It’s amazing to think that this is the first time there has been an official release of Fate Stay/Night outside of Japan. This visual novel kicked off one of the biggest anime properties of all time, turned into one of the biggest free-to-play mobile games, and made the companies producing highly detailed $500 figures a fortune that must almost be comparable to the merchandise of Hatsune Miku herself. We’ve even had a cooking spin-off anime and video game released in English first! We’ve had Fate around for 20 years, and the game is finally – FINALLY – available, officially, in English.
It’s difficult to understand why. The original Fate/Stay Night, from 20 years ago was an adults-only game with some pretty hardcore sex scenes, but that version was replaced by the all-ages “gone legitimate” Fate/Stay Night Réalta Nua and all-ages anime, both released within a few years of the original. That’s the version that we have on the Switch, and while I must admit, having never played the fan translation, I would have appreciated the option of playing either version with this release (I funded those figure manufacturers with all the Rin figures they produced, and I do mean all of them). That said I do understand that Fate has pushed its seedy start right to the wayside and that’s just not part of it any longer.
That discussion aside, Fate/Stay Night is every bit as good as its fearsome reputation, and having already seen (and loved) the anime, I fell in love with the thing on an even deeper level with this visual novel. It’s a beast of a “book” to work through, but every word of it is curated with precision and beauty. Conversations that would drag on for far too long in other visual novels hold the attention here, so meticulous is the craftmanship that went into every character, setting, and situation.
There’s a great quote from the author of the game, Konoko Nasu, which appears in the game’s Wikipedia page: “…the story about legendary heroes and “a boy meets a girl.”… The main theme is “conquering oneself.” There are three story lines in Fate, each has a different themes. The first one is the “oneself as an ideal.” The second one is “struggling with oneself as an ideal.” The third one is “the friction with real and ideal.” This game is describing the growth of the main character Emiya Shirou. The first storyline shows his slanted mind, the next storyline shows his resolve, and the last storyline gives another resolution for him as a human. All three storylines are essentially equal, but they have different forms.”
It’s a great quote because it really highlights the depth of thought that went into writing Fate/Stay Night. On the one hand, it’s a story about a bunch of people who get bonded with heroes taken from ancient history, each with their own unique powers and capabilities, and they’re forced into conflict with one another. That’s hardly uncommon for the anime and video game industries, but the psychological side of Fate – its thematic intensity and intellect, is where it stands out. It’s accessible, as far as “literature” goes, but it certainly aims for a more elevated quality than many of the more straightforward visual novels.
Fate/Stay Night isn’t just a story for the grey cells, either. This is a very dark fantasy with some exceptional and intense scenes of brutality and violence. Emotions frequently run high through the story too. While it’s not horror, and while the explicit sex has been removed, Fate/Stay Night is an unrelentingly adult story nonetheless. One that treats its audience with respect, despite the traditional anime fantasy trappings.
As this is a remake of Réalta Nua, one advantage that this game has over the original is that it’s fully voice acted, and the voice acting is very much worthwhile. Meanwhile, while this is an older game and so the character art (particularly the sprites) don’t look like what you’d expect from a visual novel today. However, the characters are truly iconic and thanks to the depth of colour on the OLED Switch look as good as they ever have. Just seeing them on the screen has been a delight.
It’s amazing that a visual novel of the prestige and impact of Fate/Stay Night would be released almost without fanfare, but that’s what’s happened with this. I’m not sure we were even made aware of its impending release until a day or two before it landed. It’s the latest chapter in a game that has a long history of being a massively influential success despite the best efforts of everyone managing it. And I would argue that this tells you more about its raw quality than anything else.
