Fate: The Cursed King
Fate: The Cursed King is a computer game that was developed and published by WildTangent. The game was available to play on WildTangent on March 30, 2011 and available for purchase on Steam on November 19, 2014. "Fate: the Cursed King" is the fourth and final installment in the Fate series that started in 2005. The release of "Fate: The Cursed King" was well received by both gamer and critic alike. The game scored a 9/10 on Steam and a 4.4/5 on WildTangent's own platform. Critics have referred to it as the "FATE-IEST of  the FATE games". The game was rated E for everyone years 10 and older. Plot. The game begins in a place called "Ekbatan" which is outside the "Grove" featured in other Fate games. While venturing outside the city seeking adventure, the main character stops by a place to rest and get water. The character comes by a cave and is drawn inside by a glimmer. After entering the cave, the character comes across an old chest with writing across it that he/she cannot read. Curiosity urges the character to push the top of the chest releasing T'Kala, an  evil necromatic priest who was executed and sealed in the chest for committing treason against the Cursed King. Due to the character's actions, he has now been released and proceeds to destroy Ekbatan in attempts to find and kill the king. In hopes to undo the evil you unleashed, the character must free the king's advisers and find the King in order to stop T'Kala and break the curse. The plot is fairly linear as the progression through the three dungeons all lead to finding the king and his advisers and the eventual defeat of T'Kala. Gameplay and  Design. The game is played from a top-down perspective. The mouse is used to control the character's movements and attacks, while the keyboard is used to control spells, potions, and healing items. The player can bind certain actions to specific keys. The game also allows the player to mix and match weapons, armor, potions, pets, and other items to work through endless amounts of computer generated enemies that the player comes in contact with. There are two kinds of quests present in the game; the main quest, which tell the overarching story of the game, and various side  quests provided by non-player characters. Quests will also have level caps keeping lower level characters from accomplishing them. These quests can be anything from finding a certain item to killing a certain enemy. Rewards for completing quests include gold, XP, "fame points", and various items. Weapons, Spells, and Equipment. In "Fate: The Cursed King" there is a variety of weapons to choose from. The weapons include axes, swords, spears, bows, knives, clubs, staffs, polearms and spells. This game also allows the player to dual wield weapons. Spells fall into three categories which are Attack Magic, Defense Magic, and Charm  Magic. This all can be upgraded and even enchanted to improve the damage output. The same concept applies to armor as well. The game contains armor including helmets, boots, shields, and body armor. Besides armor, the game has a variety of other wearable equipment that will enhance your character. Gloves, belts, rings, necklaces, and earrings can all have attributes that will improve your character. Both weapons and equipment can be obtained by a variety of means. Some weapons/armor are rewards for quests. Weapons can also be found in the dungeons. As well as these means, weapon and armor can  also be purchases and worked on by some of the NPCs throughout the game. In many cases, equipment as well spells can only be utilized when the character is at a certain level. In order to use these, one must level up. Pets. Pets play an important role in "Fate:The Cursed King". They can aid the character in the journey by fighting alongside and providing help. They will also pick up and carry items found along the journey. Although pets can not die, their life bar can run out causing the pet to enter a "fleeing" state when they  will be ineffective and will not provide any aid. The pet can be healed by dropping a healing potion on the pets' icon on the top-left of the screen. Pets can also be fed fish to change what race they are as well as change attributes such as attack power and life. Even among the variety of in games pets, the developers added an in-game pet called Strider that was inspired by Facebook fans interacting with a "Determine Your Pet Sweepstakes" that took place on the game's Facebook page. Levels. Levels and enemies are all procedurally generated . This ensures that every time a dungeon is entered, it will be different and unique to the player. The game consists of three dungeons—Caverns of Living Fire, Crypt of T'Kala, and then the Haunted Palace—-with over thirty levels each that must be completed in order with each dungeon ending with a boss that the player must kill in order to free the King's advisers. Players are able to pursue side quests in the dungeon even after completion of the main quest. Character Progression. During the start of the game, players must choose between five races for their character  including human, shadow elf, half-orc, cogger, and imp. Each race starts off with different base stats. Points gained from leveling up are allocated to strength, dexterity, vitality, and magic. Adding points to strength will increase your damage and allow the character to use heavier weapons. Dexterity points affect attack and defense statistics. Vitality will determine stamina and life. Magic will effects mana which will in turn determine what spells can be cast and how powerful the spells the character can use will be. There are also skill points that can used to level up specific weapon categories including Sword  Skill, Club and Mace Skill, Axe Skill, Spear Skill, Staff Skill, Polearm Skill, Bow and Crossbow Skill, Critical Strike Skill, Spell casting Skill, Dual wielding Skill, Shield Battle Skill, Attack Magic Skill, Defense Magic Skill, and Charm Magic Skill. Social Aspects. "Fate: The Cursed King" offers a very wide range of custom aspects in the game as well as outside. As the game allows the player to recruit AI controlled companions to fight by their side. It even allows the player to recruit copies of their friends' characters to become AI companions. Beside this, the games allows people to connect  with Facebook friends who also have the game allowing opportunities to compare characters and trade loot. External links. Fate: The Cursed King at WildTangent Games