Fate Trigger: The Novita Closed Alpha Impressions

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A few days ago, I jumped into the PC early playtest of Fate Trigger: The Novita. Instantly evoking Fortnite crossed with Genshin Impact vibes, this game brought a distinct anime-infused style to its tactical hero-based shooter gameplay. But what with the rather swift demise of Concord and the appalling low player base of The Suicide Squad… do we need another online shooter? Let’s get into it!

Visuals & World Design: A Pretty (And Large) Pastel Paradise

The visual style of Fate Trigger stands out. This looks like Genshin Impact dialed up to eleven! The vibrant, anime-inspired world is incredibly beautiful, with its floating islands brought to life by a vibrant palette of pastel colors. The retro-futuristic buildings that blend in with the magical elements give each area a feeling of painstaking craftsmanship. Add to that particle effects, gorgeous flowers, beautiful women, butterflies, and lush open grasslands, and you’d be mistaken for feeling like you were in some dream-like fairy tale. That is until the bullets start flying!

Beyond the beauty, we have the map itself. Oh boy! The map is massive—maybe even overwhelming. The vast environment and wide open spaces can be intimidating at times. There are vehicles and jump portals to help you cover large spaces, but even with those included, this map is far too big! You also have a glider to help you float from great heights; thankfully, fall damage doesn’t seem to exist. Still, even with all these added together, the lack of fast travel options makes navigating such a huge area tedious, particularly if you’re nowhere near any action.

Story Premise:

Fate Trigger's story takes a back seat, and the narrative just doesn’t exist once in the game. Here is the plot according to the developers:

In a world devastated by the Paleblight, an enigmatic disaster that has divided the earth into a web of floating islands, solely the hardiest have managed to stay afloat. Unveiling its origins and purpose, an enormous sphere hangs mysteriously in the sky. You have been selected by destiny to discover the truth about the Paleblight and the otherworldly beings that have taken over the world. You are an Awakener, a warrior.

Fight for dominion of the divided islands as an Awakener, utilizing your extraordinary abilities and forming alliances with fellow heroes. Because of the anarchy and violence of this alternate world, every hero has a story of their own. Paleblight is relentless, destroying everything in its path and forcing you to band together in an effort to survive.

As stories go…it’s not the worst starting point. But the game also teases that every battle will bring you closer to unraveling the mysteries and saving the world, which seems a little far-fetched. The reality is that you’ll run around the map like a lunatic, shooting your enemies and collecting loot, rinse, and repeat. I like that they’ve tried to fill in a backstory for the world and the characters, but it mostly goes unnoticed once the action starts!

Gameplay & Combat:

The action in the Novita playtest occurred on the same map and involved 4v4 team battles. Despite the limited number of modes available during the test, this was perfect for me as it’s a battle royale format with which we are all familiar. There was a closing "blight" that reduced the battlefield size over time, similar to the storm in Fortnite. Battles got pretty intense once the blight radius shrunk, and I found that my team and I often made it to the end with very little room to maneuver and little to hide behind. Did we always win? Nope! But we won often enough to keep me hooked!

Gunplay is fast and satisfying. Many weapons feel the same but have different damage stats, so hunting for better loot will constantly require you to be on the move. Loot is plentiful; you’ll find useful items to hoover up in every building you search. The mouse and keyboard were always responsive, and I also tested it with a wireless Xbox controller and had no issues.

Abilities & Characters:

The characters in Fate Trigger are colorful, daring, and yes—sometimes oversexualized, as is unfortunately typical in anime. Be that as it may, the designs are jaw-dropping, and every hero has their special ability that adds a layer of complexity to battles (think: Apex Legends meets Overwatch).

I played mostly as Huxley and learned her special abilities were incredibly useful in a pinch. In one game, I was sprinting across an open plain and getting shot at directly from behind. There was no time to stop, turn around, find the shooter, and trade bullets, as I’d surely be dead in a few seconds. Bang, with a keypress, I threw up a large purple smoke cloud around me. Not only did this hide me, but it also highlighted the enemy to me. Within a split second, I had turned what was surely an instant death into a victory, making short work of my attacker. Awesome stuff!

As most characters seem to move, jump, and shoot in pretty much identical fashion, the abilities will determine your favorite choice. Other abilities include forward dashes, instant cover, and speed boosts, so choosing the right character with the perfect ability to balance out your team can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Bugs and Glitches:

Okay, so this was a closed Alpha playtest, and it was a pretty buggy ride. Textures not loading in, screen tearing, and broken animations were all par for the course on each playthrough. I’m thankful that I never encountered a bug that stopped me from playing or broke my gaming session. On one occasion, I drove across the map as fast as possible, and the textures couldn’t load quickly enough. It got so bad that the road underneath me respawned, and my car was left floating in limbo for a few seconds. However, stopping the car and letting the textures load in had me back to normal after a few seconds. No big deal!

Steam Deck Unsupported:

Unfortunately, for now, the SteamDeck is unsupported. I tried to use it, but the game recognizes the device, throws out an apology message, and kicks you out. See the message below. I contacted the developers during my playtime and asked about future support. They couldn’t confirm a ‘when’ but planned to work on it. Hopefully, we get to play this one on the Steam Deck, as it’s a perfect pick-up-and-play game that suits gaming on the go.

As it happens, it seems all AMD GPU (Which the Steam Deck has) devices were blocked from the playtest, as the game only officially supports Nvidia GPUs right now, so it's possible it wasn't specifically targeting the Steam Deck with this message.

Final Thoughts: Promising, But It Needs Polish

I had an absolute blast playing Fate Trigger: The Novita! The tactical shooter gameplay is on point, and the visuals are gorgeous. Despite their sometimes oversexualized designs, the characters stand out individually, the world is fascinating, and the combat is entertaining. There are a few issues with the game, though. The mobility options for traversing the map, the actual ridiculous size, and technical bugs all mean that this game needs a little more time in the oven to be truly special.

However, this is only the beginning. Fate Trigger has shown potential, and with some fine-tuning of the game's movement systems and balancing issues, it just might hold its own in the already crowded market of tactical shooters. The developers have promised it will remain free to play when launched and that there will be no ‘pay to win’ mechanics, which is very promising.

So, if you love online shooters with well-endowed anime girls, then perhaps Fate Trigger: The Novita is for you! I had a great time playing this one, as it’s a solid shooter with decent gameplay, and I look forward to all future updates from the developers.

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