Fate/Extra Record feels pretty good so far, for a game that was caught in development hell

It's been a turbulent year for Fate/Extra Record, hasn't it? Delayed "indefinitely" earlier this year with Bandai Namco dropped as the publisher, just for it to get re-announced with a release date scheduled for January 28, 2027. Even beyond that - the game was playable at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which is where we had the chance to go hands-on with the project.

The best place to start would probably be the gameplay. Before we played the game for ourselves, Aniplex showcased an example playthrough of both demo segments available to us - the first with Saber, and the second with Archer. Notably, Extra Record's combat is completely different from what was present on the PSP. The best way to describe the current affair is like you're playing with a premade deck of cards, with the chosen Servant acting as your deck archetype.

For Saber, the first one we also played, her playstyle revolves around buffing and attempting to stack as much damage onto a single attack. Regardless of the character, cards have an action cost associated with them, and this means that you can't always play every card that you draw into your hand. If you've played Slay the Spire, you already understand the gist of how things work; you've got a limited number of points to spend, and different cards you draw have different associated costs and effects. You can redraw your hand if you'd like, but it's not free - and I'd wager you'll only ever want to do so if you somehow find a real stinker of a hand.

How you'll want to choose your actions from your hand is further complicated by enemy actions. If an enemy is gearing up to attack you, you'll likely want to utilize cards that give you shield to mitigate. On the flipside, when the enemy isn't going on the offense you have little to no reason to go on the defense yourself. Most of the time, however, it's all about striking the best balance between the two - especially in battles with multiple enemies.

While we didn't get the chance to check out Caster, we did dabble with Archer. His moveset, contrary to Saber's, revolves around chaining together as many attacks as possible - death by a thousand cuts, which is of course very true to his character. Saber can chain specific attacks together too, so it's not inherently unique to Archer. Even if the main goal of a Servant remains different, there's at least enough overlap that things won't feel entirely alien from one playthrough to the next.

As for the presentation - what else is there to say? You can hardly still tell this is a game that originally was at home on the PSP. In terms of the scope of its environments, the new visuals shine, yes - but more importantly, compared to the original the dungeons are considerably more grounded with the environment. Rather than a disembodied grid, it feels like you're properly exploring a world instead of watching the suggestion of one unfold beneath your feet. There's far more going on in these dungeons even beyond the visuals, too; there's proper gimmicks to spice things up and even further cement them as an actual place.

Is it transformative? I believe so, but it's too early to say if that luster will last through the full runtime. Between the battle system and dungeon overhauls alike, the game is certainly shaping up to be a special remake despite all of the turbulence it hit during development. Even early on the combat feels intuitive and engaging, and I'm hopeful that those positive feelings will stick around for a full playthrough. With any luck, we won't be waiting too long for our next hands-on; Fate/Extra Record launches for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC (Steam) on January 28, 2027. Stay tuned for our further impressions as we head closer to launch.