Fate is rendered fully in 3D, allowing the player to zoom in and out of the action as necessary; however, the camera can only be rotated selectively.

This pet fights on behalf of the player, can carry items, and can be sent back to town in order to sell unwanted findings (though it cannot collect rewards for fetch quests).

If the pet's Health Points are driven down to zero (due to blows or damaging spells from enemies) it does not die, but merely flees the fight.

A patient player who takes time to fish can make their character very wealthy and obtain top-notch gear.

Finally, a denizen of Grove, specifically a minstrel, can be paid to increase the character's Fame, "allowing savvy players to buy Skill points."

Third, they can be brought back to life and transported 3 levels upwards, with all their gold being dropped where the character fell, at which point a countdown begins.

If none of these three options is to the player's liking, they may choose Quit and the character is effectively transported back in time to the last occasion the game loaded.

If a player chooses not to retire, they can advance their characters and go as deep into the dungeon as they like, with the last level being 2,147,483,647, that being the highest number that can be represented by a signed 32-bit integer.

The player assumes the role of one of these adventurers, and is assigned a randomized quest at the beginning of the game that will take them to approximately the 40th–50th level of the dungeon.

Although Baldree had considered the idea for several years, production of the game began in October 2004, with a total development time of about five months.

[8] By 2006 he headed a Seattle-based offshoot of the studio, developing Mythos, an online action role-playing game, with a group that included several members of the Fate team.

[citation needed] The score for the in-game town of Grove takes from Western classical guitar and Middle Eastern influences much as the Diablo series does.

[citation needed] The serene music of Grove is contrasted by a mixture of junglelike woodwinds, frantic percussion, and ominous ambient effects heard in the game's dungeon.

This portion of the soundtrack is original in composition and credited to sound engineer Marc Pospisil and developer Travis Baldree.

[12][13] The most voted upon was Fate personified as shown on the game’s cover, and a limited edition plush of this character was later released by WildTangent as merchandise on July 15, 2022.

[14] This was announced on the Steam page for the game, and the plush was successfully funded via a Makeship crowdfunding campaign.

[17] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot called it "a high-quality game that delivers well on a concept that isn't ambitious but is well known for being fun and addictive," while pointing out its strong resemblance to Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo.

[18] Both reviewers cited Fate's low price as a selling point but criticized its lack of multiplayer features.

[19] Fate was also a finalist for PC Gamer US's "Best Roleplaying Game 2005" and "Best Value 2005" awards, which ultimately went to Dungeon Siege II and Guild Wars, respectively.