REVIEW: Fate/Extella Link

[enkita]

Fourth installment to the Fate/Extra game series, Fate/Extella Link takes part after Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. Young Altera gets kidnapped and Rome attacked by Attack Programs. From somewhere a mysterious knight, who introduces himself as Charlemagne, arrives to help the Heroic Spirits of Rome.

Instead of the four routes of Umbral Star, Extella Link has three. Each route does, however, have more playable levels. That does not mean, that the story is any longer. In fact, there is less of a story in Link than there was in its predecessors. I have to admit that I was disappointed in the simplicity of the story, even though this game is more like a Fate/Extella 1.5 before the next great story involving Velber II. At least there was some foreshadowing.

The side stories of each servant were unfortunately done away with completely. There are a lot of Extra Levels that I haven't got to yet, but I've understood that they involve more silly shenanigans than any actual story. Not that the side stories were that deep either.

All the servants from Umbral Star are in the game but many of them don't really have anything to do in the story. Many of the new additions aren't all that interesting either, with Charlemagne and Astolfo shining as the best ones. Storywise the most interesting role falls on Archimedes, though that is exactly the foreshadowing part...

The gameplay and graphics were much improved from the previous game! The game looks a lot prettier, and they've added a skill system in order to turn the attack button smash to... the skill button smash... it's still fun! The levels also have more of all kinds of gimmicks, which make the story mode more interesting.

As an additional minus, the game still doesn't have split screen multiplayer. They added online multiplayer but we all know playing online with strangers is a hell one shouldn't descend to. And I don't have friends with PS4's who could play it with me online. ;__;

Extella Link is appearance, graphics and gameplay wise an improvement from Extella. The story is nothing interesting though, and it felt more like a Grand Order event story. I know Extella's story has been criticized quite a bit, but I enjoyed the third route. (Yeah the Nero wank sucks. Which Extella Link doesn't really have btw!) It also lets you converse more with your servants, which is a bonus.

Should you play it? If you're a Fate fan and thought that Umbral Star was playable, then yes. If you know fuck all about Fate, you might want to start with something else. If you hated the musou style of Umbral Star, then no this probably isn't your thing.

Btw, I really laughed at Gilgamesh popping up in the story and immediately yeeting away... Waiting for that police outfit *eyes emoji*.

For some reason, Marvelous Europe hasn't translated the trophies on PS4. At least not if your system is in Finnish. Which is something I'm quite irritated about.

Fate/Extella Link is available on PC, PS4, PS Vita and Nintendo Switch.