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Even if battle royales aren’t as hot as they once were, I get excited when game devs innovate the genre with unique gameplay and art direction. The latest to join the fray is Fate Trigger: The Novita. After a closed-doors preview and an interview with the developers, I can confidently say Fate Trigger should be on your watch list. Whether you’re a hardcore battle royaler, a casual shooter fan, or a collector of gorgeous husbandos and waifus, you can find that and more here.
I had the opportunity to talk with the developers at Saroasis Studios, more specifically with Ruby, the game’s lead publisher, and Terry, the lead game designer. In this short preview, I got to see some of the features coming to Fate Trigger: The Novita. From stunning character designs to an intricate gun upgrading system, Fate Trigger is one shooter that many will want to keep their eyes on, especially if you are a fan of gorgeous anime characters.
A Heavy Emphasis on Characters
Right off the bat, the first thing that grabbed me from Fate Trigger: The Novita is its roster of characters. Following a modern and fan-serviceable fashion, this battle royale includes heroes ranging from a gamer bunny, a deadly scout, a girl who summons fish for traversal, and more. However, these things don’t only apply to the design. The gameplay is a key aspect of The Novita, and I was happy to see that all playable characters look strikingly different.
For example, Soarwynne can summon air currents to allow players to lift off the ground and start gliding. Huxley, the scout, can use a smoke bomb-like skill to cloud enemies’ vision while also using other skills to tag them. I could go on and on about all the characters, but summing it up, all are great and offer a distinctive playstyle for players. Whether you want to play a tank-like hero or a full-on DPS, you can find the right one for you. Furthermore, each character has distinct animations and personalities, which just adds to the world-building the game is going for.
Also, since this game is aiming for a live service model, the developers mentioned that there will be cosmetics, but they won’t affect gameplay at all. In other words, you shouldn’t worry about pay-to-win aspects because there didn’t seem to be any around the preview. We only saw a quick outfit for one of the characters, and let me tell you, it was superb.
Verticality and Strategic Gunplay Dominate the Arena
Lately, I’ve felt most battle royale maps fall into the same flat category with not a lot of dynamism. Fate Trigger: The Novita fixes this by adding sky islands that players can visit throughout the match. By opening your glider at the edge of an island, you’ll travel to another one which also contains loot, gun chips, and many more things to discover. Plus, you can travel to these areas in any style. Vehicles play a huge part in the game’s traversal, and watching the hovercars move around the arena was a treat. Oh yes, you can also use these vehicles to hop from one island to another. Don’t worry about leaving your wheels behind.
While the verticality of the map will surely add a strategic layer to the game, I was extremely excited to see the gun-chip system. Fate Trigger: The Novita allows players to carry two guns at a time. It might not seem like a lot, but with the characters’ skills and gun-chip features, you are already a walking arsenal. What the gun-chips do is modify how your firearm works. In the preview, we saw how one gun-chip turned bullets into healing rounds when shooting teammates. Another gun-chip changed the weapon’s firing mode to a laser beam, which looked quite deadly. Plus, players can find weapon attachments during a match and swap them on the fly. This allows them to modify their fast-firing assault rifle into something more of a DMR.
Interview With the Developers
After the presentation, I had the opportunity to ask Ruby and Terry a few questions regarding some of the characters and certain gameplay features. Here’s what they had to say:
Julio La Pine, Staff Writer for The Nerd Stash: Which character was your favorite to design in terms of visuals and gameplay?
Terry, Lead Game Designer/Ruby, Lead Publisher: Our favorite character is the bunny. When you play the bunny, you will see that she can create a pixel fortress via a game machine. This is closely connected to her background story, and also, in terms of gameplay, you can unleash her ultimate ability and skills together to create a combo. Regarding her story, she is also a gamer, so that’s why we like her. As for her visuals, her abilities are very flashy and convey her personality and her unique features.
Julio La Pine, Staff Writer for The Nerd Stash: Moving on to map design, I think the islands and the verticality of the map are things we don’t see in many battle royales, and they are something I like. But do you have plans to add more features to the map in the future, like new systems for exploration or traversal?
Terry, Lead Game Designer/Ruby, Lead Publisher: Definetely. In the future, we will add more heroes, and obviously, the map will evolve, followed by updates on heroes. We plan to add more content to the floating islands. Players can expect more mechanics, such as other combat spots. However, we will also add a small map in the future so players can have a different experience compared to the current battle royale experience. With the small map, we hope to provide a more captivating combat experience to the players.
Julio La Pine, Staff Writer for The Nerd Stash: Looking at the gameplay, I noticed the gun-chip system is very innovative. Are you planning to expand the gun-chip system every new season?
Terry, Lead Game Designer/Ruby, Lead Publisher: Definetely. We’ll constantly update our gun-chip system, and in the future, you can expect us to add more gun-chip system mechanics to the game. For each new season, players can experience a completely new chip system and more regarding gun customization.
Julio La Pine, Staff Writer for The Nerd Stash: Regarding the topic of seasons, is there an approximate timeframe for how long they will be?
Terry, Lead Game Designer/Ruby, Lead Publisher: Approximately three months per season.
Julio La Pine, Staff Writer for The Nerd Stash: For my final question, and going back to characters, do you have a system to encourage players to use different characters?
Terry, Lead Game Designer/Ruby, Lead Publisher: Our team wanted players to find their favorite character or the heroes players like. So, we will not push players to experience every character. However, there are mechanics in the game that encourage players to try different characters to experience their abilities. The mechanics that we have are missions inside the game. For example, after a player experiences a new hero, they can unlock some kind of in-game rewards, background stories, and more content about characters inside the game.
One Battle Royale You Can’t Miss
As you can see, Fate Trigger: The Novita is bringing the big guns, literally. Packed with unique characters, fun exploration, and in-depth gun customization, even someone who hasn’t played a battle royale will enjoy this game. Furthermore, anyone interested should watch out for more news. Saroasis Studios already has plans for closed tests, so you can expect more details about this shooter soon enough.
