Cotton Game’s Before Fate sends players across fractured timelines and strange worlds in search of answers to an unfolding cosmic mystery.

Cotton Game’s Before Fate wanted me to chase a mystery across fractured timelines, abandoned research facilities, strange worlds, and cosmic disaster. I wanted answers. I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to see what was waiting beyond the next portal. I just didn't enjoy much of the game I had to play to get there.

You play as researcher Ian Stewart, investigating strange temporal phenomena connected to the Aude Research Institute and the mysterious Chrono Gem. The story mixes time travel, post-apocalyptic science fiction, alien threats, and cosmic horror into a single mystery. That constant sense of unanswered questions is the game's biggest strength.

Exploration, gathering resources, and crafting equipment form the backbone of the experience. Rebuilding parts of your base and unlocking new areas gives progression a clear purpose beyond simply collecting materials. Finding a new location or uncovering another clue was consistently more rewarding than any of the combat.

Combat sucks the joy out of the experience. Encounters with hostile creatures and machines feel clunky, awkward, and mechanically unsatisfying. Instead of adding tension to exploration, fights become interruptions. Every new area held the promise of something interesting to discover. Combat was a slog that tried my patience when I just wanted to keep looking around.

The hand-drawn visual style echoes 1970s and 1980s science fiction and gives Before Fate a distinct identity. The comic-inspired artwork stands out immediately. It looks far better in screenshots than it does in motion. Stiff animation makes movement feel less fluid than it should, and combat suffers even more because of it.

Curiosity carried me through Before Fate far longer than its action did. Too much of the game surrounding those strengths doesn't.

Available on: Steam

Release date: April 13, 2026

Final Verdict:

Mixed