So I Tried… Fate/Samurai Remnant

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time around, I went with the latest title in the Fate franchise: Fate/Samurai Remnant.

What I thought it was

With this being a game developed by Omega Force, the company behind the Dynasty Warriors series, I came to the conclusion that it would be a simple, yet satisfying, hack-and-slash title. If you’ve played any Dynasty Warriors before, then you’ll know exactly what I mean: an endless army of enemies to cut through with a large roster of characters to play as. Now, I don’t know all that much about Fate, with my only experience coming from watching Fate/stay night about 10 years ago, so my knowledge would be limited. I was rather unsure if this would be connected to the anime in any way (not that I really remember much about it!) or any of the previous games. But, seeing as it’s a new addition to the PlayStation Plus catalogue, I thought I’d give it a go!

What it actually is

Before I ever began playing, I was surprised by the amount of story on offer. In hindsight, this shouldn’t have been all too surprising considering the franchise started life as a visual novel… That said, the majority of Omega Force’s back catalogue isn’t exactly known for its gripping narratives! However, Fate/Samurai Remnant clearly takes inspiration from Fate’s visual novel roots, as there were a lot of dialogue sequences here!

After the opening scenes, I was quickly thrown into battle, and it definitely felt familiar as someone who’s played several Warriors titles over the years. You’ve got light and heavy attacks, as well as a special move called a Valor Strike, which can be unleashed after filling the Valor Gauge, similar to Musou attacks. I was also able to change stances between single and dual swords, which gave a bit of variety to the gameplay.

I’m not sure just how free players are to explore further into the game, but in the 30 minutes I played, I had the chance to roam around a small village, talking to NPCs and engaging in random battles. There were also small missions known as Local Trials, with objectives such as defeating a certain number of enemies to tackle, again adding a bit more to the developer’s usual formula.

Will I keep playing

Initially, I imagined this may have been a simple, level-based hack-and-slash, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. So far, I’ve only played as one character, and the story seems much more detailed than first thought.

But will I keep playing? Well, I’m not too sure. On the one hand, I loved the Edo Japan setting, combined with lots of magic and mysticism. On the other, I wasn’t particularly blown away by the gameplay. Maybe more mechanics will unlock as I progress, or there will be more to see and do, which makes me want to carry on playing, even for just a little while longer.