Can FADE Deliver an Interesting Soulslike Experience?

Developer FromSoftware birthed a new genre with its Dark Souls games, which felt like a breath of fresh air in a market dominated by watered-down titles with excessive handholding. While these brutal mechanics didn’t quite jive with the larger fanbase at first, this formula slowly and steadily gained mass popularity and developers have been hard at work creating new experiences that push the boundaries of this genre to varying degrees of success.

2023 and beyond is packed with exciting Souls games, and the upcoming FADE is definitely one such game. It looks like a simple game on the surface, but it has the potential to turn into something special if the developer makes the right moves. With this feature, we will be looking at each of the game’s aspects and nail down what exactly makes it tick.

As mentioned previously, FADE is currently in development at Knight by Light which is also the studio’s debut title. It was originally released into early access in 2020, and the game continues to evolve with each new update. The developers have been pumping major content updates for some time now, and their social media handles constantly push out development updates to keep fans in the loop. The game seems well on its way to completion, and the team generally has a good understanding of what makes it tick and how to capitalize on those fronts.

Coming back to the game itself, FADE takes place in a dark fantasy world of Baltane where ferocious beasts known as the Wildings threaten the existence of your kingdom they continue to march everywhere in hopes of total annihilation. The ruler of the kingdom High King Viktor has fallen, and as the rightful but inexperienced heir to this throne – you embark on a quest to overcome this calamity and restore peace back to this chaotic land. And the key to doing that lies in killing off the Great Wild Lords that possess control over these beasts, and wreak havoc upon this once-peaceful world.

The Dark Souls influences are quite evident here, but FADE is set to take these influences and build a narrative that will seemingly focus on the character development of our protagonist as he faces the many ups and downs needed to eventually become the man of the hour. This should make for a story that’s pretty fresh for fans of the genre, and one that has the potential to be an engaging coming-of-age story. FADE will also feature dialogue options that can change the outcome of the narrative depending on the path you choose during key moments, and we’re really excited to see the flexibility of these morality mechanics.

Over on the gameplay front, FADE retains most of the core tenants that come to define the Souls experience. You play the game in the third-person perspective, the combat has a ton of depth and players have to be methodical with each move to have any chances of success in the game’s brutal encounters. You get to choose from a wide variety of character classes such as the likes of warriors and mages among others, which have markedly different starting stats allowing them to have unique playstyles. But much like the case with FromSoftware’s releases, character progression is pretty flexible and you are free to invest your points in any stats which allows you to come up with all sorts of whacky builds that encourage player creativity and player freedom.

FADE features a unique weapon mastery system, where you gain more skill points for experimenting with different weapon types. For instance, if your primary weapon of choice is a straight sword and you continue to stick to this particular style you wouldn’t gain so much of skills. But on the other hand, if you rapidly change weapons and experiment with your playstyle you will quickly gain a number of skills which will make you even deadlier in battle. The final release will have a total of 7 distinct weapon types, which should give more than enough options to keep things fresh for the entirety of the experience.

This weapon progression system also aims to solve a major problem with traditional Soulslike combat. Most players usually stick to a very specific loadout for the entirety of a playthrough since combat encounters are pretty hard for the most part and getting used to new weapon types comes with its own set of challenges. But this progression system will encourage players to constantly experiment with their playstyle, and get to grips with the full extent of the combat system and how to dynamically change tactics for each situation.

Another new addition that FADE brings to the standard Souls formula is the Duo companion system. Players can choose up to two different companion characters to aid them in their journey, and each of these companions serves a different purpose in combat. The developer states that you can find a total of 7 companions throughout the course of your journey, and you will have to change your companion loadouts depending on elemental weakness and other similar factors. It’s basically a more fleshed-out version of the spirit companions that we saw in Elden Ring, and the concept definitely sounds interesting.

In FADE, you will be making your way through dungeons that are crawling with all manner of beasts, and you must use your skills and resources to clear them from enemy presence. Boss fights are obviously an important piece of the puzzle, and they will function as progress gateways between levels. Bosses are obviously huge creatures that tower high above you and impale you with hard-hitting strikes that can down you in a matter of few hits. They will most likely be a highlight of the experience, and we can’t wait to see how it pans out with the final release.

And coming to the levels themselves, FADE seems to have some really great levels that are dense with environmental detail and brimming with personality. There’s also a lot of variety within the levels themselves, ranging from murky caves to forests overflowing with vegetation and large arenas among a host of others.

Let’s also take a brief moment to talk about the visuals. Developer Knight by Light has used Unreal Engine for this project, and it looks nothing short of spectacular. The texture work looks superb, and post-processing effects such as volumetric smoke also look equally good. Enemy designs also look distinct from one another, and each enemy type functions pretty differently from the other.

Looking at the game as a whole, FADE looks impressive but it does have some janky elements to it like animations that aren’t as smooth as one would want from a game of this ilk. But considering that the game is still being developed at the moment, these are minor issues that will most likely be fixed with future updates. As of now, content updates for FADE are going to feature a few new cosmetic additions and visual overhauls to enemy designs alongside balance patches before the game reaches its full release. And when it does, the developer aims to increase the price of the game accordingly as well.

As mentioned previously, FADE is only set to release on PC as of now. While there are no current plans for console ports, there’s a high likelihood that developers will certainly consider it if the game ends up being a success on its launch platforms. In conclusion, FADE has many trappings of a great game, and Knight by Light could have a really big hit on their hands if they make the necessary refinements and deliver a game that doesn’t compromise on any front.

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