Here at GiN, we did not used to look at games which were still in development too much, but the Steam Early Access program changed that. Nowadays, plenty of titles spend years in Early Access, fully or at least partially playable while the developers (ideally) take in a lot of player feedback and make meaningful changes to their game as it marches toward a full release. Even Baldur’s Gate 3, probably the best RPG of all time, spent many months in Early Access. And so, when we come across a title in Early Access that is really trying to do something unique and fun, we like to feature it. Fatekeeper is easily one of those titles.
Fatekeeper is on Steam now in Early Access for the very reasonable price of $9.99. Currently there is about four hours of playtime, which is more than enough for people to get a feel for where the title is heading. The developers say that the full game will be much, much bigger when it releases. And given the fact that in those first few hours, we barely have enough XP to make a tiny dent in the character skill tree, we believe them.
The developers say what they are trying to do is akin to becoming the spiritual successor to Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I reviewed that way back in 2006 (it earned 4.5 GiN Gems out of 5), and even though it was a long time ago I still remember it fondly. It was one of the first RPGs where you were encouraged to really use your environment to defeat enemies. You could push hapless goblins off of cliffs, set people on fire or cause things to collapse on groups of bad guys. It was a fun mechanic that was fully baked into the adventure. You also had a choice of different classes including a melee build, a sorcerer and a stealthy assassin.
I could see and appreciate the similarities right away. Like Dark Messiah, Fatekeeper has closed levels that are mostly linear in nature, which is done to steer players to combat zones and set-piece situations where they can use their wits to try and get an advantage over their opponents. And like Dark Messiah, players are often outnumbered, but can even up the odds by using their environment to funnel bad guys or one shot kill them by kicking them into pits or other obstacles. Some of that is a little on the nose with Fatekeeper: there is one arena level in the Early Access maps that is littered with nail-studded boards positioned all around the room for no good reason other than to give players something to kick bad guys into. Silly, yes, but also really fun.
But Fatekeeper is not a copy of Dark Messiah. It also sets its own path. For one, while Dark Messiah was kind of chaotic and almost comical in the way that players could do damage and approach levels, Fatekeeper is actually brutally difficult and challenging. If you can’t one shot kill an enemy, then even a base level opponent is going to be a challenge as you square off with them. It’s not quite Dark Souls difficulty, but you better get good at timing because even a hapless minion can take off a significant portion of your health if they land a blow. And since there are no shields in the gameplay yet, your only recourse is to dodge out of the way using your limited stamina pool.
Adding to the challenge, player health does not regenerate automatically. You have to use potions which are brewed up using a limited supply of plant ingredients that you find growing along the way as you travel though a level. They won’t fully heal you either, so getting a bad wound in a fight can be devastating and hard to recover from. For the most part, save points are placed in good spots at least, so you won’t have to backtrack too far when you dodge at the wrong time and end up getting pummeled to death while trying to reposition. Enemies in the area reset when you die, so you can try a different approach next time or simply sharpen your existing plan when you try again.
The skill tree is massive, and you can’t get anywhere close to some of the really powerful abilities in the Early Access version of the game. I went through the complete adventure that is available right now first as a melee fighter and then tried to delve into magic in my second run. While I can appreciate the utility of having magical backup, it seemed a bit underpowered at the moment. For example, I was able to catch an enemy goblin-like guy standing in a pool of oil below me, so when I hit him with a fireball he also ignited into flames along with most of the room. I was really happy about it, until he came sprinting up the steps and I had to finish him off with melee combat.
There are also several enemies in Fatekeeper with ranged attacks right now, which is pretty unfair in a lot of circumstances. For example, when they are covering a long and narrow path that you have to travel to get to them, and you don’t really have any similar abilities. I suppose the developers may have left bows and thrown weapons out of player’s hands right now because everyone might pull a Skyrim and become a stealth archer, or perhaps that is a feature that will be added later. Some enemies can even throw rocks at you, which are surprisingly accurate and, like everything else, do a lot of damage. It would be nice if we too could throw something back.
Graphically, the world of Fatekeeper is incredible. They clearly are using Unreal Engine 5 to drive everything, but unlike other titles that seem to struggle with performance using that engine at launch, Fatekeeper is pretty smooth even in Early Access. Weapons feel heavy, like they have real weight to them, and the very limited parkour like sections (mostly when trying to get to a hidden or out of the way chest) are responsive and navigable. Beyond just the performance, the world they have created is really gorgeous, which makes it a treat to explore the various levels even when you are not fighting something.
The developers are also very responsive to player requests and feedback, something that more Early Access developers could take note of if they want to build a good community. For example, while I was playing, I found myself wrestling with all the buttons and controls on my keyboard and mouse setup. I was thinking that controller support would make some of the challenging combat a bit more responsive and thus more fair. Apparently, many other people said the same thing. The developers have said that this is now a top priority for them.
For now, Fatekeeper is probably best suited for players who enjoy difficult first-person combat, careful timing and the satisfaction of using every advantage in the environment to survive. It’s not a casual RPG, and anyone stepping into Early Access should know that even basic enemies can be dangerous when a dodge is mistimed or your healing potion stash is already gone. But this is also exactly why Fatekeeper is exciting. Developer Paraglacial clearly has a strong vision for what this adventure can become, and the foundation is already impressive with beautiful environments, weighty combat, smart arena designs and developers who seem willing to listen to player feedback. If the team keeps expanding the content, refining the balance and adding requested features like controller support, Fatekeeper could grow into something very special by full release.
Fatekeeper may not be ready for every kind of adventurer yet, but for players willing to brave its dangerous world early, this is one Early Access RPG worth watching closely.
