I had no idea what Fate Trigger was before last weekend. Then, I came across a gameplay clip showing an anime girl’s first-person perspective while firing a gun. In the shot, a nice, ample glance at the girl’s breasts are in frame as she drops down to the ground. “Oh man,” I thought to myself. “I guess I gotta try this game.” And so I was introduced to Fate Trigger.Fate Trigger is an upcoming free-to-play shooter developed by Saroasis Studios. Serving as the developer’s debut title, the team describes Fate Trigger as a “new-dimensional 3D cel-shaded hero tactical shooter.” Fate Trigger is set to enter a closed beta test, or “CBT,” on Thursday, July 24th. Various ways exist to secure access to the game’s beta run, as outlined on the game’s official website.Never in my life seen this @FateTrigger_EN #FateTrigger pic.twitter.com/izhpXJZu3U— 𓉸ྀི (@sigmaeonni) July 10, 2025I gained access to Fate Trigger’s pre-CBT technical test ahead of time, which features 10 heroes (or “Awakeners”) across a battle royale mode. Called “Awakener Trials,” players queue up into squads of four, select their Awakener, and jump into the battlefield in order to outlast each other.After a couple matches, I feel like I’ve got a good handle on what Fate Trigger is trying to accomplish. And while it absolutely feels like familiar ground for the battle royale genre, this is one shooter anime fans should keep a close eye on nonetheless.Imagine if ‘PUBG’ had an anime girl that wiggles her buttTo the Skies: Soarwynne's Ultimate Skill#Soarwynne creates an updraft with Source Energy, lifting everyone within its range to a high altitude. Wishlist now:https://t.co/urTwceiZYJ#FateTrigger #Awakener pic.twitter.com/lud7h3ouW1— Fate Trigger (@FateTrigger_EN) April 11, 2025Fate Trigger feels a bit like PUBG and Apex Legends rammed together, but with anime women as the main leads. Pick a hero, select where to drop, collect guns and loot, look for vehicles to traverse the map, and try your best to survive as the game’s circle (“Pale Blight”) closes in on you — all while other squads are trying to hunt you down. Hero shooter elements are core to Fate’s gameplay. Like Apex, every character has a unique passive ability, an active (“Tactical”), and an ultimate that charges during play. Eos the Assault class can dash with her Tactical ability and shoot a destructive yellow beam as her ultimate. Soarwynne, another Assault hero, can charge a jump into the air to gain a vertical advantage before a firefight. Her ultimate is a special wind current that allows her squad to free fall in the sky, as if they were jumping onto the battlefield once more.Some of the Awakeners offer some particularly clever abilities. Defender-class Kira, a rabbit girl with an alternate outfit that oddly reminds me of VTuber Pipkin Pippa, can put down retro game-themed cover for her teammates. Her ultimate lets her build a tower for her squad to hide in or snipe from. Meanwhile, the petite blonde-haired engineer Mindy can call upon supply drops as her ultimate, making her a pretty useful Support hero to have during the early- and mid-game segments of a match.Separated at birth, brought back together through the power of anime. Screenshot: Pipkin Pippa x Saroasis StudiosOverall, gunplay feels like a healthy mix of PUBG and Fortnite combined. Players run around in third-person, scavenging for weaponry and attachments. Time to kill is short, with a few well-placed shots generally downing an enemy. Cover, precision, and estimating your capacity to win an engagement beforehand are the most important parts of Fate Trigger. The game is, after all, a tactical battle royale shooter. As for the gunplay itself, it’s fine. Bullet spread exists, but it’s relatively forgiving. Sniper rifles are particularly powerful, allowing most players to down a shielded enemy with two good shots. Teammates have a chance to revive an incapacitated player when they’re downed; otherwise a dead teammate will either get a second chance to respawn, or they must have their GenSphere picked up post-death for a revive.Fate Trigger is still a hero shooter, but its ability system reminds me of Valorant. That is, hero abilities aren’t necessarily intended to kill, instead they provide tactical advantages for gunplay. Dashes, fire walls, cover, healing, and wall hacks all set up engagements. You and your aim must do the rest. Again, Fate Trigger is fundamentally a tactical shooter, even if it’s far more forgiving than Counter-Strike or Valorant.Will the game dethrone Apex Legends or PUBG as the next big battle royale game? I doubt it. However, Fate Trigger offers an entertaining remix of a tried-and-true battle royale formula, throwing anime characters into the mix for the weebs among us. For streamers who are invested in the battle royale genre, or are otherwise looking for fun games to play while yapping on stream, Fate Trigger shouldn’t be missed.That said, there’s one last part of the Fate Trigger puzzle that we need to discuss. And that’s the supposed “gooner” elements within the game, the ones that drew me to it in the first place.Is ‘Fate Trigger’ a game for gooners?Soarwynne’s leather straps frame her pelvis, drawing the viewer’s gaze. Yes, it’s obviously done for a reason. Screenshot: Saroasis StudiosWhen I streamed Fate Trigger for three hours on Twitch, consensus among my community was that Saroasis Studios’ anime shooter wasn’t necessarily built to be played with one hand — but it did have a fair share of fanservice. Femme fatale Huxley wears a form-fitting tactical dress with ample cleavage on display, carrying a femdom vibe as she interrogates downed enemies. Soarwynne has a skin-tight bodysuit that lets you see every inch of her navel and plump cheeks, along with two leather belts that directly frame her pelvis. When Camille is prone, you can see up her skirt and gaze at her white panties. Xiva’s bodysuit has undergarment-like bottoms that hug her rear, showing off her cheeks as if she is wearing a low thong. And Soarwynne, Xiva, and Eos’ butts all wiggle as they run, with Xiva in particular shaking her ass like crazy. The sex appeal in this game? It’s high.However, during my playthrough, I never experienced a first-person “breast cam” like in the original preview clip that brought me into Fate Trigger. The battle royale mode I played was entirely in third-person, hence the ability to look at my character’s butt. Is the first-person breast cam hidden within another mode? It’s not entirely clear to me. Also, while fanservice is core to Fate Trigger’s various female character designs, male character Ryoin also has a skin-tight bodysuit that shows off the tight figure underneath his clothes.There are also many hero characters that are not shooting for fanservice. Nase, an adorable pink-haired sailor girl, is clearly intended to be emergency food. Kira is shy and adorable, seemingly introduced as a platonic “little sister” character for the player to latch onto (if not project themselves onto, given her official bio describes her as “socially anxious” and a fan of “game consoles”). Mindy, the petite engineer girl, is missing the more sexualized elements seen in other characters’ designs. And while Camille does have her upskirt moments, her design is relatively tame compared to the more blatant fanservice seen with Eos, Soarwynne, and Xiva.Xiva’s uniform gives players a healthy look at her rear throughout Fate Trigger’s battle royale mode. It wiggles when she walks and runs. Taken from Ana Valens’ Twitch stream. Screenshot: Ana Valens x Saroasis StudiosDon’t get me wrong, Fate Trigger is still trying to snag the viewer’s eye with its combat suits that leave little to the imagination. But Fate Trigger is no Stellar Blade. The fanservice and sex appeal on display might be a little more blatant than in Genshin Impact, but it’s definitely not as in-your-face as the original gameplay clip I saw over the weekend. It’s unclear to me if other modes in the game may feature first-person angles that show a female character’s cleavage as she moves. But for now, I haven’t seen it for myself.Overall, do I recommend giving Fate Trigger a try? Yes. It’s an enjoyable, anime-oriented take on the battle royale genre, one that’s easy to hop into but clearly difficult to master. The game’s CBT is set to start July 24th. Given it’s free to play, why not give it a try? Sign up for the game’s beta via Fate Trigger’s Steam listing.The post I Got to Try Anime Waifu ‘PUBG’ and Honestly Liked It appeared first on VICE.