. Lucky for them, our hero’s already there. Gian’s just a run-of-the-mill wiseguy, passing his time doing petty jobs for the family when he’s on the outside and living the lazy life when he’s in the slammer. But those easy days come to an end when he gets word from the boss: if he can break the captains out, Gian will earn a spot at the top of the hierarchy. Can he pull off a job this big, or is it more than even Gian’s fabled good luck can manage?
While not visual novels themselves, Shiravune has announced updates to the two related projects:
AQUAPAZZA: Aquaplus Dream Match will be releasing on Steam on September 25th, 2025. This title is a fighting game starring characters from Utawarerumono, To Heart 2, White Album, and other Aquaplus titles.
Utawarerumono: ZAN will be releasing on Steam on October 23rd, 2025. This title is a musou-style action game which briefly retells the story of Utawarumono: Mask of Deception. We previously reviewed this title on PlayStation 4.
Gaming News:
As expected, Nintendo surprised us with a new Nintendo Direct; this one focused on the games from their partners! Let’s get into it:
Capcom started the presentation with the announcement of a new entry in a spin-off series based on one of their biggest franchises! Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection tells the story of Azurai: the sole Rathalos Rider in the entire kingdom. After strange occurrences that could threaten the stability of the world start appearing, he sets off on a journey along with a princess named Eleanor in the hopes of thwarting this crisis.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC in 2026.
Watch the announcement trailer for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
After the success of the first game’s remaster, Bandai Namco are bringing another one of PAC-MAN’s platforming adventures to modern platforms! PAC-MAN World 2 Re-PAC is a remaster of the sequel to PAC-MAN World that originally released all the way back in 2002. This fully remastered version will include a visual overhaul, expanded levels, voice acting, and even updated boss fights and a two-player mode.
PAC-MAN World 2 Re-PAC releases for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 26th.
Watch the announcement trailer for PAC-MAN World 2 Re-PAC
We got a new look at the upcoming prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is set in the distant past of Hyrule and puts you in the shoes of Princess Zelda during the events of The Imprisoning War in a completely different gameplay style taken from the Warriors franchise.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is coming exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 this Winter.
Watch the trailer for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
From the studio that brought us the remake of Silent Hill 2 comes a brand-new franchise from this experienced team! Cronos: The New Dawn is a third-person survival horror game that focuses on trying to fix a ruined future while also travelling to the past to uncover the truths of the world.
Cronos: The New Dawn launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on September 5th.
Watch the trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn
To close out the Nintendo Direct, Square-Enix announced two new games! The first is a new franchise titled The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales that sees you playing as the titular character as you traverse the land away from the safety of the Kingdom of Huther. The game will feature the now-famous HD-2D graphics engine, but the twist is this game is an action RPG as you work together with your fairy companion, Faie to solve environmental puzzles. If you own a Nintendo Switch 2, you can download a demo for the game and give it a try ahead of its release.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC in 2026.
Watch the announcement trailer for The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
Their other announcement was the return of the franchise that debuted the HD-2D engine: Octopath Traveler! Octopath Traveler 0 lets you create a character as you aim to restore your hometown of Wishvale as you make tough choices with the new Path system. Recruit over 30 different characters and create parties of eight as you switch between front and back rows with the franchise’s familiar Break & Boost combat system.
Octopath Traveler 0 is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC on December 4th.
Watch the announcement trailer for Octopath Traveler 0
But it wasn’t just Nintendo announcements this week. The world-famous EVO fighting game tournament took place last week, and with it came new reveals for some of the biggest fighting game franchises! Let’s check them out:
EVO was the first time ArcSystemWork’s latest game, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was playable, so they released a video explaining the game’s mechanics in detail! The game is a 4v4 fighter that requires you to unlock access to your partners by performing certain actions, with each one having a different type of assist. The more you unlock, the more combat options become available to you, which is important as all four characters share the same life bar. If you’d like to try the game out for yourself, a closed beta test for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls now available to sign up for and will be taking place from September 5th to September 7th.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is set to release for PlayStation 5 and PC in 2026.
Watch the beginner’s guide video for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
The next character coming to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising was fully announced! Wilnas got a short gameplay showcase and will release on August 5th. But that wasn’t all, as we also got the announcement that existing characters on the roster will get remixed versions and are called EX Characters.
Watch the Wilnas trailer for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
The fourth and final character in the fourth season pass for Guilty Gear -Strive- finally got full details! Lucy from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is coming to the game, making her the only guest character to join the roster up to this point. But what is planned for the future of the game? ArcSystemWorks also teased a 2.0 update for Guilty Gear -Strive- is arriving sometime in 2026.
Lucy is joining Guilty Gear -Strive- on August 21st.
Watch the Lucy gameplay trailer for Guilty Gear -Strive-
The next entry in SEGA’s Virtua Fighter franchise got a short teaser at EVO! While it was quite short, it’s given us a glimpse at the kind of game this will be and how it plays in motion. We won’t need to wait much longer to see more, as the game will be revealing more details during this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
Watch the first look teaser for New Virtua Fighter Project
The next fighter entering the ring in Tekken 8 is Armor King! The character got a decently long showcase to give fans a taste of how he’ll play. We also got a brief teaser for the final character releasing in the second season pass this Winter: a woman from Madagascar named Miary Zo.
Armor King arrives in Tekken 8 on October 13th for Season Pass 2 owners and October 16th for all players.
Watch the Armor King trailer for Tekken 8
After Sagat’s recent release, we’re already getting a teaser for the next DLC character arriving in Street Fighter 6! Originally debuting in Street Fighter 4, C. Viper is finally returning and we got a short glimpse of how she’ll appear in-game.
C. Viper will be available in Street Fighter 6 this Fall.
Watch the C. Viper reveal trailer for Street Fighter 6
But it wasn’t just Nintendo and EVO that gave us some gaming news, as other companies provided us some updates, starting with Koei Tecmo:
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, Koei Tecmo gave us some updates for the franchise! A major DLC pack is coming to Dynasty Wariors: Origins, but no further details were given. On top of that, we also got a teaser that a previously released Dynasty Warriors game is getting a remaster! We don’t know which of the nine games will be getting the remaster treatment, so fans will be eager to speculate which game is most deserving of this honor.
Watch the 25th anniversary video for the Dynasty Warriors franchise
Those of you waiting for the HD-2D remakes of Dragon Quest I-II won’t have much longer to wait as Square-Enix provided us with more details! Set after the events of Dragon Quest III, these classic RPGs set you off on classic adventures that set the groundwork for many Japanese RPGs that followed it, but in a sparkly new package.
Dragon Quest I-II HD-2D Remake launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC on October 30th.
Watch the trailer for Dragon Quest I-II HD-2D Remake
Anime News:
After multiple teasers, we finally got the full reveal for the next Digimon anime series! Digimon Beatbreak revealed its main cast and their Digimon companions. We also got a brand new key visual and the first proper trailer for the new series.
Digimon Beatbreak is set to premiere this October.
Watch the trailer for Digimon Beatbreak
Upcoming Releases:
Ahead of the Western release of the new film, Demon Slayer fans will have the chance to play through some of the best parts of the series in an interactive medium! Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronices 2 is the sequel to Cyber Connect2’s arena fighting game based on the franchise. This new game retells the story from seasons two to four, adding in a bunch of new characters, single-player modes, and even online features.
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronices 2 launches for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on August 5th.
The Mafia series is finally returning this week! Mafia: The Old Country is a prequel set in Sicily and tells the story of how the Sicilian Mafia was formed. You follow the life of Enzo Favara and how his time in Sicily affected the direction of his life.
Mafia: The Old Country launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on August 8th.
An anime/gaming aficionado, experienced content creator and lovable goofball. Name a game genre and Seamus has likely played it… yes, even that one. Follow him @TrueStorySeamus
