What I’ve been playing: Fate/Extella Link review

Dynasty Warriors on the moon with Wizards

By Ethan Gurr

edited by  Kwame Obiri-Addai

Developer: Marvelous

Publisher: Marvelous, XSEED (NA), Sega (Asia)

Format available: PS4 (reviewed), Switch, PS Vita, PC

Released: March 19, 2019

So Fate/Extella Link is a ‘Dynasty Warriors’em up’ (Dynasty Warrioirs-style ‘beat em up’) and a sequel to Fate/Extella Umbral star.  The game takes place in the Fate spin off where the Moon is a magic supercomputer. Now reader, I could attempt to explain the lore of the setting or you could go watch this video that explains it better than I possibly could. 

Now before I jump into the story, a quick talk about the gameplay. As I say in the very first sentence, this is a ‘Dynasty Warriors’em up’ game so expect large rosters of characters attempting to win big battles by taking over territories using a wide variety of abilities. The gameplay side is also where Extella Link makes the most advancements improving on the elements set up in Umbral star, like giving each character several unique abilities that necessitate experimentation. This works well with its large roaster to ensure there is a character/ character build for every possible player.  This and other small changes like enabling players to use a character’s biggest and best moves multiple times a stage truly elevate Extella Link for its predecessor. 

Now to the story and it’s externally enjoyable. It sees the introduction for multiple new servants (powerful anime versions of historical/Mythical figures) but the story mainly focuses on two of them: Charlemagne and Rex Magnus Karl (googling his name gives a plot twist away BTW). Karl is the primary antagonist of the game and Charlemagne has been summoned to stop him, which he does with the player’s help.

My biggest issue with this game is how the story is told. Fate/Extella Links story has three endings, with branching paths consisting of multiple missions that you play biased on your choices in-game or if you choose them from the menu. During my playthrough, I found the second story path to feel disjointed mainly because I didn’t start the story from the very beginning, because after you get the first ending you can freely play any level in any order. This is until you get the second ending and unlock the final story path, which is basically a straight line with extremely little branching. 

So would I recommend it? Absolutely! I had a huge smile on my face the whole time I was playing it. Odds are, if you’re a fan of the Fate franchise you have already played it. If you’re not,watching the video linked at the top of the review should give you all the context you need to jump straight into Extella Link and have fun hanging out with anime Charlemagne, gender bent Roman emperor Nero and good boy Cú Chulainn.