For me, there’s nothing more nostalgic of dungeon-crawler action RPGs like FATE. It was lighthearted alternative to Diablo that also ran in web browsers – 2005 was a wild time. FATE: Reawakened mostly succeeds at recapturing the memories and feelings playing, but the current state is rather buggy. The current FATE games are playable today but are visually lacking, FATE: Reawakened closes the gap of time to be a remaster that doesn’t change too much to be more like how you remember it. FATE: Reawakened goes back to a time when loot was plentiful, pets were loyal, and the grind was a satisfying one.
FATE: Reawakened combines the original FATE with its three expansions: FATE: Undiscovered Realms, FATE: The Traitor Soul and FATE: The Cursed King. It’s up to you how you progress in this collection. You can start with any expansion, and play it how you want. Or you can beat each game in succession. One thing to point out is that you can import your character from one game to the next to maintain progression, or start anew with each one. Together these four games easily offer 100 hours of content, with each game taking about 12 hours to complete. These are absolute classics in their own right.
To start you’ll create a character, pick your class, decide on a pet, and then start in the quaint town of Grove. From there you’ll talk to some NPCs to take on some quests, and then begin your delve into the dungeons below. Each run is randomly generated, and so you’ll delve anywhere from 40 to 50 levels to reach the end of the game. Each level will have you slaying monsters, collecting loot, and leveling up you and your adorable companion. The core gameplay loop remains deliciously addictive. The click-to-move, click-to-attack formula is straightforward today, but was burgeoning at the time.
Travis Baldree was the lead designer at WildTangent at the time, who would go on to co-found Runic Games and release the also fantastic Torchlight games. They would lay the foundation of pets, where they can take gear to town and sell it to vendors and bring you back the gold, all while you continue through the levels of the dungeon.
Levels of the are cleared per playthrough, meaning you can revisit prior levels to vacuum up all the loot and not have to fight the same enemies over again. Unfortunately this means there’s fixed XP gains as you work through the campaign. It’s still fun to work your way to the bottom while it lasts.
The fishing mini-game is in-tact here. It’s still as simple and luck-based as ever. While it can be a relaxing diversion, it’s not exactly a deep or engaging experience. It’s the fishing that can provide unique elements to your pet like transforming it into a unicorn for 300 seconds or other animals. Additionally, fish is a great way to sell to vendors so that you can afford better gear while you wait for unique ones to drop from enemies.
However, FATE: Reawakened isn’t without its flaws. The combat, while enjoyable, can feel repetitive after a while. The enemy AI is basic, and the dungeon layouts, while randomly generated, can start to feel samey after a few hours. The story, such as it is, is minimal, serving primarily as a backdrop for the dungeon-crawling action. You’re here to watch the numbers go up, earn fame and experience, and level up to then watch the numbers go up more.
Death does come for you at some point, and like how Torchlight would follow suit, you have three distinct resurrection paths to “choose your fate”. Each of them has its own cost: you can be healed where you fell, but lose experience and fame as a result; you can be healed in full, but taken to a nearby level and lose a percentage of gold; or lastly you can be healed in full, transported back to town with all gold left at the point of death for you to retrieve without dying again. It’s a really fun mechanic that has its own risk and reward.
The game also feels somewhat light on content. While the randomly generated dungeons provide a decent amount of replayability, there’s not a huge variety of enemy types or environments. You’ll find yourself fighting the same skeletons, jelly monsters, and spiders over and over again, albeit with slightly different stats and loot drops.
It should come as no surprise that this game runs exceptionally well on PC, as well as Steam Deck. While this is a modernized and updated remaster, this is still a game from 20 years ago. As a fun aside, all four games occupy 1.66GB, where as this remaster only takes up 2.45GB. You’ll have no issues running this, and be able to do so without any tweaking.
My PC Specs:
– Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
– Intel Core i9 13900K @ 5.8GHz
– ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
– G.SKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ 64GB (32×2) DDR5 RAM
– ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 16GB GDDR6X
– WD_BLACK SN850X M.2 (4 TB)
– LG UltraGear 34GP950B-G (21:9 Ultrawide @ 3440×1440)
FATE: Reawakened is a solid remaster that won’t compete with Diablo IV, Last Epoch, or Path of Exile 2, but it also doesn’t have to. I wish some of the menus, UI, and other gameplay bugs didn’t bog the overall experience, but thankfully there’s still a solid game here. FATE: Reawakened is a reminder of a simpler time, and while it doesn’t hold a torch to the original, it’s still a nostalgia trip worth taking.
A Steam code was provided by the publisher for review purposes
