The idea of a time loop puzzle box is usually that there’s a big mystery to unravel, or a big event needs to be prevented. Narratively, the characters are often stuck in their arcs until they can find a way to break through. “It Was Fate” breaks with that tradition by… having the characters go to sleep slightly disappointed. Suffice to say that I wasn’t very compelled by the central mystery. There’s nothing there for me to sink my teeth into.
What doesn’t help is that the writing reads like an outline instead of a finished story. For example, the line “Milton is fascinated by the curator’s references to the “Sublime”.” It’s a nice thought, but is there any way to show this? Does he talk to someone at the exhibition, or does a plaque catch his eye? As a result, the writing is so forgettable that I ended up mainly focusing on the choices, which, unfortunately, is another problem.
Whether due to technical limitations or simply creative choices, there’s no indication of which paths you’ve already seen. After the first two loops, I would have liked to see a big red banner saying “this loop is screwed” when you make a wrong choice.
All that said, I think the character portraits are a nice touch that helped to ground the story.