A heartwarming yet flawed tale – Fatehaven Review

The story has an interesting premise and concept, but sloppy execution both from a gameplay and story side. The story itself, while intriguing, does not give any proper hints or foreshadowing to the shocker at the end, which is very shamilanesque. There are several bits of foreshadowing that are limited in scale and understanding, and while they can offer you a bit of information, they needed to be refined. The humor is what will ruin the emersion and ruin suspension of disbelief. The humor is rather juvenile throughout, which would be fine if it did not make modern references and use current slang so frequently. These jokes work to date the game and frustrate anyone attempting to become invested in the plot or characters. It simply ruins the illusion of a medieval world. This also refers to the narrator's tone. Perhaps if it was not so modernized it would have fit better, or perhaps it would have fit better in a modern fantasy. However, even in a modern tale, the humor would date the work. The characters are all right. I won't spoil too much, but you have three main romantic interests(though I honestly wish one of them had more time in the story), and an overall dynamic cast of characters. Some are more interesting than others, and overall they will be useful to your goals regardless. In addition, some aspects of the game - which initially appear creative - are not original in the slightest. The entire concept for the eradication of magic in the human population through the "War of the Magi" is ripped straight from Final Fantasy VI. I do not know if the writer knew of these similarities, but once again they serve to break realism and make the player who knows of these tales will be frustrated by this. Where this game shines is through emotion. There are moments, such as Aphid's moment of passing or the initial movement which forced the player away from home, which are masterful and emotional. These moments are the writer's strongest points, and I would recommend they focus on these in the future above humor. Moving on to gameplay, it is also decent. The stats and choices allow the player to customize their Mage how they wish, and it is generally easy to create a balanced character. However, the game only has this dynamic character for its initial stages, for after the first major turning point of the game, stats are checked to ensure the player has the skill to do tasks, but do not grow or change. The only exceptions are renown and corruption, though they are not the most important aspects of your character. I understand why this choice was made, but it forces the player to make certain choices and does not allow their character room to grow and change over the course of the novel, ruining their dynamic nature. Overall, it is an okay game. It has shinning moments and a decent gameplay system. If you can stand the juvenile and modern humor, I would recommend it for a free weekend.
Review by Pikachu203 on Fatehaven.