Hand of Fate Review (PC)

My warrior is ready to take on two goblins and a couple of skeletons, running around the relatively small level, trying to bash the creatures that have stolen his weapons and his gold while staying away from the weapons of the undead.

My enemies have numbers, but my equipment and special abilities mean that I easily take them out and then I am transported once again to the table where I am playing for my life against a mysterious stranger, once again relying on cards not swords to guide my destiny.

Hand of Fate is a unique game that could be classified as a mix of rogue-like, action adventure and card game, and the developers at Defiant Development have aimed to mix the best elements of all three in order to deliver a fantasy experience with plenty of surprises.

Story

Hand of Fate is all about bosses and rewards, with the player asked to defeat twelve powerful minions created by a mysterious figure known as The Dealer in order to get progressively more interesting rewards and to reach a final and life-defining challenge (it's very interesting to experience it, but spoilers would be unwelcome here).

The developers at Defiant Development leave a lot of questions unanswered when it comes to the character the player is inhabiting or his reasons for finding the powerful Dungeon Master who stands in front of him and constantly threatens and teases him.

A bigger world in Hand of Fate

Hand of Fate creates narratives around the above mentioned minions, with the player asked each time to choose a card to represent both adventures and equipment that will then be used to build the coming adventure.

The Dealer will use them, with a few additions of his own, to create a layout that gamers need to explore in order to reach the boss and defeat him, and each player experience will be different, based on the decisions they make and those of their virtual opponent.

The various encounters and descriptions are well written, with familiar elements from other fantasy universes mixed with humor and sarcasm that will keep players engaged as they try to reach and defeat the various bosses.

Gameplay

The first step in a Hand of Fate adventure is to choose the equipment a character can find and use and the events that he will have to deal with, from a pool which will expand significantly with each new boss being defeated.

Once The Dealer creates the layout, itself made from cards, players will need to decide where to move, keeping in mind that one step costs food (on the upside, it also offers healing) and that there are more opportunities to lose health than get more.

“The triggered events present a wide range of fantasy-inspired situations, ranging from an encounter with a devil to a massive fight with enemies of a powerful king.”

The main way of dealing with them is to jump into a 3D environment, equipped with card-based weapons and abilities, and take out all those who oppose the player's character.

The combat relies heavily on movement, dodging and counterattacks, and timing is crucial for anyone who wants to win without dropping a lot of health.

Initially, the battles are relatively easy as long as the player dances around their enemies and does not attempt to simply trade blows with them, but as Hand of Fate progresses, winning becomes more complicated, as traps, turrets and magic become involved and all the enemies gain levels and become tougher.

The encounters can be resolved via an obstacle course, which can also pose major problems, or by simply choosing cards from a deck of four, trying to make sure that the end result is not a Huge Failure.

As each adventure moves towards the inevitable boss fight, players will get more weapons, armor and abilities and they will need to trade some away in order to boost their health or to simply make sure that they have enough food.

The Endless Mode abandons the story in order to focus more on encounters and an infinite dungeon which players have to explore, trying to get their name on the leaderboards.

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The gameplay of Hand of Fate is certainly unique and engaging, but playing long sessions will reveal some problems.

First off, the combat sequences tend to become repetitive and even the introduction of more weapons, curses and blessings is unable to make them attractive again.

Players can get worn because the game often feels too easy, even in Endless Mode, and there's never a feeling, which is usually associated with rogue-like titles, of impending doom.

These are relatively minor complaints and fantasy and card game lovers will probably spend tends of hours with Hand of Fate, seeking new ways to complete adventures and to get a higher score.

Graphics and audio

Hand of Fate has two separate layers of action and they offer different experiences when it comes to the presentation.

Most of the time, players will look at the cards and will read text associated with them and with their adventures, and during these moments the game manages to deliver a solid art style, some beautiful designs and good graphics, even if some of the animations seem a little unnatural.

That changes when an action moment is required and the character the player controls is moved into a 3D space in order to vanquish foes, navigate labyrinths or simply interact with a vendor.

During the action sequences, the enemies tend to be blocky, even if they are the carefully constructed bosses, the movement is weird and the environments lack a lot of details.

Buying and selling food and weapons is often frustrating because the interface is not designed to allow players to move quickly through the various options and get back to the better parts of the title.

Hand of Fate never looks ugly, but the relative lack of resources the team at Defiant Development had to work with can be easily noticed and might affect gameplay for some.

The sound design is better, especially because of the way the lines of the opposing dungeon master are delivered by his voice actor, who infuses his character with a mix of world weariness and humor that elevates the writing and gives the game much of its emotional component.

The battles are once again the part of the game which suffers the most in terms of how sound is used.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion