When thinking back to the games released in 2006, most people will probably remember The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Gears of War, or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. They’re all fantastic games that I still find myself returning to almost every year.
Another game released in 2006 was Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Despite its many flaws, it’s probably the game from that year that I’ve revisited the most. There’s simply something about it that no other game has managed to replicate, and it’s difficult to explain what makes it so good without you experiencing it yourself. Whether it’s the satisfying physics, the sheer number of spikes you can kick enemies into, or the combination of those elements, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic has a unique quality that makes it unforgettable.
Twenty years after Arkane Studios released Dark Messiah, a spiritual successor has finally arrived. Fatekeeper is the debut title from Paraglacial, and while the developers haven’t explicitly stated that Dark Messiah is their primary inspiration, it becomes more than obvious once you start playing.
A heavy, spell-slinging druid
Combat is where you’ll spend most of your time in Fatekeeper, and with only a few exceptions, Paraglacial has done an excellent job. You play as a druid capable of wielding everything from small and large melee weapons to powerful magic and devastating kicks.
Melee combat is genuinely fun, featuring light and heavy attacks, parries, dodges, and the aforementioned kick, which can be used to send enemies flying off cliffs or into spikes. The combat is almost lifted directly from Dark Messiah, but with one twist that I really enjoy: your character feels incredibly heavy.
It almost feels like you’re controlling a walking tank. Movement is slow, and every weapon swing takes time to complete. Many of the enemies, by comparison, are surprisingly quick, forcing you to think carefully about your positioning and attack timing so you don’t get killed halfway through a swing. Every step, kick, and attack carries an enormous sense of weight, making melee combat incredibly satisfying.
The magic, however, is a bit disappointing. You can fire projectiles of ice and fire, but they don’t add much depth to combat. The more interesting spells are the ones that manipulate enemies and the environment. You can use wind magic to push goblins off ledges or telekinesis to hurl barrels and other objects at your enemies.
Bosses are easily the weakest part of the combat. Their attacks are poorly telegraphed and feature aggressive tracking, making them difficult to avoid unless you execute a perfect parry or dodge. On top of that, they’re extremely tanky and honestly take far too long to defeat.
Short, and without replay value (for now)
Fatekeeper is currently in Early Access, and nowhere is that more apparent than in its length. It took me roughly two hours to finish the currently available content, and that included spending a fair amount of time looking for secret herbs, weapons, and armor.
Its short length wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if there were good reasons to replay it. Unfortunately, the current build variety is both limited and uninteresting, all while enemy placements remain exactly the same every time. There simply isn’t enough variety to justify more than one or two playthroughs.
Again, the game is in Early Access, and more content will arrive over time. It’s just worth mentioning that, at the moment, you shouldn’t expect many hours of gameplay from Fatekeeper. To Paraglacial’s credit, they’ve priced the game at just €10, which shows that they’re aware of the lack of content.
Visually beautiful, but with a cost
Fatekeeper is built in Unreal Engine 5, which brings both impressive strengths and some significant drawbacks. Visually, the game is stunning. The outdoor environments in particular – like towering mountains and ruined ancient structures – make Fatekeeper one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen.
Paraglacial has clearly aimed for photorealism, and while the visuals are undeniably impressive, they do become somewhat repetitive over time, especially since the environments don’t change much. As mentioned, the game is still extremely short, so I don’t blame the developers for the lack of environmental variety. It’s something I’m confident will improve as more content is added.
The biggest downside to the graphics isn’t that they become repetitive – it’s performance. Since the game is built in Unreal Engine 5, which has earned a reputation for poor optimization, Fatekeeper runs terribly. My PC isn’t exactly a powerhouse, but an RTX 3070 should comfortably manage more than 40 FPS on the lowest settings. Unreal Engine 5 is certainly capable of running much better than this, but it’s clear that optimization hasn’t been a priority for Paraglacial.
Conclusion
Fatekeeper is an incredibly ambitious debut from a small development team. It gets many things right, especially its combat, but its short length and poor optimization make it difficult to recommend in its current state. That said, as I mentioned earlier, the game is currently very cheap, and because of that I still think it’s worth buying – but more as a long-term investment than something you should play right now. Its current state leaves a lot to be desired, but beneath the rough edges lies something genuinely promising. It just needs more time, more polish, and a lot more content.
