"Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark”

"Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark”
Reviewed by: Elias S. Lutes
Publisher: 1C Publishing
Developer: 6 Eyes Studio
Platforms: XBox One/PC/PS4

Set in a world of fantasy, this successful Kickstarter campaign has made its way to full launch on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. Turn-based strategy games may be a dime a dozen nowadays, but none have ever been able to compare to the real gems of the genre until now. With full customization of 30 overall classes for humanoid and monster units, Fell Seal gives you the creative freedom to tailor your experience to your play style as you fight your way through a story of political intrigue that your team has fallen into purely by circumstance.

The story is what I found most riveting - a game of summation, where right and wrong have clear paths and you are stuck somewhere in a grey area with Immortal gods meting out missions, and one having stepped down from his post, leaving room for one more to rise above and join the ranks. In order to be worthy of becoming an Immortal, one must of course journey on a pilgrimage across the world where rules don't seem to matter...

The characters themselves are well-written, a far shot from the usual cookie-cutter protagonist/antagonist recipe one becomes used to in games of this genre. Where the development might lead, I still don't know. With hours under my belt, most of which spent grinding towards all 200 abilities available in game, I still am nowhere near finished.

There is a good bit of the gameplay that old veterans will be used to -- if you've played Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, or any other recent popular title, you'll be familiar with how turn order, movement, and using attacks/abilities works from the get-go. What I was not really expecting were the fantastic changes to the way items and character death worked. Character death isn't really a thing, not in the sense that the casual workings of Fire Emblem's easier modes entail, but more of a "This guy is injured. Let him sit out, or incur a stat penalty until you do." That penalty stacks. You will be using your items to prevent these knockouts, and rather than holding them for those "just in case" moments that never seem to arrive in other games, you get a set amount of items to use per fight, and these items restock afterward. This led me to actually using the items rather than ending up with a full cache like I had in Fire Emblem. (Shame on me.)

When a main character is benched, it gives you ample opportunity to try out different classes you may have otherwise ignored, which really sets you on course to learn how best to set your team up for ultimate cohesion. In working with classes that meld well together, its easy to cover the weaknesses of one character with the strengths of another. Rather than reloading my saves when taking an injury for a main team member, I found myself actually looking forward to trying something new, and that's one area where this game really shines -- Yes, there's a lot of the old, but there's still so much new.

Pros:
- Fantastic story.
- Amazing customization that will feel familiar, while still bringing so much new to the game.

Cons:
- I hope you like grinding.
- No seriously, grinding.

Overall: 9/10

As a true love-letter to Final Fantasy Tactics only could, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark hits hard where many games have tried and failed through the decades. Opening up in a story of intense political intrigues and strife, the compelling narrative hooks you in, and reels without mercy through hours of compelling gameplay, grinding, and character customization to outfit your team as optimized as possible to completely destroy enemy parties through turn-based strategy combat. This is a must-have title, and failing to pick it up is doing yourself a disservice.