REVIEW

Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star Review

by Rob Pritchard, January 24th, 2017

When it comes to video game sequels, sometimes they take the series in a slightly different direction than what the fans were expecting. Some of these franchises have included SEGA’s Toe Jam and Earl, Volition’s Saints Row and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid, which deviated massively from its original roots in the fifth instalment. Originally released back in 2012, Fate/Extra, the predecessor to Fate/Extella: Umbral Star was a role playing game with a focus on turn based combat. This time around, developers Marvelous have decided to take an all new direction into the realm of action based combat.

After being victorious in the Holy Grail War which took place in Fate/Extra, a fighting robot Servant named Nero remains loyal to the protagonist, who is her designated Master and the new ruler of their homeland. This series of events has created a few problems, the first being that the main character has, like over seventy five percent of role playing antagonists, lost their memories. The other major issue is that there appears to several clones of the new ruler, all of which are being manipulated by outside forces into taking the throne for themselves. The story itself is quite entertaining during the cut scenes that harken back to the series roots as a visual novel franchise, but it does require the player to have some previous knowledge of its extensive lore to be fully understood, which can be slightly off putting for newcomers to the series.

In the original Fate/Extra, a triangle styled mechanic was implemented for enemy encounters. It has also been seen in games such as Fire Emblem, as well as in the real life sport Roshambo, better known as Rock-Paper-Scissors. This time around, Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star uses a real time battle system and gameplay structure that is very similar to the one used in Toei’s Warriors series. As you progress the Story Mode of the game, you will unlock Servants that fall into eight separate classes, all of which have different attack styles. Nero, your initial Servant is from the Saber Class, and uses sword based attacks that are mainly suited for close combat situations. The class system is not always clear cut however, as the archer Nameless is also adept at fighting in close combat, as well as utilising crowbars and crossbows that are commonplace for someone of his ability. This was a pleasant surprise, as many games tend to pigeonhole their characters, not allowing them to be used in a different way than the creators intended.

The aim of each stage is to claim the territories that have been commandeered by the opposing army. In each sub area, you must defeat the Aggressors that roam along with hundreds upon thousands of lesser ranked soldiers. Once you have defeat enough of them, the territory will be reclaimed, and you will receive a set number of keys for your side. When you have collected enough keys from the threatened territories, you will complete the Regime Matrix for that stage, and the boss character will challenge you to combat. Upon defeating the boss, you will have completed the stage and earned a rank dependant on how well you performed. Each stage varies in length, but they are all mostly enjoyable, except on the odd occasion where the difficulty spikes unexpectedly in the later chapters of the game.

As you complete each stage, you will level up your playable Servant, and earn additional skills known as Install Skills and Mystic Codes, which differ in rarity depending on the difficulty level you choose. Some of these give you new attacks in battle, while others could provide you with greater chances to obtain critical hits. The majority of them work are quite useful for most of the classes, allowing for hundreds of unique ways to alter the battle in your favour. Like with any customisation system, some of the skills allow you to essentially become invincible after a certain amount of time has passed, but thankfully, you will need to complete some fairly scrutinizing tasks to earn the right to use them.

Graphically, Fate Extella: The Umbral Star uses the highly familiar high resolution manga styled artwork for the visual novel cut scenes, as well as shaded three dimensional models, which are similar to ones used in games such as Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. The only main issue I have is that the visuals for the battle areas seem slightly recycled from one stage to the next, with several stages looking almost identical once a certain place in the narrative has been reached.

The soundtrack of Fate/Extella has a variety of different genres, such as the relaxing orchestral tune on the title screen, and the high energy battle music that appears whilst you are in a stage. Each track seems to fit quite well where it has been placed, especially the end credits theme which celebrates the end of a long hard journey. Like many games which have crossed the borders in recent years, there is no English localised voice track for Fate/Extella. The cast on offer seem to act their roles well, but there are a few characters such as Cúchulainn which seem to lack the same conviction as their fellow cast members.

Overall Fate Extella: The Umbral Star is a highly enjoyable action game. While the dialogue in the cutscenes can seem confusing and long winded to anyone who isn’t well versed in the lore of the Fate series, the combat on offer is fast paced, and the customisation on offer for each of the Servant characters allows for you to face battles in a number of different ways. If you are in any way a fan of Warriors style combat, or are interested in the Fates series as a whole, this is a game that will definitely keep you entertained.

If you are a fan of the Fate series, or looking for more Warriors style action on your PlayStation 4, then Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star is precisely what you have been searching for.