Fatum Betula review for Xbox One, Switch

Platform: Xbox One
Also on: PC, Switch
Publisher: Baltoro Games
Developer: Bryce Bucher
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

Fatum Betula is weird.

I really don?t know what else there is to say about it. It?s an artsy game that?s heavily influenced by the strangest PS1-era games you can imagine. A giant mouth gives you beakers. You find a skeleton that wishes for death. You pick up a knife stuck into a tree. There?s a talking cat.

I may or may not have just spoiled a huge chunk of the game, and I honestly have no idea whether I did. There are branching paths and multiple endings, and I?m sure that somehow it all eventually makes sense ? but I really have no idea how.

I?m probably a philistine for admitting that. Fatum Betula feels like it?s very much into the idea of games as art, particularly if, as I said, you?re fond of the weirdest games the mid- to late-90s had to offer. That goes for the graphics, too ? Fatum Betula isn?t a very attractive game unless you?re really into muddy polygons.

And I?m sure some people are ? starting with its creators. Fatum Betula is a strange game geared towards a very specific niche. I can?t say I?m in that niche, but if you are, it?s probably going to be right up your alley.

Baltoro Games provided us with a Fatum Betula Xbox One code for review purposes.

Grade: C