The Awakened Fate: Ultimatum Critic Reviews

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is an absolute must-buy for anyone who enjoys dungeon-crawlers.

Nippon Ichi has provided yet another reason to keep the PlayStation 3 active under the television.

The gameplay — while not perfect, is appropriately difficult and makes you think about your actions even if I wasn’t exactly a fan of having to redo dungeons due to simple mistakes.

It tells a gripping tale of budding friendship during wartime married perfectly to its fantasy world that had me hooked from the opening moments.

It is, however, an experience that leaves a bit desired. Newcomers looking to get into the roguelike genre for the first time though, will probably find this to be the ideal experience.

Ultimately, Awakened Fate: Ultimatum does provide a unique gameplay experience that caters to players seeking a challenge.

You'll know with a single glance whether you're interested at all in playing The Awakened Fate Ultimatum. It's a niche hardcore RPG with an undoubtedly Japanese style of storytelling, falling victim to almost every cliché in the book throughout its duration – but doing so unashamedly.

An enjoyable dungeon crawler with a decent story.

I’ve talked before about how more isn’t always better, and that sometimes less is more. However, in the case of “The Awakened Fate Ultimatum”, it feels as though much of what made the original compelling and unique has been ripped out, leaving a hollow shell behind.

It's a good game if you haven't played another roguelike before, but if you have you'll find a quite simplified experience compared to the best examples of the genre.

A lot of the ideas we loved in the original have been pared back to nothing. In their place: brutality.

It’s a good step in the right direction, and with some tweaking the balance may yet come. Until then, this misses the bull's-eye, but at least it hits the target.

It leans firmly enough on its heaven-or-hell selection phases to make an impact in both the immediate and distant future of its gameplay.

Trying to give birth to a jack-of-all-trades, suited for both newcomers and veterans of the roguelike subgenre, NIS deliver an average game, with lengthy conversations and a so-so gameplay. Just for the aficionados.

Ultimately, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum ends up being a pretty decent dungeon crawler that gets bogged down by a cumbersome story and poor lead character.

Despite its cute look, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is a surprisingly dark and gloomy story which becomes borderline frustrating too soon and gives too little in return.

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is a far cry from the delicious intricacies of Disgaea and other Nippon Ichi titles, and doesn’t offer anything to make up for its simpler mechanics.

As interesting as the moral choices might be, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is too many dungeons, too few combat options, and too many of the same themes Nippon Ichi has dealt with before.

A shell of its predecessor. All the fun mechanics from Guided Fate Paradox have been removed and changed, leaving a generic but tedious combat system. The story, while potentially interesting, has major pacing and voice acting issues that dull the experience. Only a diehard NIS fan will want to play this game.

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum draws heavily on tired anime humor and noodling about transcending one's fate. Perhaps a smack with a cake pan or a high-intensity training montage would have fuelled its own will to power.