Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star Reviews
The real trick of making a game work in this style is to ground it in some sense of normality. Where the Musou series excels, and indeed how it has survived for such a long time, is that for all the Japanese humour and charm, the core story is a simple one of warring kingdoms fighting battles. It is awesome when a story doesn't hold back on its vision and complexity and does not abandon its world. However, Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star gets lost in this vision at the expense of its Western audience. With that said, where it does succeed is in making a fun, if forgettable, action title that has plenty of content to work through, even if it does tend to get a little predictable and stale after the first few hours. There is definitely something to work on here for future titles, though, and it is great to see the Warriors style reimagined by another developer.
The Umbral Star changes the usual gameplay of the classic musou style, with a pinch of strategy and fanservice. It's a purchase you can't miss if you love the "Fate" series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star is a capable Dynasty Warriors clone but its lack of imagination when it comes to enemies, gameplay, and modes holds it back from being a great game.
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star provides the player of a very intense, colorful and a-little-repetitive musou experience, very advisable to fans of the series.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star is a game made of highs and lows. Its indisputable merits counteract an equally large number of defects, which make the purchase only recommended to fans of the Fate series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It’s made me into a fan of Fate. If that’s not a sign of a quality game, then nothing is.
Fate/Extella will be a hard sell for most fans of the franchise. If you come into this expecting a setting, cast or narrative similar to any of the anime, you might be left disappointed and confused. It’s still a fun, addictive game with the flashy combat you’d expect from a Warriors-style game, but you might have to tune out the story in order to enjoy it. In a franchise where story is so key, that’s a huge bummer.
Fate/Extella is a title that has a lot to live up to due to the immense popularity of the Fate series as a whole. However, it doesn’t do much to stray from the typical formula set forth by the countless other musou titles on the market. It sports a serviceable but unremarkable combat engine, along with a story that felt just as disposable as one of the tens of thousands of enemies I left in my wake.
I am fully willing to admit that I approached Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star with lower expectations than I probably should have. With limited knowledge of the franchise, it was hard to predict what the game had in store. This is why it was such a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be an extremely competent brawler, with a shockingly expansive, albeit slightly disjointed, core campaign. Despite its narrative shortcomings, the moment-to-moment combat is fast paced, visually arresting and extremely entertaining. If you are looking for a fun mindless jaunt to kick off the New Year, look no further.
There is certainly a decent amount of content, including multiple scenarios and side stories, but if the simplistic button-mashing isn't enough of an incentive to push forward to see those story bits, consider waiting it out for the anime adaptation (which covers the first game) coming this Spring instead.
While Fate/Extella doesn't actually break any new ground, it has a lot to offer. Newcomers will be able to enjoy its simple but engaging gameplay, while fans can dive into its shockingly complex story written by non-other than Kinoko Nasu himself. If you are in search for a unique Warriors game, don't look any further.
With the tight action carrying the game the majority of the way, this may well be a tough sell for those who aren’t into niche Japanese titles. However, for those who enjoy fluid combat and revel in the strange and the bizarre, this may well be exactly what Galen of Pergamon ordered.
Well-made slasher in the world of FATE with subpar graphics. Great fun, but only for the fans of the japanese series.
Review in Polish | Read full review
At best, Fate/Extella is kinda competent game that fans of the franchise will enjoy. It's not broken and can be simple, mindless fun in short bursts. But those not familiar with the franchise it's based on will be left in the dust. If you're a hardcore fan of Fate/Stay Night or Dynasty Warriors, you've probably decided whether or not Fate/Extella is for you. Those on the fence shouldn't really bother with this title.
All that to one side and what I’m left with is a passable, extremely repetitive game that offers up brief bursts of catharsis muddled in a misguided sea of queasy colors, and all wrapped up in a convoluted and uncompelling plot. The game isn’t terrible: there is, mechanically, nothing all that wrong with it, and if you like Musou games – and have exhausted the likes Dynasty Warriors or Hyrule Warriors – or if you’re a fan of the Fate series, then there’s some service here for you.
If you’re a fan of the Fate franchise or the musou genre, this title is definitely worth a look. To the general gaming public, I’d say to rent it first and see if it holds up for you before purchasing.
Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star is a confusing game for newcomers but should be a fun experience for the fans of the series.
Fate/Extella offers tons of content, but it’s often frustrating content nonetheless.
Aside from the repetitive gameplay, this is a game that Fate fans will absolutely enjoy playing and exploring in an officially released Fate game, since the Stay Night visual novels don’t seem to be coming out anytime soon, including the several other games that spawned from this franchise. From a gaming perspective is a flawless execution of what a Servant would do against an army, but is mechanically challenging.
In short, it is safe to say the gameplay for Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star fits very well with how the story is set to progress this time around, thanks to a more central focus on the action and events in those moments.