Spiritfarer dev's next game, At Fate's End, is one of the prettiest things I've ever seen

A lot of games look good, with all of those high-end newfangled graphics and shaders and what-not. And don't get me wrong, I love a texture or a shader as much as the next PC gamer. But it's rare that a game stuns me with something simple. At Fate's End, even during its demo, has achieved just that.

Developed by Spiritfarer creators Thunder Lotus, At Fate's End is a sort of hybrid between a visual novel and an action adventure game. There's a clear delineation between combat and exploration—in the former, you're having conversations and exploring, in the latter, the game plays a little more like Silksong.

At Fate's End follows protagonist Shan Hemlock who, for reasons unknown, has been named the Princess of Swords. It's her duty, along with her god sword Aesus, to gather all the blades of her (likely messed-up family), through force or diplomacy. Here's my first impressions:

At Fate's End is adoringly animated—it's rare that …