Fate/Samurai Remnant Hands-On Preview – The Best Adaptation Of The Fate Franchise To Date

Fate/Samurai Remnant Preview – The Fate series is one of the most popular franchises in Japan. The Fate/Grand Order mobile game alone has been one of the most downloaded and profitable titles in Japan to this day, and while the franchise has a more challenging time finding a footing outside its native country, that may all change with Fate/Samuari Remnant.

Fate/Samurai Remnant Hands-On Preview

A New Battle For The Holy Grail Set In Edo, Japan

Set in Edo, Japan, the Holy Grail War has begun casting seven masters and their servants to battle until only one remains to have their greatest wish and desire granted to them. Although in Edo, Japan, it’s known as the Waking Moon Festival, the Holy Grail War is a battle between selected individuals who summon heroic spirits to do battle for them.

Each heroic spirit belongs to a different type of class. Saber, Lancer, Rider, and Berserker, among many others. Most of these Heroic Spirits are well-known historical figures. Featuring the likes of King Arthur, Hercules, Gilgamesh, and Alexander The Great. These are just some of the characters that have appeared throughout the franchise.

Fate/Samurai Remnant stays true to this formula in the Edo-Japan period. You take on the role of Iori, a young swordsman just trying to get by protecting the small town area he lives in with his sister. Before he knows it, he’s being attacked by a group of ninja who, after fending them off, finds out he’s being targeted by power samurai leading the charge.

It’s here that he’s saved by a mysterious woman going only by the name of Saber, who saves Iroir’s life and informs him that he is her master and he must take part in the Waking Moon Festival.

A Great Mixture Of Musou Combat And Traditional RPG Elements

I only got to spend about five hours in the preview, but it was enough to establish what looked to be an intriguing story, much like the entire franchise has provided before. One of the best aspects was the great animated and choreographed cutscenes.

Omega Force has done great with the game’s animated cutscenes. Many action sequences reminded me of the fantastic work Ufotable did in the Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works and Fate/Zero animes.

Omega Force brings its musou combat to the front here, but it’s not precisely a musou game like Dynasty Warriors. The combat plays similar to those titles as you transition from regular to heavy attacks, pulling off combos against dozens of enemies, but changes enough to make it feel more like a Fate title.

Iori can change his weapon stance on the fly. I could switch between an Earth Stance and a water stance in my preview build. The Earth Stance allowed Iori to pull off more powerful single strikes on enemies, while the Water Stance is designed for more crowd control.

A Great Cast Of Heroic Spirits

A lot of battles see you accompanied by Saber. Saber attacks on her own through AI, but there are times that you can pull off tag team moves, with Saber calling for Iori to come help her out. You can also command Saber to pull off special powerful attacks to lay waste to your enemies. These attacks cost energy you must fill back up in combat to continue the onslaught.

At times, the game will allow you to take complete control of Saber, at which point you can quickly devastate your opponents. Still, most of the time, you’ll only gain control of Saber during story battles against other heroic spirits, leading to epic boss battle encounters.

Encounters play out more like traditional role-playing games where you’ll run around town, get attacked by gangsters, or Saber will feel magical energy, and you then encounter Yokai to face off against.

Gaining experience from combat provides skill points for Irori and Saber to unlock new fighting techniques and upgrade your party. You’ll also unlock drops for Iori’s weapon. Various parts of his swords can be changed, from the hilt, the grip, and even the blade, that he can change out to increase his damage output or provide greater critical strikes.

Bland Textures hold Back A Good Presentation

The city of Edo itself is bustling with life. Citizens are plentiful and even react to things in the game. After an epic battle, parts of a town can be left to ruin, and the residents will respond to these events and gossip about what happened. Even side quests leave a mark on the world; some are quite entertaining to take on, like finding cats and dogs to pet or collecting money for the services of a geisha.

Visually, the game isn’t incredibly striking, but the main cast of characters looks excellent and matches the look of the anime quite well. The various parts of Edo you get to visit don’t stand out with too many brown dirt streets and buildings.

On the other hand, the soundtrack is pretty solid, providing plenty of great tracks while keeping in line with the period. You won’t be getting too many hard rock and roll songs here. Unfortunately, only a Japanese voice track is available, so you’ll once again have difficulty paying attention to story beats while in the middle of combat. At this point,

Omega Force must realize not to put critical dialogue into the story in the middle of a massive battle. You can’t pry your eyes away from reading an entire paragraph for the three seconds on-screen while trying not to get killed by a hord of enemies.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Fate/Samurai Remanet. The cast of masters and servants is excellent, and the plot seems to go on a grand scale. Though the muso combat may feel familiar, enough changes have been provided to make it stand out and give a challenge. This is easily the best video game adaptation I’ve played and one that fans of the Fate franchise will adore.

Fate/Samurai Remenent release on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on September 28th, 2023

Preview code kindly provided by PR