Fate of the World Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 26 Ratings

  • Summary: Fate of the World is a global strategy game that puts our future in your hands. Players will have to decide how the world will respond to rising temperatures, heaving populations, dwindling resources, crumbling ecosystems and brave opportunities.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Apr 19, 2011
    81
    A brave and largely successful attempt to use the medium of videogames to depict environmental crises.
  2. May 22, 2011
    80
    The Last Starfighter of Political Science. [June 2011, p.68]
  3. Apr 29, 2011
    65
    It completely misses its educational goal because of it's design, but remains an intriguing title for those that might feel they are smart enough to tackle the challenge Fate of the World throws at them.
  4. Nov 15, 2011
    40
    These types of games are often focused on a lonely construct. Fate of the World's zoomed out view only amplifies it.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. OH YOU THINK YOU CAN SAVE THE WORLD DO YOU? C'MERE AND GET SOME OF THIS TIT BISCUIT. Fate of the World is hard, hella hard because you're trying to save the world, it's depressing as well, providing a very engaging experience despite being a virtual card game. I have not even passed the third scenario yet but like any good game, losing is enjoyable. You don't feel defeated when you lose, you wonder what you did wrong. A very good value on Steam, but you can also buy it from their site. Buy this game, play this game, it is awesome. Expand
  2. 8
    I got this yesterday, and spend last evening trying to beat the "Oil Crisis" scenario. The presentation and the engagement of the game are excellent, I immediately got stuck into it and had a strong sense of time running out and climate change getting worse.

    That said, it's really, really difficult. Maybe I haven't yet figured out the key to this game, but even when I'm doing well the game can throw a curveball at me and completely ruin my playthrough. For instance, I had a global market crash in 2070 which caused most continents to sink into war and general hate towards me as the GEO chairman. I could not figure out how to avert or fix this, and that was a bit annoying as I was doing so well up to then.

    I do like it a lot though, and am looking forward to solving the problems the game throws at me. It was heartbreaking once the extinctions started, and I felt directly responsible. Which other game can claim the same educational effect on the player?
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  3. Confusing and steep, but undeniably compelling and interesting. In fate of the world you are elected world leader to tackle a fuel and environmental crisis at the same time. The game is not afraid to throw you into the deeps, providing a tutorial that is too small and tons of information that you may or may not need directly. Information is not well presented: it's too much and too fine, there is no good top down information-stream. Since the gameplay is turn-based and graph reading is involved a lot, the pace is slow. This gets a bit tedious because all areas you control don't feel unique, and you tend to find the same scenario in different areas over time, making you hasty and careless in your decision. Different options for different countries would certainly help. Actually, the gameplay is remarkably linear for a game which gives so much choice. It's more about juggling between economy and environmental issues. You only have one sane choice direction to go (Renewal energy), its just how you manage it while keeping the folks happy. The game would benefit if the options feel more distinctive. A suggestion would be to, for example, enable South America to become a world national park, lowering the Carbon emitted drastically and saving bio-diversity, or to choose to make it the world bio-fuel factory, buffering food supplies and spreading the juice. Generally, the game misses gameplay character. The game mechanics and the action-consequences events are hidden deep. You'll never see a "Will reduce Carbon emitted by 20% over 10 years" or "Produces X barrels of oil in 5 years". This may make the gameplay look random at times, and makes you play a little more aimlessly. However, taking this all together, Fate of the World brings the player in a fresh new situation, educating them on the run. It's vagueness and lack of direct feed back make the game mysterious and unpredictable. It's steep learning curve and difficulty make the player think not only about the game, but also about the future of the world. If you put this all together, it makes Fate of the World memorable and stimulates the player to think. Therefor I see the game as a great educational and philosophical game, that like a really good movie, makes you think about our existence and problems. Only for that brave step alone I think the game is already admirable. That I'm enjoying it regardless of all the pits is an extra. Expand
  4. 4
    Fate of the World is an interesting game with goals that make you think about your next moves. It is definitely a genre that hasn't been seen all too often, which is nice considering the redundancy, and thus lack of creativity, seen in the current gaming industry/market. The graphics are pretty basic; just a globe with an Earth texture slapped on it and a day night cycle which really means nothing other than seeing lights turn on at night.

    However, there are some aspects of the game that don't interest me. Fate of the World is a somewhat linear game. Granted, you can do different things every time you play the game, it's overall objective is to get the player to keep the world from falling into despair due to either global warming, low HDI or civil wars (with the exception of one scenario). Another issue is the lack of sandbox play. With a game/idea like this, the most important thing you want to include is a sandbox mode that allows players free reign over their game. FotW does not allow this. The scenarios are also very short, not allowing players to really become immersed in the game fully; almost comparable to a demo.

    Overall, Fate of the World is an interesting peek into what global strategy games could become someday (more about geo-politics and policies and less about wars and dominance). Unfortunately, it falls flat with its short game-time scenarios and lack of free-play.
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See all 9 User Reviews