Fatehaven
Devon Connell is best known as the author of the popular, albeit controversial, Samurai of Hyuga series - but before there was Hyuga, there was Fatehaven.
As a young man or woman coming of age in the medieval-Europeanesque land of Delmacia, you’ve led a pretty ordinary life: helping out at home, attending religious services every Sunday, flirting with other young people and dreaming about what the future has in store. Helping out a wounded stranger - and a rather attractive one, at that - was an exciting change of pace. You had no idea that stranger was a powerful mage. You never would have guessed that they would awaken your own elemental affinity and start secretly training you in the ways of magic. And not in your wildest nightmares would you have imagined that you would soon be drawn into a violent conflict with the Church’s zealous crusaders determined to stamp out magic in the name of the Fates.
I didn’t know much about Fatehaven when I started to play; like many older games, it has a short blurb without much detail. I like elemental magic, though, so I figured I would enjoy it - and for the most part, I did. It’s not particularly polished, but it’s entertaining, and there are some understated scenes involving the consequences of violence that are almost devastating. Connell’s narrative voice is distinguished by a quirky, edgy sense of humor; there are meta asides and anachronistic quips and a lot of sexual innuendo. A little of that kind of thing goes a long way, and I can’t help wishing he’d dialed it back a notch, but for the most part it worked for me. No, it’s generally not the most mature or sophisticated humor, but it feels about right for a seventeen-year-old protagonist.
Unfortunately, however, my playthrough was unsatisfactory. It’s not just that my character died halfway through; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed games before despite getting a “bad” ending. But I had just played through a somewhat confusing action scene and was looking forward to an explanation for some of what had happened, only to die before one was offered, without knowing even in a general sense how the ending I got was the consequence of my choices or what I could have done differently. It also annoyed me that the game opened in medias res with my character and her presumed love interest being chased by a dragon, before flashing back to simpler times - but my character was able to die before the story caught up to that opening point. That’s some pretty sloppy game design.
I’m sure I’ll give Fatehaven another try someday and see if I can get a better ending. It’s not a bad game by any means. But if you’re looking for elemental magic or a high fantasy quest, you can very easily do better.