The Fate franchise is an interesting one. In each iteration, a group of mages are chosen to fight against each other. The winner of this magical tournament gets a single wish from the Holy Grail. Yes, that Holy Grail. Within this tournament, the mages are gifted with a partner who will help them in their crusade. This ‘Heroic Spirit’ is a hero from legend. They all have godlike abilities and are controlled by their master. Some notable heroic spirits in the franchise include; Heracles, Arthur, and our very own Diarmuid. That’s right the Japanese understand how cool our own heroic legends would be in stories better than us. This brings me to Fate/Samurai Remant.
A new war is waged in Fate/Samurai Remnant
Fate/Samurai Remnant follows a young ronin known as Miyamoto Iori in the Edo Period of Japan. He finds himself a part of the latest Holy Grail War and so he very quickly has to learn the ins and outs of this intense battle, otherwise he’ll die.
The Fate franchise is perfect for both anime/manga and videogame adaptations as the rules are perfectly laid out. You play as this ronin and you have a famous warrior as your partner. She is known as Saber, this is because Iori at first isn’t worthy to know her name. The reason is that if you know the heroes’ identity you can learn their strengths and more importantly their weaknesses. This could lead to defeat.
This is an excellent mechanic to break the heroic spirits into easy-to-understand groups.
- Saber; Legendary heroes who usually wield swords.
- Lancer; Legendary heroes who usually wield spears, lances, etc.
- Archer; Legendary heroes who usually wield bows.
- Assassin; Legendary heroes who deal in subterfuge and assassination. Weaker than most other classes but are deadlier in other more abstract elements.
- Berserker; Legendary heroes who are heavy hitters. They’re strong, even by heroic spirit standards.
- Rider; Legendary heroes who usually are accompanied by an equally legendary steed. This one is strange to me because I can only think of a handful of heroes who are centred around steeds.
- Caster; Legendary heroes who are mages or spellcasters from across the ages.
Prepare for the war ahead
Fate/Samurai Remnant is absolutely bursting at the seams with content. I was blown away by this action RPG. You start off the game with a few spells, skills and your trust heroic spirit. As the game expands though, you will be able to unlock dozens of skills and spells, other heroic spirits as well as a neat customisation tool for Iori. You can upgrade everything within the game, right down to Iori’s swords. It’s a nice aesthetic choice that I always find charming.
The gameplay of the game is broken into three main mechanics. Iori and Saber travel around Japan meeting and battling with other mages and their heroic spirits. These boss battles are intense, cinematic and stunningly choreographed. To break this up there are random battles dotted throughout the many maps you travel. These random battles are in the style of Dynasty Warrior titles, one versus 100. It’s fun and with the switching of combat styles as well as all the skills available to Iori, I was almost never bored.
On top of all this combat, there are other styles of mini-games and sidequests dotted around the game to continue the engagement. There is a particular mini-game that has the player conquer magical fonts to enhance their magical abilities as well as weaken their opponents.
All of this makes for a memorable experience. Playing Fate/Samurai Remnant feels like having an interactive anime and honestly, I loved it. The combat is kinetic, the story, as always, is emotional and intense and the graphics are stylistic and vibrant.
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