Project Fate Reconciliation

Project Fate Reconciliation (known more popularly as simply Project Fate, and as Project Fate Redux in Japan and Europe; often abbreviated PFR) is a 3D action RPG - third-person shooter developed and published by 's new production company, Credo Productions, for the PC, released on December 23rd, 2016. It is a “pseudo-remake” of the canceled 2D action RPG Project Fate, adding new direction, concepts, and characters to the original iteration's pre-established conceptual framework. It takes place in an alternate universe to that of 's depiction of Project Fate's world and characters in Fantendo: Genesis, and is therefore not considered part of the main New Fantendoverse canon.
==Gameplay==
Project Fate Reconciliation is a third-person shooter akin to Splatoon and Ratchet and Clank games. The single-player campaign gives players control of YE in a “semi-open world” with clear and sometimes varying objectives, similar to Fallout games. YE is given access to a variety of weapons that he has to scavenge from the world around him. Most weapons can be categorized into melee weapons, such as his syringe, crowbars, and other traditional close-range weapons such as swords and batons, and ranged weapons, such as guns, energy weapons, and explosives. The player uses the WASD keys to move YE, and the mouse and left click to respectively aim and fire through use of a diamond-shaped on-screen reticle (all controls can be rebound and/or initialized to console game controllers, including the Wii U's gamepad for Splatoon-esque motion aiming). The right click accesses YE's inventory, where players can access collected items and swap out weapons quickly. The inventory menu also holds YE's map, where players can view active missions and place objective points. Enemies have a unique, set number of hit points, or HP, which appear on screen whenever the player's reticle hovers over them. The more damage the player deals, the more this number goes down until reaching zero, at which point the enemy is defeated; each hit produces a number subtracted from the enemy's hit point that appears briefly over their head, similar to Borderlands titles. YE himself has an HP number, which goes down in an identical fashion. The single-player campaign has an emphasis on player choice akin to Undertale, in that it focuses on the player's capacity for violence, and changes key story events in relation to YE's pacifism or violence toward some characters.
The game also has an online multiplayer mode, more similar to traditional third-person shooters, called Project Fate Online (often abbreviated PFO). Players create a character from several species and classes and are given access to a “default loadout” of every weapon from the game, which players start matches of 8 vs. 8 with. Weapons can be dropped and picked up throughout the duration of the match by players of either team. Players on each team are respawned on opposite points of the map out of cryo-pods. There are multiple match types, which take place in unique closed-world maps based on locations from the single-payer campaign (and many exclusive to PFO). A Standard map pits two teams of 8 players against one another, and whichever team accumulates the highest amount of kills wins. Another mode, Courier, assigns one random team member on each team of 8 an explosive, which they carry in one hand, and one random melee weapon to defend themselves, which they carry in the other. The Courier is tasked with taking the explosive from their spawn point to the enemy's, and the other team members with their normal loadouts either protect the Courier or pick off other team members normally, depending on their preference. Survival gives players completely random loudouts and removes the ability to pick up and swap out weapons, forcing players to utilize what they've been given, for better or worse. More game modes and weapons are expected to be added as free DLC in the future.
==Setting==
The game is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth 45 years after a global nuclear war ravaged the planet and left the human population severely dwindling. The culture, technology, and general visual aesthetic of this alternate Earth before and after the war is inspired by 1950's America's Cold War culture (a la the Fallout series, which served as major inspiration for the original Project Fate and Reconciliation as a whole), 80's science fiction films (such as Blade Runner and AKIRA), and more fantasy-based post-apocalyptic/dystopian fiction such as Mad Max and Final Fantasy VII.
===Pre-war===
Pre-war society was a technologically advanced, but financially unequal people the world over, which created class gaps that varied in size depending on the part of the world, but that were generally very high and that sparked high amounts of civil unrest due to poverty and neglect of vast slums that emerged as a result. Sometime during the war's closely preceding few decades, several of the world's major countries fought over varying conflicts such as mass refugee migrations, global poverty and resulting civil unrest, and the stockpiling/subsequent use of nuclear weapons, with which small-scale nuclear attacks/conflicts had been waged between Russia & the United States and North Korea & France, among others. The apocalyptic nuclear war had ultimately been waged between the United States & Russia, North Korea, China, Iraq, and Syria, after disillusioned hackers hailing from the growing American slums had exposed and prepared to launch U.S. nuclear missiles aimed at each of the latter countries. This subsequently revealed other countries' nuclear aims, all under a similar justification (that said countries felt justified in having weapons aimed at enemies potential and otherwise because of their fear that these potential enemies had weapons aimed at them – essentially mass global paranoia reminiscent of the Cold War), and mass nuclear missile launches coincided with one another to create the nuclear fallout of 45 years prior.
A staple of pre-war society worldwide was Yggcorp, a global mega-corporation with wide influence in a vast array of fields, from fast food to weapon manufacture. Yggcorp provided resources in many world markets, and though its general monopoly on said markets was adamantly opposed by some, said opposition was ultimately outweighed by consumers and supporters.
Science was a prime focus in pre-war society, and technology had made great strides. In many parts of the world (namely America), government spending went to the sciences and education for the wealthy rather than treating the poor and their growing slums. Advancements in genetic engineering, energy-based weapons, energy-powered technology and weapons, new kinds of wartime and recreational vehicles, and primitive teleportation had all been made by various governments and/or Yggcorp, who could act independently of the government for research and developmental purposes in science/technology; a great deal of these advancements were kept out of public knowledge, however, and mainly used in times of war and conflict if not reserved exclusively for/made chiefly accessible only to the higher classes of society. One such technological stride of which effort was made to keep secret was that of genetic engineering, which was used to develop animal super-soldiers to be deployed in times of war in place of human counterparts. Some details of such projects were leaked during the final few years of pre-war life, causing uproar from animal rights activists, among many others.
===Post-war===
Only a very rough 5% of humanity remained after the war. Survivors in the more devastated areas of the planet (dubbed “the Outlands” by many) were far scattered, living in makeshift hovels, usually only three or four at a time if not made to be a strictly single-person dwelling. Some preferred to gather, however; less destroyed/irradiated areas were often the sites of larger communities with populations in the hundred thousands. What survived of the governments of many countries attempted to band themselves together, but were often met with riots and other methods of outright refusal to be governed or they found themselves unable to reach all potential persons due to the vast distances between blossoms of human life. As a result, certain potentially habitable/already inhabited areas were taken over and made into towns, cities, and some even self-contained “states”; in terms of government and basic authority, most of these structured living places were not recognized by many except for other governments and the people living under them. Several government-owned districts are found and visited during the game, such as New Plymouth, Bleak Bluffs, and San Pargin.
Much of Yggcorp survived the war, due to their vast numbers and worldwide prevalence. Yggcorp was relatively inactive after the war until 20 years, when CEO Lance Clubs regained control of remaining company assets after being cryogenically un-frozen. In the 25 years that followed, Lance rallied the broken mega-corporation together to help re-build society. Some factories around the world were salvaged and began to resume production in the last decade. One of Yggcorp's most ambitious and successful incentives was to create a corporation-owned city-state similar to sites such as San Pargin. This idea resulted in four rapidly-developed city-states, each in a “corner” of the former United States: Monument on the former Washington-Oregon borderline, Oasis on the former California-Arizona borderline, Thunderclap on the edge of the former Florida-Georgia borderline, and Empire on the former New York-Massachusetts borderline. Public opinion on Yggcorp was divided as it had been before the war; some were favorable toward Yggcorp for its reliance, ease of access, and now dependence on housing and safety, but others were suspicious of Clubs' sudden resurfacing and speculative toward his highly ambitious operations/relative lack of harm to Yggcorp as a whole from the war, some even accusing the corporation of conspiracy.
More to come, probably!
==Plot==
The game begins in an underground laboratory, where a green raccoon called YE is let out of a tube of green liquid. Traversing the lab, YE finds a room with a large screen, where a video message from 45 years prior plays. The message is from former government scientist Ford Foster, claiming to now be long dead, who tells YE “Happy Birthday”. Foster hastily explains that YE is “meant for something great”, and to venture up out of the laboratory and to the other side of the city above, where he will hopefully find another laboratory that houses Foster's friend, Dr. Violet. Foster says goodbye, saying that they will speak again when YE reaches the doctor's lab. A mechanism in Foster's screen room gives YE a large syringe with which to defend himself. YE explores the lab until finding an elevator to the surface, where he finds a city in ruin (called “the Motherland” in-game). After battling several hostile mutant creatures and violent looters with his syringe, YE is ambushed by several local hoodlums and their leader: a man by the name of Oswin who, due to his amputated legs, mobilizes himself using a flying contraption of his own design. Oswin explains that he and his “boys” are mechanics passing through the city ruins looking for scrap metal and usable parts to build more flying machines (Oswin calls his device/devices of his own “Buzzards”), but that there is a sizable bounty on a creature of YE's description, dead or alive. Oswin and his boys attempt to capture YE, but he is able to fight back with a spare Laser Pistol he finds on the ground nearby, and damages his assailants' Buzzards to the point of explosion. Defeated and unable to escape, Oswin apologizes and explains his condition; his legs were amputated before the war from complications that arose due to his obesity, and he and his boys wish to build more Buzzards to help people with disabilities, and so they can be free from the dangerous creatures and conditions in areas like the one they're in. The player can choose to help Oswin and his boys repair their Buzzards or leave them immobile and stranded. If the player helps Oswin, they fly YE halfway across the city, at which point they have to stop because the skies are infested by grotesque Bloated Ravens that the Buzzards are ill-equipped to fight even with YE's assistance. They let YE go and apologize for the misunderstanding, saying that they'll protect him from afar as much as possible, but to keep his head low nonetheless. YE battles dive-bombing Ravens on foot until coming upon a lone, orange-clad motorcyclist named Clyde, who is having trouble getting through the patch of Ravens as well due to his weapons having been stolen by a gang in the next settlement. He notices YE's Laser Pistol, and offers to give him a ride through the rest of the city if YE will help him ward off Ravens in the process. YE agrees, and the player controls Clyde's motorcycle along with YE's aiming as he sits on Clyde's shoulders. Hidden in the Raven swarm flies a giant Illbat, which rushes the pair; they fight off the bat just as the swarm tapers out and they reach the Motherland's edge.
Clyde helps locate Dr. Violet's lab, which is concealed by some nearby backwoods. The duo approaches the heavily fortified entrance, and a triad of cameras above spot them and beep menacingly. YE and Clyde go into fighting poses, but the cameras suddenly stop blaring and a voice from an intercom system apologizes and lets them in. They travel through a long corridor and arrive in a lobby-esque room, where Dr. Violet sits in front of two large tubes.
More to come!
==Trivia==
*The game's release date, December 23rd, was the projected release date of the original Project Fate, as well as its reveal during that year's Fantendo Holiday Showcase. The 23rd is also a prominent date in its erased-from-canon mother series of YoshiEgg games, being the release date of several later titles such as YoshiEgg & Bloop: A Crack in Time.
*The events of Project Fate: Reconciliation are said to have taken place 45 years after a global nuclear war, which is the same number of years after the apocalypse depicted in Mad Max: Fury Road took place. The game's general scenario and some key events draw inspiration from Fury Road as well, and the dating is said to be a homage by the developer.
*The game's subtitle “Reconciliation” shares its name with that of YoshiEgg: Reconciliation, another callback to its origins.
*The city of San Pargin is a reference to novelist and Cracked writer Jason Pargin.
*Ford Foster's name draws inspiration from the Gravity Falls character Stanford Pines, who is also a talented scientist.
*This is the first PC game to have the Gamecube controller and/or Wii U Gamepad usable through means of add-on accessories.
*Clyde is based on 's Clyde, who appeared in the YoshiEgg series, sharing a similar color scheme and purpose as transportation.
*PFO's Courier mode is a reference to Fallout: New Vegas, whose player character is known as “the courier”.
*The floating, mass corporation-controlled city of Oasis draws inspiration from Final Fantasy VII's city of Midgar.
==Gallery==
YEPFRlogoYE.png|The game's logo, by .
YEPFRYE.png|YE's artwork for the game, by .