Fate Trigger initial impressions: Rough around the edges with plenty of scope for improvement

Fate Trigger is a new entrant in the ever-growing Fortnite-like Battle Royale genre. Currently, the only way to play is via an invite to the closed beta. Registrations have closed now and the game is expected to hit early access early in 2026. Given it is a beta, the game isn’t in an ideal state right now, but the developers have been pushing out a steady stream of updates to handle its numerous bugs. One can essentially sum up Fate Trigger as a Fortnite/Apex Legends/Valorant/Overwatch hybrid with Anime characters. Before every game, you pick your Awakener. They’re broadly classified into three categories: Assaulter, Support and Defender. Each Awakener has three abilities- one passive, one regular, somewhat-spammable one and an ultimate that is on a cooldown. It isn’t nearly as elaborate as the other titles mentioned above, but that will likely change with subsequent updates. 

Despite being an Unreal Engine 5 game, Fate Trigger has relatively light system requirements on PC. It supports all major AI-powered upscalers such as DLSS, FSR and XeSS; although not their latest versions. While Frame Generation might let you squeeze out a few extra frames of performance, it’s best to leave it off unless absolutely necessary. With all upscaling off and all visual settings cranked to the highest, I averaged between 60-70 FPS with on my PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and 48 GB of RAM. By default, the game’s FPS rate is capped at 60, so if you have a high-refresh-rate monitor and appropriate hardware, it needs to be unlocked manually. 

As is the case with every live service title, you can deck out your Awakener with a plethora of in-game skins. Some of them can be unlocked by progressing the in-game battle pass, while others require you to fork out real cash. At the time of writing, the game does not accept payments and each player is given a set amount of ‘Premium’ currency to test the waters. Sadly, Fate Trigger doesn’t let you play all Awakeners at once. Some of them have to be unlocked by completing in-game activities, one of which includes logging in daily. The concept is a grim remnant of mobile games that really doesn’t belong on PC, but here we are. 

Daily logins wouldn’t be a problem, if I could actually log into the game. There was no way for me to log into Fate Trigger without a VPN. Its client simply doesn’t connect to the server; a sentiment echoed by many players on Discord. A company representative says a fix is on the way, but didn’t mention when it will be rolled out. I was effectively forced to switch on my VPN to log in every time, and that doesn’t bode well for always-online titles that require a low-latency connection. That said, the VPN could be switched off once in the game’s main menu, but that did little to reduce latency. A “high latency” prompt always persisted on my screen and while the actual game wasn’t laggy, some of my hits did take some extra time to register. That should be resolved once more servers have been deployed globally in places outside the US and EU.  

Fate Trigger’s core gameplay loop is fairly simple. You and four teammates can drop anywhere you want on a map. Every few minutes, sections of the map are walled off by Pale Blight, the game’s take on Fortnite’s storm. Traversal is made easier by portals, ziplines and vehicles which have special abilities. Overall, it is still pretty barebones, but more features should be added with subsequent updates. Instead of dying immediately, you enter a ‘knocked out’ phase for a few minutes, allowing your teammates to resurrect you. However, enemies can also take this as an opportunity to take you out entirely. Fate Trigger lets you cheat death once, or multiple times, if you have the correct Awakener in your team. The last squad to survive wins, and you’re rewarded with in-game currency for your effort. 

Weapons are scattered throughout the arena, along with numerous attachments like extended magazines, scopes, and suppressors. The weapon variety is decent for a pre-launch title, with a decent spread of SMGs, assault rifles, shotguns, LMGs and sniper rifles to choose from. Each weapon can be decked out with individual skins, which, again, can be unlocked via the battle pass or real money. Weapons, armour, backpacks, shields are easy to come by in the arena, and you can salvage loot from fallen enemies. The actual gun play, however, needs a bit more time on the oven. For one, some hits straight-up fail to register, likely caused by the above-mentioned high latency. As a result, enemies can feel like bullet sponges. 

The game has since added a few more servers, but latency will continue to be an issue until more of them are deployed. 

Overall, Fate Trigger doesn’t seem like it wants to reinvent the Battle Royale genre. It is a mishmash of elements that made its peers successful. Yeah, the Anime-centric aesthetic might find some takers, but there isn’t much going on in terms of actual gameplay innovation. The closed beta lets players test out new game modes like Team Deathmatch, Rapid Trial and a ranked mode in limited bursts. Team Deathmatch is legitimately fun, and while it doesn’t have the pizazz of old-school arena shooters, the game mode offers a nice change of pace. In conclusion, the game needs some more time in the oven, and I’m not entirely sure if it will be genre-defining even when it launches. It has been in development for little under a year. Ideally, a 2026 PC launch seems plausible, with a console release to follow suit shortly. Even a mobile port is in the pipeline because of course it is.