Hand of Fate

Developer: Defiant Development
Steam Release: Feb 2015
Hours Played: 4.0
Similar To: Hand of Fate 2
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
As someone who grew up playing card games against real people, the format (unless online poker) played over a computer screen never really appealed to me. That is, until the exotic and unique Hand of Fate captured my attention. In the style of a single-player Dungeons & Dragons session, with a mysterious dungeon master sitting across the table dressed in suitable garb of hood and mask, a series of cards are laid out in a small configuration before you. These act as "floors" or the "leg" of your journey. A small figurine is placed at the start and used as your playing piece. As you move from card to card, it flips over and determines the next action. Your goal is to keep moving until you reach and defeat the boss at the final turn. Of course the type of action you face is as random as the cards dealt but usually involves one of three situations:

BALANCE & PACE
(1) third-person combat; (2) a choose-your-own-adventure scenario with multiple choice decisions and a cup-and-balls type mini-game to determine the outcome and (3) a visit to a shop. As you go you'll need gold and food for various transactions plus health to stay alive in battle. All three commodities fluctuate as you journey forth and all are depicted through cards as are the weapons, armour and items conferred upon you by the dungeon master. As you win various encounters tokens are awarded which crack open at the end of a game revealing more cards that get added to your deck. Crucially, before each game, you can cherry-pick which cards can be added to and which cards can be rejected from the deck. You can replay a game and fight bosses a second time but the game won't necessarily be as easy as before.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Hand of Fate's success is mainly down to its seductive presentation which gets much of its inspiration from the Middle East and Arabic world. The game-master himself, seated in a grand temple, steals the show as he utters words of wisdom with a commanding voice that echoes with resonance. Little touches like how he handles the pot of tokens and how they float in mid air adds to the authenticity of it all as does the tarot card like art-style of the deck. The third-person combat scenes are located in gorgeous settings with items shattering and enemies dying in a satisfying manner. The lighting and shadows are also of high quality and very well rendered... and check out the animation of the way your weapon and armour cards get stacked over your warrior just before a third-person battle.
   

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Hand of Fate is predominantly a deck-building game where you collect cards. Some reward with tokens, some have to be "defeated" to become unlocked, some are good to have in your deck and some are bad. You need to study it, tweak it and tinker with it so that each game is more fruitful and where it ultimately helps you defeat the 12 bosses. These are the Jack, Queen and King of the four main suits which are namely: Dust, Skulls, Plagues and Scales. As you defeat these bosses, their card gets revealed in a fancy display cabinet near the table. By default, you may play one of three difficulties (Apprentice, Adventurer or Warlord) but if you fork out an extra £2.99 in what I consider to be a bit of an underhand move (in an already relatively expensive indie game) you can unlock around seven or so more difficulty types.  

 CONCLUSION

With touches like the pips of each monster card representing the number of monsters you face in battle; the detailed inventory screen; the wants and needs of a huge cast of characters whose paths you'll criss-cross on the way, not to mention an assortment of other card-types that just can't be fully covered in a 650-word review... there is plenty to unravel and uncover. However, with about 95% of the game being played at the table or involved in card-management, what you shouldn't expect is large amounts of third-person fighting or anything like a third-person fantasy RPG. The battles, which I generally found to be a case of mashing the attack button (as I found it difficult to block), although quite significant, should really be considered to be a pleasant diversion from the more important business of playing cards.