The Fate series is a behemoth of a media franchise, with myriad entries across anime, manga, and video games. The sheer size of the franchise is, at this point, quite intimidating. Where exactly should one begin if they’re trying to get into Fate? Luckily, despite the series’ incredible sprawl, there’s a simple answer: the visual novel that started it all, Fate/stay Night. And now, with the release of Fate/stay Night Remastered, the series is the most accessible it’s ever been.
The Holy Grail War
The foundation of Fate/stay Night Remastered’s story is the Holy Grail War, a lethal contest between seven mages that determines ownership of the Holy Grail, a powerful artifact that is said to grant any wish made by those strong enough to claim it. To fight the Holy Grail War, the seven participants, known as masters, summon heroic spirits to act as their servants. Heroic spirits are incarnations of legendary heroes of history and legend. These heroes, summoned as servants, are extraordinarily powerful combatants and they serve as the primary means of conflict between masters.
There’s a fair bit more to the Holy Grail War than I’ve included in my explanation, but for the sake of brevity and maintaining mystery I’ll leave it there. I think the war provides a really engaging structure for Fate/stay Night Remastered to tell stories within. The structure provides a well-defined set of stakes and base level character motivations, and also allows for plenty of interesting opportunities for development and intrigue. The Heroic Spirits in particular are a fantastic concept. I was always excited when a new servant would appear, eager to learn more about their abilities and their historical identity.
As incarnations of legendary figures, the servants also bring a ton of personality to the table. Every servant has their own disposition and their own motivations for claiming the Holy Grail, which may even bring them into conflict with their masters. As a sort of remedy to these potential conflicts, masters are granted three command spells. These spells serve as one-off absolute commands that the servants cannot defy, and they can be used to push a servant’s power beyond its usual limit. The command spells add some inherent tension between master and servant, and serve as a kind of nuclear option in battles.
Shirou Emiya
So the Holy Grail War provides a compelling framework, but what about the story told within it? Fate/stay Night Remastered follows the story of Shirou Emiya, a highschool student and fledgling (read: barely competent) mage. Shirou’s magical ability is severely limited, due in large part to a lack of magic circuits to allow for the channeling of magical energy. Shirou’s only tangible abilities are rudimentary strengthening magic that allows him to enhance an object, and ‘trace’ magic that lets him analyze the composition of an object in its entirety.
As a character, Shirou is a fairly typical teenage boy. He’s energetic, motivated, and slightly awkward. As a child, Shirou survived a disastrous fire that killed hundreds of people in the city of Fuyuki. Shirou has developed some interesting traits as a result of this childhood trauma, the most prominent being his desire to save others, even at the cost of his own life. Whilst he has a bright outward appearance, it’s fair to say he is suffering a great deal from survivor’s guilt and the seemingly arbitrary nature of the disaster that destroyed so many lives. Shirou’s ideals and struggles are certainly ones I’ve seen before, but I think Fate/stay Night explores them in an engaging and oftentimes unique way. There are definitely times where I found his personality grating, but I think it ultimately works to the story’s benefit.
Considering his idealistic disposition and lacking talent as a mage, Shirou is wholly unsuited for a ruthless battle like the Holy Grail War, which makes it all the more interesting when he is unintentionally drawn into the war as a master. The violent nature of the war is directly at odds with Shirou’s ideals, and he has no desire for the wish-granting power of the grail. Despite this, he has little choice but to fight when he realizes the threat posed to many innocent people by the war, and by the potential power of the grail. This makes Shirou an interesting protagonist to follow, as he is an outsider not just due to his limited magical knowledge, but also due to his disdain for the Holy Grail War as a concept.
Mages & Monsters
Throughout the story of Fate/stay Night Remastered, Shirou meets a host of different characters, some friendly and some not so friendly. Fate/stay Night’s character writing is easily its greatest asset. There are a lot of characters I could discuss here, too many in fact. As a general statement, I’d say every character feels remarkably well-defined, with their own compelling history and motivations. No one here feels as if they came into existence solely to serve the narrative, and so the world and its inhabitants all feel grounded and realistic despite the story’s fantastical elements.
I think Illyasviel von Einzbern is a perfect example of the depth of Fate/stay Night’s characterization. As the master of the monstrously violent Berserker, she is a terrifying antagonistic force. As a somewhat lost child with no concept of good and evil, acting largely on her childish whims, she is a horrifying on-screen presence. You’re never sure what her next move may be, or how monstrous the violence she will inflict may be. Despite the terror she invokes as an antagonist, she is also endearing and sympathetic. She is after all just a child, and the circumstance she is in is as tragic as it is terrifying. In the end, all I wanted for Illyasviel was a happy ending free from the horrors of the Holy Grail War where she could just live as a normal child.
Even the more cartoonishly evil characters, whose names I won’t disclose for fear of spoilers, are so consistent and compelling that I found them fascinating despite the base simplicity of their motivations. Characters that are more straightforwardly ‘good’ in nature still have layers of complexity, particularly in the context of the Holy Grail War where notions like kindness and mercy are mostly just massive weak points.
Diverging Paths
The story of Fate/stay Night Remastered is split into three routes entered through choices and unlock conditions, as outlined in our guide/walkthrough. Each route takes place during the Holy Grail War, but focuses on a different primary heroine and has events unfolding in a different way. This isn’t a case of minor deviations, each route is very much its own story with its own themes and direction. The most interesting element of the divergent routes for me is how each explored a different answer to the questions posed by Shirou’s ideals and motivations, which made each route feel even more distinct and compelling. The three routes are Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel. UBW and HF both have two endings, whilst Fate just has one, but there is an extended epilogue for Fate available once you’ve finished all five endings. There are also a myriad of Dead Ends across all three routes, which can be pretty fun (and horrific) to experience.
Fate/stay Night Remastered’s first route, Fate, focuses on Saber, Shirou’s summoned servant. Saber is a fantastic character, and after playing the Fate route I can see how she became a focal point of a lot of Fate media. Saber has a calm, knightly demeanor, and this works well as a foil to the inexperienced Shirou as he fumbles through the Holy Grail War. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Saber and Shirou, as each drew out another side to the other. The romance between them resolves nicely, but I did find it somewhat grating at first as it seemed a bit out of place against the background of the Holy Grail War. Shirou’s treatment of Saber as a woman rather than a fighter was pretty irritating after a while too, though it is perfectly appropriate to his character. Outside of the focus on Saber and Shirou, I think the Fate route does a great job establishing the world and many of the characters of Fate/stay Night. It’s a fantastic first route.
Unlimited Blade Works shifts the focus to Rin Tohsaka, the head of the renowned Tohsaka mage family, Shirou’s classmate, and a fellow master in the Holy Grail War. Rin is a significant presence in the Fate route, serving as Shirou’s ally and impromptu teacher. I was excited to play through her route and see how it differed to Fate. In contrast to Saber, Rin is a peppy, arrogant girl who has a more playfully antagonistic relationship with Shirou. I enjoy Rin a lot as a character, she brings a lot of energy and dynamism to scenes, and her dynamic with Shirou is a lot of fun. The story of Unlimited Blade Works manages to be just as compelling as Fate. It also unravels more of the world’s mystery and has some incredible reveals that even recontextualize events in Fate. This was definitely the peak of Fate/stay Night Remastered for me, with Rin establishing herself as my favorite heroine, and the twists and turns of the plot keeping me constantly engaged and excited.
Whilst Unlimited Blade Works is my favorite route, the final route, Heaven’s Feel, might be the more objective ‘best’ route. The route focuses on Sakura Matou, a close friend of Shirou’s who appears as a side character in the previous routes. Much of what makes Sakura interesting lies behind a spoiler wall, but I will say that her backstory and circumstances are by far the most compelling of all the heroines. As an on-screen presence though I do feel she’s somewhat undercooked. She’s not dynamic like Rin, or charismatic like Saber, and I found her to be somewhat flat overall. Heaven’s Feel as a route completely upended my expectations despite this though. It is a stark departure from the two previous routes, and it carries an immense emotional weight. I felt it was also the route that took Shirou in the most interesting direction. It is, frankly, quite a brutal read, but certainly worth the pain and suffering.
The Thrill of Battle
Given that Fate/stay Night was first released in 2004, I was surprised by the quantity and quality of its art assets. The remaster of course helps boost the quality here, particularly by properly adjusting CGs to fit a 16:9 aspect ratio, but the core art is pretty great to begin with. The game has a unique visual style that I think does a great job of riding the line between the grounded world of Fate/stay Night and its fantastical elements. The designs of characters like Rin and Saber are of course enduringly iconic, but less famous characters like Lancer and Gilgamesh deserve mentioning too. In general, I really appreciate that Fate/stay Night keeps its character designs simple whilst still establishing distinct silhouettes and traits.
The world of Fate/stay Night is brought to life by wonderful art combined with some fantastic music, sound direction, and voice work. Battles play out intensely as descriptive text scrolls over flashing, clashing weapons backed by a cacophony of metallic cracking and crashing. The soundtrack is a bit more subtle than I expected in places, but I think this ultimately works to the game’s benefit, especially when it’s trying to create an eerie or uneasy atmosphere in the lead-up to those epic clashes. In Fate/stay Night’s lighter moments, the music provides a welcome break to the tension. I was particularly fond of the theme that plays during slice of life scenes at Shirou’s home. It’s a sweet, bubbly track that creates a comfortable feeling of safety and leisure.
As a modern remaster with a console version, Fate/stay Night Remastered is based on the Realta Nua version and does lack the adult content of the 2004 original. While having the option is always appreciated, from what I hear this isn’t a huge loss, and the scenes are replaced rather than outright cut. If you didn’t know it was there in the first place, you’d not know it was missing.
Verdict
I had a great time with Fate/stay Night Remastered. With such a compelling narrative, and truly excellent character writing, it’s easy for me to understand now how Fate became such a widely beloved franchise. The remaster provides a great entry point for people like me who are experiencing this story for the first time. I’m excited to get deeper into the series, and particularly to experience more stories featuring these characters.
FATE STAY/NIGHT REMASTERED IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Guide: Click Here
If you are looking for another visual novel, you may enjoy our review of Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-.
Thank you to Aniplex for providing a Nintendo Switch review code for Fate stay/night Remastered.
A man described by critics as “pretty normal” and “memorable in the abstract”. He has committed his life to the consumption of anime and games, against the advice and wishes of his family and friends. Now writing about his passions, hopefully for your enjoyment.
