Version Tested: PlayStation 3
Reviewed By: Ben Jr. Longpre
The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is a roguelike RPG developed by Nippon Ichi Software. You take control of Shin, a boy who is anti-social and hates humans. After he has a a strange dream while sleeping on his school rooftop he wanders home and gets cornered in an alley and ambushed by devils. He has no understanding why he was struck down and killed as he wakes up a few hours later learning that he was revived by a crystal that turns him into the new god and that he must fight in the war between angels and devils.
Story
Awakened Fate has a very unique story, your character becomes a new god and must help the angels fight in a war against devils. Along the way you encounter many dilemmas that you must solve – you normally have two options to deal with these problems – one being angel the other devil. Each choice impacts the story – be it being a good impact or a bad one – there are always consequences. ( Example: I made the choice to execute a prisoner, however after learning that he also had a family back home Shin hesitated and a devil escaped causing an angel to die in the process.)
There are two female characters that follow you around ( Ariael a devil whom is a prisoner of the angels and Jupiel an angel who is in charge of you). They both play a very important role in the story and you learn more about them both as the story goes on.
Gameplay
Most of the gameplay has you exploring dungeons and collecting items like other classic JRPGs. If you die in the dungeons you will lose all items and equipment currently equipped so it puts an emphasis on putting some items in storage for later. This difficulty may also make you want to be cautious while roaming the dungeons if you are not careful all of your exploring cold be for nothing. There are a number of different items and equipment to find. After levelling up in the dungeon or gaining skill points there is a customization area to check out the crystal upgrade tree. Each spot on the tree has a bonus of either additional health points, attack points, defence points or a new skill to unlock which can help you in tough situations.
I feel Fate Ultimatum is quite hard and punishes you harshly for dying as you lose all your items after dying. This makes it difficult to run through the many dungeons with no gear or items to heal as it forces your back to town to pick up more gear. There is one monster in particular that I found that can attack you from outside the map leaving you with no option to attack back.
When first booting up the game you are greeted by the very catchy opening theme, during the story and dungeon depending on the mood the background music changes based on the situation. The music can either get you really pumped up for a dungeon run or make you feel some anxiety when something has happened. The voice actors fit well with each character and they all emote really well.
Final Verdict:
The Awakened Fate Ultimatum put me through a roller coaster of emotions. The number of times I died while exploring dungeons made me feel like I was being punished for what where small mistakes but this also gave me the drive to go back in and try again. The story kept me wanting to learn more about the world and always wanted to find out what happens next, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is quite enjoyable, you should buy this game!
Ben Jr. Longpre is an occasional writer for BrokenJoysticks.net. You can find him on PSN @ SubSnake01.