Full video review: https://youtu.be/iqwEVZNC0w4

I may like this series and there are some good elements, but honestly, my experience with Fate/Samurai Remnant was just painful.

Combat
I will start with the good. For one, the core combat mechanics are actually pretty good, great even. You get a handful of stances to swap between and are actually encouraged to do so depending on your HP level, how many enemies you are fighting, and what stats you want to prioritize. It adds a good bit of depth to the otherwise mashfest that is Musou-style gameplay. There is still a bit of mashing, but I liked the extra layers added here.

Gameplay Loop & Difficulty
It is just unfortunate that this combat is stuck with some incredibly repetitive and tedious mission design. The game literally opens with you helping a guy collect debts from random people around town. That’s how bad it is.

When you are not running random errands as main story quests, you are dealing with this absolutely tedious turn-based board game style travel system. You have to travel between nodes to get to your destination and if you run into an enemy along the way, jump into a copy-paste arena to fight them in.

And the enemies are copy-paste too. You will be fighting the same type of samurai and a handful of monsters the entire game. You occasionally get some new, interesting ones, but it just becomes tiring spamming buttons against the same enemies battle after battle. Especially so given how this game manages its difficulty level: by simply raising enemy HP. Bosses especially, since they get an extra armor meter that just takes forever to break before you actually do damage. It’s not like the bosses are even hard, just boring and time-consuming.

Story
The gameplay is only about half of the experience, maybe just 30-40% of it. The rest is visual novel style storytelling, which I honestly don’t mind as a VN fan, but not so when it is as wordy and full of fluff like it is here. You get one cool fight cutscene and then a 30 minute dinner dialogue scene to follow. One cool character reveal, and then an info dump where a character explains a simple concept to death as if I was five years old.

It’s just frustrating. Boring and frustrating. I know the Fate franchise is full of lengthy stories, but I don’t recall ever being as bored with them as I was here. The pacing is just far too slow.

Performance / PC Port
I had no issues playing at 4k 120fps, although it was a bit weird that the game is divided into performance and quality modes on PC, the latter of which listed a 60fps limit. The game still looked fine in performance mode - at least, for this developer’s standard - so I can’t say I minded all that much. There are a bunch of video settings to change too, so props to the devs for that instead of just leaving it as one slider as they have definitely done in the past.

Overall
I cannot recommend Fate/Samurai Remnant. There are obviously some good ideas here, especially with the combat mechanics, but the gameplay loop, the mission design, and the story full of filler really sour the experience. The Fate/Extella games may have their issues, but they are at least better than this.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is overall a very great game with a couple of pretty glaring flaws.

The story of this game was a very fun return to the "proper" Holy Grail War format that the franchise had not really used (Excluding FGO's Paper Moon chapter from earlier in the year) in ages. The way the game splits into a couple of different “routes” near the end also felt very reminiscent of Stay Night which was the best thing it could have been. Some parts of the story were unfortunately seemingly left open for DLC, but the package that's there is easily compelling enough to play the game without waiting for those.

The characters are all really great. Iori and Saber are just an incredibly charismatic duo to follow through the game and the way the NG+ exclusive ending caps off their story felt very cathartic. All of the other masters were also very endearing and I’m glad the game managed to show their side as well.

My biggest issue with the game though is its gameplay. The boss “break bars” are far too annoying to deal with and every single fight feels like a drag. The normal enemies and the more “musoulike” gameplay was very fun but most story bosses lost some of their oomph due to the super long time to beat them. It also did not help that the game required another playthrough to reach the 2 endings you didn't achieve on your first playthrough.

Fate/Samurai Remnant Review

Fate/Samurai Remnant is a hack-and-slash game that borrows elements from Musuo games, as its gameplay is fast-paced and flashy. The game centers on a new Holy Grail War, with the location for this entry being in Japan.

You will assume the role of Miyamoto Iori as you try to survive the ordeal, recruiting powerful servants during the game and facing epic enemies in grand battles. Yet, for all its appeal and grandeur, does this game make good on its content? Keep reading to find out.

Story

First and foremost, Fate is a heavy story game. Games of the series have been known to take an approach to visual novels, with a lot of text and character exposition being its essential traits. Samurai/Remnant keeps up with the tradition, as you will spend more time reading and watching the story than clashing in battle.

The story starts strong as the contest participants are shrouded in mystery; you don't know their goals or origins, and old servants add fanservice for fans of the series while new servants are exciting additions to the world of Fate. It's an enjoyable story, and it pulls you into it. Still, by the end of the game, it starts to decay horribly as characters are taken out of the tale quickly while others ' fates are resolved off-screen, and the game keeps repeating itself as it takes multiple cinematics to get one point across the board.

Gameplay

The game's controls can sometimes be stiff, lacking the fluent speed that other Musuo games are known for. Enemies have a mechanic in which they have barriers to protect them from damage. While this initially makes for an exciting approach to combat that makes you feel weak, by the latter half of the game, it becomes a chore as foes become giant sponges that cannot beat you and are a chore to face off.

And tedious is the right word for defining Samurai/Remnant later half. The game keeps throwing you into boring leylines battles that feature the same repeated enemies, prolonging the title's hours by adding content that is not worthwhile to play through. The game wants you to play multiple times to see new variations, but does it warrant a second try between a chore of gameplay and prolonged segments?

Strong Points

The strong point of Fate/Samurai Remnant is that the game shines during its first half, as the story progresses at a good pace that allows you to get to know the characters without being overbearing. The gameplay likewise features strong bosses that can eliminate you with ease if you are not careful, and barriers require innovative thinking to avoid losing damage to them.

Weak Points

The game focuses on playing it multiple times to access new content. Yet, it becomes a chore as you will easily find a sequence to follow that involves doing the same thing in a particular order each combat, no matter the enemy you face.

To make matters worse, Iori's stances can be detrimental as Fire and Wind make every other element useless, while Fire can sometimes do Wind's job, making for a monotonous experience. Servants suffer because they have valuable skills, while others are useless and pointless.

[h1] Conclusion[/h1]
Fate/Samurai Remnant is neither a good nor a bad game. Instead, it walks a very fine line between both and ends up being an okay game. The game could had the benefit of cutting down some grease out of its story and forced monotonous combats, and this is plain as the title has to rely on reusing bosses and prolonguing its life through chores and slowing the pace. A game that, unless you are a hardcore fan of the Fate series, I suggest you wait for a sale to get.

7/10 OKAY

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Going to preface that they should have rename this game Fate/Padding Remnant. Whatever enjoyment I had with the game was dampened by how atrocious the game was on respecting the players' time. Combat is a slog with how numerous and spongy the mobs are and how every bosses have shield mechanic that took ages to shred, worse yet in combat with Servant since they will regenerate their shield after certain HP thresholds and some make you restart the fight before the pre-fight cutscene starts so if you die you have to spend time pressing the skip button.

Moving on but still somewhat related, the game love to throws multitudinous amount of combat encounters to your face at every point of the story, making the pacing slows to a crawl like a snail's. Nary a moment in the story progression where there isn't obligatory 'we're under fucking attack' battle or 'fight me if you want to pass through' boss combat with the stray Servants. At several points I lose track of what was even going on in the main story from all the button mashing I need to do before reaching my destination. The Servant combat is sort of fun but if you have to fight ten waves of damage-sponge mooks beforehand you'll want to get it over by then like how I just gobbled all the skill charge items and then spam it on boss... all so I could restart the loop and fight another ten waves in next chapter again and again. Do I mention you need to repeat this with three playthroughs to see all the content? Well, now you know.

The story itself is... fine, I guess? It might be because they need to cater to newcomer of the series but I feel they played way too safe with the scenario to the end (the unlockable ending is admittedly very cool, but it's too little too late by then). If you have read feudal Japan setting chapters written by Higashide or Sakurai in FGO then you'll see nothing new in here, if you haven't then... uh, I don't know, you get a standard JRPG plot with Fate setting? You expect being written by Koei team means they will try something fresh, but I guess the story supervision was pretty strict this time. Honestly speaking, it doesn't matter which player you are: by the end of the game I'm convinced the story is just a dressing for Type-Moon to put all the new characters in eventual future FGO collab event.

While it's nice to have a new console Fate game since Extra series (fuck Extella) after so long and the production itself is pretty solid, boy, does playing this was a drag. Can we have the Extra remake now and while at it, remaking CCC too?

Fate Samurai Remnant found itself in a very compromising position where it isn't enough of a musou game to satiate musou fans and Fate fans might enjoy the story, the slog of having to play through the game three times (4 if you want to see everything) will make them hate every second of playthrough 2 and beyond.

I really enjoyed the story and absolutely loved the True Ending, but I don't think I could really recommend the game because of how much of a chore the game gets.

I'd say wait for an anime adaptation.

Amazing story and fun yet quick side-quests. I see others complain about the repetitive nature of the game and thats a valid complaint but I had a lot of fun with it myself and what you think of the gameplay in the long run will be different from person to person. All the endings are great and the third one exclusive to new game plus is awesome. I'd definitely recommend it to someone who wants a gateway into Fate but isn't ready to read 100 hours of a visual novel. The main flaw is that all the content should have been available through the first play-through. But it does start you back at chapter 2 and allows you to fast forward through scenes or skip them entirely and will give you a warning if a scene will have new text exclusive to new game plus. Word of warning do not do 3 play-throughs of this, save before you do the 1 on 1 fight at the end of chapter 5 and reload it so you can get both the 2nd and 3rd ending depending on what you got for your first one.

Real happy to see a brand new Fate installment, because it's been a hot minute since Extella Link!
And I loved this one. Really cool new take on the Holy Grail War with Masters that have some really unique motivations and Servants that suit them perfectly.

The cast is fantastic - definitely one of my favorite Fate casts yet, mostly because it's in my opinion honestly pretty rare for them to be as consistent as this one.

The setting is great too, and I love how well it's characters and their motivations are acclimated to that; they all fit in really well.
And the music, although for the most part not too memorable, accomodates it nicely too.

My absolute favorite thing about this game is it's gameplay though, which is admittedly pretty rare for me! Something about the way it portrays the power dynamic between Masters and Servants through gameplay is unlike anything we've seen in the series before, and I love that.
Regular encounters definitely feel like your average musou fight, but when a Servant steps in (or when you've built up enough meter to play as the Servant you're with) the game changes entirely, in a really good way. Bosses can be terrifying here, and that's exactly as they should be when a Master like Iori runs into a fight meant for Servants. They're tough, but really fun and well-paced once you figure out how to fight against them and properly get your Ripostes off, and it makes beating them feel SO good.

Arguably the most interesting thing about this game however (which is definitely recommendable if you're interested in it's cast) is how much it hinges on a replay.
New Game+ is ridiculously streamlined - pretty much everything you've done in your first playthrough is carried over; so if you've done all you could, you won't have to worry about any side-content you've already done. BUT, if you want to - simply because you want to experience a Servant's sidestory again or just get it's rewards twice - you can! It'll simply be counted as Completed either way, and that's really neat.
But more than that, there's quite a few NG+ exclusive scenes, sidequests and even an additional ending that adds SO much substance to it's cast; and it lets you know what is and isn't new by making the original story's text gray and adding a feature skipping through all of that whenever it pops up.
It's a fascinating decision! Adding all of it to the first playthrough would've definitely messed with it's pacing a lot (of which the only issue in my opinion is already big groups of sidequests at the same time, so yeah lmao) and there's also a few scenes that are definitely made in mind with you already knowing the main story and what happens next.
I'm not quite sure if it's solely to preserve the pacing - it could very well be them being too proud of those scenes (they should be) and never being able to figure out how to properly squeeze it into the main game, but yeah, I've never seen anything like that.
I really liked it personally, especially with it being as fast as it is. Takes about 1/3rd of a regular playthrough, of which about 75% will be new content and the other 25% being the route you didn't take the first time around, so it adds a lot to the experience! Didn't feel right making this review until I've explored it fully, because yeah, it's major stuff.

Iori especially profits so much from it. NG+ essentially confirmed everything I thought about him through the foreshadowing the main story contained and goddamn man he's up there as one of my favorite TM protags yet. Insanely unique character.

So yeah, cool game. Definitely unique! In some ways good and some ways bizarre.
I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope there's more games like this in store to keep bringing some new perspectives to the Fate series in the future :)

This is bad, very bad.

At first the game starts VERY GOOD. Very Fate-esque cliché story but still really good and the first half of the game was enjoyable. There's tons of misteries surrounding all the characters and even saber, whose secrets are kept for along ass time.

The second half is utter garbage, the game becomes a copy paste of the first part of the game gameplaywise and storywise it becomes a terribly slow drag that ends up with 2 of the worst endings I've seen in a videogame. The bad ending is, at least, somewhat decent but not even close to being any good.

The story and the characters had potential, the gameplay too, but eventually they fall very short. The big spoiler about Saber (not his real name, the other one) was utter garbage too, Nasu can't be happy about this for christ sake.

A wonderful Action RPG that's like a strange mix of Like A Dragon, Tales of and a Musou game, which has a wonderful story not deviating from what's expected for a Fate property (along with being an excellent entry to the series thematically and tonally for people unfamiliar with Fate). Great, deep combat mechanics for an ARPG, engaging gameplay, good graphics and sound, a good level of challenge all throughout and even in NG+, and an experience that doesn't overstay its welcome, being easily completable in 30 or so hours, or up to 50 with in-depth completion goals. A wonderful new game, a rare jewel in today's industry, and a thorough redemption for Koei after the steaming pile of feces that was Wo Long.

The path of the sword is a path that can only lead to a bloodbath, following it in a time of peace cannot have a happy ending.

The game, in a first run, seems a little unfinished, many characters have little participation, or seem to have their texts abruptly cut, and that's what happens. Its true content is found in NG+

Here we have a lot more content from the masters, especially since the game has 2 versions of the same ending depending on your choices. It's in these moments that we have the most emotional charge in the entire game, on the one hand it's great to have that charge, but it's a little sad to be tied to something after the end of the game

Now speaking of a more general plan of the story, it is sensational, especially in my opinion due to the dynamics of the masters and servants, each pair has a unique dynamic that brings a new vision to the other, which leaves the entire cast passionate and keeps you hooked for find out even more about them

Iori's true desires, how far Zheng is willing to go to save his people, what Chiemon seeks in his revenge, the path to peace that Shousetsu seeks and Dayu's freedom. His servants are really his ideal partners because of these points. Whether acting as their opposites or similar, each complements the other.

This is a story about our desires, about the path we will take to achieve them, a tale of men and ogres, about how not every light we follow is as warm as the sun. We make our own destiny, and in the end we will judge who we are, men, or ogres.