Fate/Samurai Remnant

In a perfect scenario, a game grabs you right away. You become completely absorbed and realise that this is going to be something special. In reality, however, we are often faced with long tutorials on how to do this and that. Some games implement it better than others, but we've also learnt somewhere along the line that even though the beginning can sometimes feel a bit slow, amidst all the lessons about how skill trees and game mechanics work, it often loosens up once all that is done. When it stops holding your hand and sets you free.

That's how Fate/Samurai Remnant feels at first. Narrative-wise, it's certainly bang on, but everything else takes time. Fortunately, the first few hours aren't much of an indication of what the rest will be like, even if it doesn't manage to dig itself out of all the pits.

Despite devouring a lot of Anime, the Fate series is fairly uncharted territory for me. I had some knowledge and acquired some more before I started playing this. Fans of the series will certainly enjoy the game's lore and atmosphere, while I'm judging it more on the action role-playing offered.

Fate/Samurai Remnant takes place in 1651, during the Edo period and the main character Miyamoto Iori is in the beginning of the story being hunted. He doesn't quite understand why, and the snappy opening leaves you with some question marks. A character named Saber appears and saves the day, becoming Iori's so-called "Servant." Together they get caught up in a conflict where several other characters are fighting over something called the "Waxing Moon Vessel". I'll be honest right here and say that much of the story passed by my eyes without any direct interest or involvement. There's quite a bit in the game that does that, but there's still an entertainment factor that kept me going through the lengthy campaign.

Much of this is thanks to the fact that both combat and exploration are done at a good pace. The game is broken up quite a bit with cutscenes and I don't have much of a problem with those, but when characters are supposed to sit still and talk endlessly, it becomes a bit much. The dialogues are slow, all information feels like having a dictionary beaten into your head and just as I mentioned in the introduction; when things manage to be embedded in the game's progress, it's at its best. There is unfortunately a big disadvantage here. The characters have an ability to sit, or stand, still and discuss or go through things and there is a lack of pace and movement as the typical role-playing style of stiff character portraits are shown in the dialogue scenes.

So this part is really slow. But in contrast, the battles are fast-paced and actually entertaining. There isn't much new, things like stances and magical abilities have been seen before. As have the game's skill trees and upgrades. But it doesn't really matter. This still feels like familiar stuff for a game like this. In the main character's home you can upgrade your workshop, there are small, extremely simple mini-games where you can sharpen your sword or make wooden figures. All menus are thankfully simple and clear about which accessories for your sword are better and which magic spells you have. This may lack the depth that some other games in the genre have offered us, but at the same time it's quite nice to get something a little more stripped down for once.

Saber is, as previously mentioned, a servant to the character you control. The battles happen at a rapid pace, often against a bunch of enemies or a really strong one. The best part is that you feel part of the action all the time, and while a few slashes will kill the lesser enemies, tactics are required against the greater ones. You can switch between different styles, cast magic, hit fast and stronger attacks, and even switch to your servant to deal a heavy beating. Saber is significantly stronger than the master she serves, and this is readily pointed out, and the chemistry between the characters works just fine.

There's not much new ground being broken. I reviewed Like a Dragon: Ishin earlier in the year and often it feels like I'm playing a kind of Anime variant of that. The similarities are many in the setup and atmosphere, but somewhere I think Fate succeeds a little better. It has a better flow in its action and feels set up in a way that suits me better. I like the fact that the game rewards you in different ways by fulfilling certain goals in the battles giving an overall better pace.

There are a lot of strange things here, but within the context of its story and world, it works. Like the fact that you travel to new locations through something called a "Leyline" - a stream of magical energy that puts you as a player in a kind of tactical grid mode where you have to get to your destination within a certain number of turns. Here you have to strategically move between circles and defeat monsters that try to take over the playing field. It's a different way to send your characters to new places, to say the least.

In terms of locations, I think it's a bit of a shame that most of the game takes place in towns or villages. There's a lot of running around trying to talk to someone to find out where you're going. The game also relies almost exclusively on combat for entertainment, so while there are many things that make it an action role-playing game, action is the main focus.

Despite the fact that the story as a whole is rather unengaging, that there is a lot of dialogue and the battles are what we are offered for the most part, Fate still has something more behind all that. The visuals aren't particularly technically sound, but as something Anime-inspired, it works very well. It's design over technical and together with good music it manages to stay within a framework to offer an Anime-scented experience in many ways. There are several games where the technical side of things feels a few levels below, but they lift it all up with a good presentation of design and in typical fashion it's also over-the-top in many ways, with flashy sequences and characters coming back from the dead and magic and dimensions and everything you can imagine. Of course, somewhere here you can start to realise if this is something that is for you. If it's a kind of genre and style that suits you and for yours truly, there's a lot that does just that.

It is also a long adventure that you are offered, with many characters to meet along the way and as I mentioned earlier, the game's pace makes you keep up the tempo, except during the game's far too long conversations, that is. I also think that if you go in with the realisation that this is much more action than role-playing, well, pretty much only action, it will also be a more pleasant experience as you can start being entertained by the adventure for all it is.

For fans of the Fate series there will be something extra, for the rest of us we are treated to an entertaining action spectacle. Not without its clear flaws but good enough to follow Iori and Saber's long story all the way to the end.