2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Fate/EXTRA and developer Type-Moon Studio BB has announced that a remake is now in development for current generation consoles. Titled Fate/EXTRA Record, the reveal was made via a trailer showing off the game’s new models, a glimpse of the new battle system, and the game’s new rendition of the iconic Unlimited Blade Works chant.
Fate/EXTRA was originally released for the Playstation Portable in 2010. EXTRA takes place in a parallel universe to the original Fate/stay night world and tells the story of protagonist Hakuno Kishinami as they wake up in a virtual high school and are forced to fight for their survival in a Holy Grail War with only their Servant by their side. The game itself is a combination of a dungeon crawler RPG and a visual novel, taking place in both the high school and the arena dungeons. Players get the choice between three different Servants at the start of the game, which will stay with the player for the entire game; Nero Claudius, Archer, and Tamamo no Mae. At the end of each dungeon, players will engage another Master and their Servant to progress through the Holy Grail War.
Battles come in the form of “rock, paper, scissors” type of selections where attacking beats breaking, breaking beats guarding, and guarding beats attacking. Three correct selections against the opponent allow for an extra attack for more damage, however, the same rules apply to the opponent as well. The battle system has often been criticized for being shallow and too reliant on luck. During a live stream, a day after the initial reveal, additional gameplay footage and extra details were given by game director Kazuya Niinou. One of the details mentioned is the complete revamping of the battle system which now resembles more of a deck-building type system, where different commands are chosen from a random selection each turn. Winning battles grants new commands to choose from.
On the stream, Niinou also mentioned that all scenes from the original Fate/EXTRA will return in Fate/EXTRA Record. The goal was to make a high quality game for newer fans of the EXTRA universe to introduce them to where the series first started. A sequel titled Fate/EXTRA CCC in 2013 and an anime adaption titled Fate/EXTRA Last Encore was released in 2016. Last Encore effectively tied the EXTRA universe directly to the massively popular Fate/Grand Order mobile game. CCC was also briefly mentioned on the live stream, where Niinou expressed the possibility of a remake for it as well in the future.
A release date and platforms for Fate/EXTRA Record have not yet been announced, but we’ll be sure to let you know if new information is released. An English localization has also not been announced but is likely as the official site features an English version tab.
