Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star - MCM Impressions

I could explain the game’s narrative since I sadly know a bit about the Fate universe, but I’ll save you the pain since it’s nonsensical at the best of times. Why? One word: Saber. Why? There is apparently 80 versions of the same character with the same face… What this has to do with Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star is an important question I will answer later on. For now, this is a Fate universe game that has Musou mechanics.

Those unaware of a Musou game, it’s basically one person facing an entire army, examples include: Dynasty Warriors, Hyrule Warriors and Berserk and the Band of the Hawk. At the booth you played as Saber (insert as many annotations as needed) where you face against Caster (again insert many annotations as needed) and her near limitless army of dolls(?). Having also tried Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, it’s easy to say this one is slightly mechanically under par when compared. Fate not having the same fluidity as Berserk with the combos and less down time from travelling in the demo. But then is this justified? It depends on your perspective, part of the judgement comes from the fact that the sheer screen becomes a vomit of particle effects. But then the responsive nature of hitting something back is pretty nice, matching it in style but not in weight.

Something ingrained in the Fate franchise is the use of rule of cool. It’s here that the game seems to ooze in quantity. From the punchy colours to the presentation of the characters and how they move. It is much faster paced and helps with dealing the hordes of enemies (even if they all look pretty much the same). Story context aside, the boss fight against Caster for the most part was one sided. Fighting felt like a losing battle without the use of items to constantly top up in health, this might be different in the full game since I jumped in without a sign of a tutorial and was left to my own devices.

For better or worse, the run down my beginning rant: Saber. The series has seven classes: Archer, Caster, Berserker, Rider, Lancer, Assassin and Saber. These are the names of servants (who are based on historical figures like King Arthur) that serve masters in the Holy Grail Wars. Think hunger games but with a wish being granted instead of just freedom. This means Saber isn’t just Saber, same goes for the rest of the servant titles. Although Archer (AKA Ying Yang sword user) kinda exists in multiple iterations of the franchise because (spoiler) plot reasons.

There are, in my eyes, three iterations of Saber: King of Kings, Alter and Nero. There are spin off and reiterations of Saber (from those three), that’s something I won’t touch for the sake of explaining why. But this game doesn’t sit within the continuity arcs of Zero and Stay Night, operating under Extra the technical sequel after Stay Night. Extella operates on its own continuity that links to the grander scale of the Fate universe. This doesn’t affect your enjoyment of the game, however if you’ve seen the Anime, it bears noting due to the slight inconsistency that runs in this franchise.

Final Thoughts

Would I recommend it? It’s hard to say, I would say that if you found out about the Fate franchise because of Fate/Zero. You’ll be disappointed, greatly. As a game, it’s kinda just okay at the best of times when playing. The monotony of the demo dawned on me rather quickly compared to Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, which isn’t a great thing to say. If you enjoy the Fate series after stomaching Fate/Stay Night (not Unlimited Bladeworks, movie and series included), this might be up your alley to discovering the Fate/Extra series. Of course, my recommendation of playing a game related to the Fate series is just turn your brain off and enjoy. To be released on 15th of November 2016, maybe pick it up after launch assuming you’re not a hardcore Fate fan.