Fate
A randomized dungeon crawler with an invincible pet companion.
Fate is a fantasy action role-playing game, often called a dungeon crawler, released for PC in 2005 by WildTangent. A remastered version later appeared in the Fate: Reawakened collection, which launched on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on March 12, 2025. In the game, players guide a character through dungeon levels with randomized layouts, facing monsters, completing quests, and gathering items and gold. The character’s attributes and skills improve over time. The game is fully 3D, allowing zoom in and out, though the camera can only rotate in certain ways. The dungeon has an effectively endless number of levels, but the actual cap is 2,147,483,647 (2^31), the highest number a signed 32-bit integer can represent.
Players start with a pet—either a terrier or a cat—that fights alongside them, carries items, and can be sent to town to sell unwanted loot. The pet cannot collect rewards for fetch quests. If its health drops to zero from enemy attacks, it flees instead of dying; the game’s introduction calls it invincible. It still follows the character but won’t fight until it recovers health. To heal it fully, players can send it back to town, feed it healing potions or charms, or let it drink from a health fountain. Feeding the pet fish—caught in fishing holes or bought from vendors—transforms it into different, more powerful creatures. The transformation’s duration depends on the fish’s size; a flawless fish makes the change permanent until another fish is fed. A “Dogfish” returns the pet to its original form. Rare items can also come from fish. Patient fishing can make a character wealthy and yield top-tier gear. A fishing hole exists in town; selling caught fish provides money for better equipment before venturing into the dungeon. The deeper the character goes, the better items and pet transformations become available while fishing.
When a character gains enough experience, they level up, receiving five attribute points and one skill point. The four attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Magic—determine what weapons, armor, and spells the character can use. Skills (15 total, such as Sword Skill, Charm Magic Skill, and Critical Strike Skill) reflect proficiency in specific areas. There are no fixed character classes, allowing full customization.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- WildStudios, WildTangent
- Publisher
- WildTangent; Encore Software
- Designer
- Travis Baldree
- Genre
- Action role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Fate begins in the town of Grove, where the ancient Dungeon Gate leads adventurers into a seemingly endless dungeon. The player assumes the role of an adventurer assigned a randomized primary quest that takes them to approximately the 40th–50th level, where they defeat a randomized boss monster. Along the way, townspeople offer randomized side-quests involving fetch tasks, enemy elimination, or boss dispatch, rewarding fame, experience, and gold.
The game features no set character classes, allowing full customization through four attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Magic) and fifteen skills. A pet—initially a dog or cat—accompanies the player, fighting, carrying items, and selling findings in town. Pets are described as invincible because they flee rather than die when health reaches zero. Feeding fish to the pet can transform it into more powerful creatures, with flawless fish making the transformation permanent. Fishing holes in town and deeper dungeon levels yield fish that can be sold for wealth or provide rare items.
Death is not permanent; the personification of Fate offers three revival options: sacrificing experience and fame points to revive on the spot, paying gold to revive one or two levels away, or reviving three levels up while dropping all gold. If the player completes the main quest, they may retire the character and start anew with a descendant who inherits one item with augmented enchantments.
Reader's Guide
Fate holds significance as a casual-friendly dungeon crawler that combined elements from games like Diablo and NetHack, designed by Travis Baldree to appeal to both casual and hardcore audiences. Its randomized dungeon layout, treasures, and monsters, along with an effectively indefinite number of levels capped at the 32-bit integer limit, offered extensive replayability. The pet system—with invincible companions that could be transformed via fishing—was a distinctive feature that set it apart from contemporaries. The game's remastered collection in 2025 brought it to modern platforms, extending its legacy. The retirement mechanic, allowing characters to pass down items with augmented enchantments to descendants, encouraged long-term play and character progression. The absence of set classes and the ability to socket gems for customization gave players significant freedom in building their characters. The inclusion of a healer who restores health for free and an enchanter who could accidentally curse items added risk-reward elements to item management. The 20-minute dungeon refresh rule and the three death-revival options provided strategic depth to exploration and resource management.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Fate?
Fate is a fully 3D fantasy action RPG and dungeon crawler in which you steer a character through procedurally generated dungeon floors. You fight monsters, complete side objectives, and collect loot and currency while your character's stats and abilities grow stronger over the course of a run.
Who developed and published Fate?
The game was created by developer Travis Baldree and brought to market by WildTangent, with its original PC release landing in 2005.
Is Fate still playable on modern hardware?
Yes—a remastered edition was included in the Fate: Reawakened collection, which launched on March 12, 2025 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. The original 2005 PC build also remains available for Windows users.
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