The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is a Roguelike released by Nippon Ichi for the Playstation 3. It is a sequel to The Guided Fate Paradox.
A rather pessimistic young man named Shin Kamikaze was returning home from school one day when several strange figures with black wings descended from the sky and stabbed him through the chest. Just when he thought he was dead, he woke in a laboratory greeted by two figures — the angel Jupiel Soraumi, who fought off the strange figures known as devils, and the imprisoned devil Ariael Agarie, who brought Shin back to life by implanting a special crystal known as the Fate Awakening Crystal. However, by implanting the crystal into Shin, he had become God and must now aid the angels in repelling the devils before they are all wiped out.
Unlike its predecessor, the game utilizes cel-shaded graphics and utilizes a new combat system that allows Shin to tap into either angel or devil powers to defeat his foes. Depending on the color of the enemy or the situation, Shin needs to choose which he powers he needs to use as enemies are weaker against specific powers and said powers with varying abilities (angel powers focus on offense while demon powers focus on defense).
This game provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: In a game where characters either have Japanese names or exotic names that end in "-el", Phyllis sticks out like a sore thumb.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: With only a couple of exceptions, almost all demons are portrayed onscreen as almost too eager to kill off angels and anything that might remotely aid them. On the other hand, while the angels are trying to stave off extinction, they are also racist and have little empathy towards anything that won't help them towards their goals. Shin, Ariael, and Eri are quite disgusted at how despicable both sides can be, and as faithful as she is towards her fellow angels, even Jupiel finds it hard to condone some of the angels' behavior.
- Blamed for Being Railroaded: While Shin is given a choice in how to proceed with certain situations, they always seem to lead to him earning the scorn and ire of the angels no matter what choice is made due to him being given a Sadistic Choice where neither choice has a favorable conclusion or because the story railroads a scene into a specific situation regardless of the choice being made.
- Body Horror: Those who are exposed to the power of the Fate Awakening Crystal but are incompatible with it get turned into monsters who remain conscious but unable to control their actions. Shin is forced to mercy kill several of these, former humans who were kidnapped by the devil and failed to become Vile Gods, when Phyllis unleashes them on Shin. Also, depending on your choice, Jupiel or Ariael can become just like them.
- The Cameo: Liliel, Neliel, Kuroiel, Lanael, and Cheriel from The Guided Fate Paradox return in the post-game. During Neliel's cameo, Shin also mentions Jupiel talking to "a butler that came with the technician", which is an offscreen mention of Galtion. Mysiel makes a very quick guest appearance as well. There are also appearances by Shana and Haruhi themselves.
- Chest Monster: After the first few dungeons, any treasure chest in the game has the potential to be one of these and they get progressively more powerful. By the end of the game, you'll probably end up having fought quite a lot of them. Especially if you're going for the Trophy for gathering all items, as certain items can only be found in chests, while others have a much better potential to be in chests than dropped by enemies or lying on the ground.
- Contractual Boss Immunity: Naturally.
- Cycle of Revenge: Whatever the reasons the Angel-Devil War started with, it has been lost in the constant desire to avenge the each other's fallen, and those who think differently end up dead and contribute to the cycle (like Mariel and Jupiel's parents, who fell to a devil they showed kindness to). While Shin doesn't like it, he realizes that it's sadly a natural thing for anyone to do when Mariel asks him what he would do to the person who caused his parents' deaths.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Ariael is one of the nicest devils out there despite her quirky personality. Too bad the angels consider her scum since she's a devil. One even chose death over being cured by Ariael.
- Deity of Human Origin: Like the previous game, it starts with the protagonist being turned into a god by angels.
- Despair Event Horizon/Nonstandard Game Over: If you choose to have Shin not try to save Eri after she is kidnapped by devils, he receives a package containing her severed head. This causes him to go full monster, killing everyone around him, destroying Celestia and then the devils that come to investigate the carnage. You are then dumped to the game's title screen.
- Dub Name Change: Pheles Izayoi became Phyllis Izayoi outside of Japan.
- Duality Motif: Letecia has heterochromia, one reddish-purple eye and one greenish-blue one. This is explainable by the fact that she is a merger of two Vile Gods.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Jupiel has a bad case of this. Her room is packed with stuffed animals, and at one point after she is released from solitary confinement, the first thing she does it to go straight for comfort in her stuffed animals. This is followed up with an argument with Ariael about whether her behavior of talking to the stuffed animals is normal.
- Good Is Not Nice: Much like The Guided Fate Paradox, the angels have no problem yanking a kid off the street against his will just so they have a powerful weapon against their enemies. They also have a severe Lack of Empathy that has nothing to do with them, and some are incredibly racist towards devils and anything associated with them, even those willing to help them.
- Good News, Bad News: If you get the true ending, Mariel tells Phyllis that she has good news and bad news. Phyllis chooses to hear the bad news first. The "bad news" is now that the ceasefire between the angels and devils is over, the war will simply continue. Phyllis doesn't think it's bad news at all. The "good news" is... that Phyllis is no longer a general, and so must either be disposed of or stay in Celestia, to be disposed of should she ever be caught doing something bad again.
- Heel–Face Turn: Hien Inugami is an opponent for Shin at first, but meeting Hien's friend Eri and hearing her say that he'll never know true strength because he only fights for himself changes his mind. He decides he wants to know what power used for the sake of others feels like, and first heals Eri, then grants his healing power to Shin just before his death.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Should Shin choose to follow orders and abandon Eri, he goes insane upon seeing her tortured, severed head and genocides the entire Soraumi Celestia in blind rage.
- Lack of Empathy: The angels couldn't care less about Shin or his friends. As long as they see results, he lives. Also, Phyllis is generally a complete sadist.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: Phyllis regularly uses "damn" and sometimes "pissed" and even once "shit" in a game where strong language is generally avoided, other than perhaps an occasional "damn" from one of the other characters.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Renya's victory over Satanael in the previous game is mentioned several times.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Hien Inugami isn't interested in dirty tricks or dishonorable combat. He doesn't want to fight anyone he doesn't feel is worthy of facing him. Furthermore, when Phyllis temporarily paralyzes both Shin and Jupiel with a neurotoxin, he drives her and the rest of the devils away, then leaves the Amy Magic Refinery for the angels to do with as they please, promising to engage Shin again when they actually have a chance to fight properly.
- Level Grinding: The game basically warns you from the get-go that you're going to be in trouble if you don't replay dungeons to grind levels, collect useful items, and upgrade your equipment. Indeed, each dungeon has progressively stronger enemies and especially earlier in the game, more and more twists are added, including opponents that inflict various status ailments, ones that can attack from a distance, and ones that can self-destruct for massage damage.
- Morton's Fork: One scene has Shin having to decide if an imprisoned devil should be left alive or executed, right after he learns that he is a loving father who has a family waiting for him at home. No matter what is chosen, Shin will hesitate, giving the devil enough time to escape while killing one of the few angels who was nice to Shin.
- Noble Demon: Hien and Ariael, despite being devils (Hien being a technicality) aren't evil like the vast majority of them, and even show more compassion than most of the angels.
- The Rival: Hien Inugami, the Vile God of the Netherworld who was created to rival Celestia's God.
- Save the Villain: If you get the true ending, Shin chooses to spare Letecia from the final blow because he knows that even though she wanted to destroy everyone in the world, deep down, what she really wanted was to make the world better. He discovered friends, but she never had anyone, and he wants to show her this.
- Take a Third Option: Throughout the game, you are asked to have Shin make either the "angelic choice" or the "demonic choice." At the end of the game, you have to choose whether to save the angel Jupiel or the devil Ariael. Once you have seen both endings, however, you can save and then load from the save file to go back to the choice. This time, you have a new option, "I'll save them both, no matter what." This is the way to see the game's true ending.
- Third-Person Person: Phyllis, at least in the English-language version anyway. Of the "I'm so magnificent" type.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Happens in chapter five.
- Video Game 3D Leap: Unlike the previous game which used Nippon Ichi's tradition Sprite/Polygon Mix, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum uses cel-shaded graphics, making it the second Nippon Ichi game to go full 3D (the first being The Witch and the Hundred Knight).
- War Is Hell: The game is pretty much one big litany of this. Everyone, especially Shin, is forced to make tough choices, suffer terrible stuff, and it doesn't get much better. As Eri says, "Even though I've only seen war in history textbooks, it's pretty sad... Why won't it end?"
- Yank the Dog's Chain: In a game focused on choice, choice rarely ever matters. Whether Shin chooses the righteous option or the selfish one, it almost always ends in tragedy and getting criticized by the angels. At least early on. Things do start to get at least somewhat better later in the game.
