Hand of Fate Draws a Sequel

Hand of Fate 2

If like me, you enjoy games with a deep card battling system, then you may already be aware of Hand of Fate. A game that fused RPG elements with turn-based card gameplay and a fighting system that signals Rocksteady’s Arkham style. Yet the combat itself was rather watered down, leaving you wanting more of said combat style, but retaining the deep RPG card elements.

For the uninitiated, Hand of Fate is essentially a virtual board game. You are dealt a hand of cards at the start of every game and these cards can vary depending on what you’ve already unlocked by defeating the core bosses. The cards themselves can either be weapons, armor, gold or even cards that help you out when in a trap scenario.

Trap scenarios work on the basis that you have to choose from 1 of 4 cards to determine if you escape successfully from a dangerous situation. As mentioned before, the game’s fighting mechanics work in a similar manner to the Batman Arkham games, with one button to attack and a button to perform counter attacks. This combat was too simple and could’ve been so much more, but with the sequel just announced I can only hope they build upon the core game.

Hand of Fate 2 should look to right the wrongs of the drab combat system; but disappointingly, doesn’t look all too different overall. That doesn’t take away from the game’s more gnarly attitude, however. In general the game seems to be more menacing than its predecessor. I think this could work for both veteran players like myself and people who are new to the genre. The game needed the extra edge, a moment in which you have literally no health and faced with a tough boss scenario.

Not to put people off, but this is quintessential gaming at its best when the odds are toughened. The game’s card mechanics look to restrict those players who prefer a more considered approach, giving the player only a limited window of time to tackle tasks. For example you can now only draw so many cards from a class of ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ – effectively restricting you to use greater cards at the risk of running on a smaller hand, or by bundling a hand of lesser cards together and proceed without a powerful card.

The risk and reward gameplay seems better suited to Hand of Fate. You can’t easily steam through a dungeon anymore and kill the boss; this time around you must conserve your cards, explore as far as you can unlocking as many cards as possible for once you die you return to the start of the dungeon.

It almost reeks of a card-based Dark Souls, and this excites me somewhat. Cards also seem to compliment each other this time around, as well as a finer balance when you’re sweating it out coming up trumps against a stronger card.

Some neat additions include NPC companions that can help turn the tide of a battle or help to when talking to other NPCs within the dungeon.

I am really looking forward to the progress of Hand of Fate 2, I hope that the release doesn’t suffer the same technical problems of the first title. And even if the combat isn’t vastly improved upon, I’m ready for laying down my hand to the fate of the game!

Hand of Fate 2 is slated for a Q1 2017 release for PC, Mac and Linux. A console release has yet to be announced.

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