Once in a blue moon a game comes along that completely dazzles you and blows you away, and that's what this little known game does. Hand of Fate coming from a kickstarter background, and all it is; is a collectable card game which has heavy roguelike elements, with some combat (in third person) which kind of hinting towards Dungeons and Dragons. It sounds like it wouldn't work right? Well oddly enough, it works very well.
Image the layout of the cards as a grid. The placement of the cards are in a random, yet per-determined layout. Each turn you can move to one card across or next from you; undiscovered cards will be face down and revealed and unlocked when you move onto them. The encounter cards that I spoke of earlier can range from simple combat with one enemy to a complex combat with multiple enemies, or if you are lucky the cards can be more into your favor with just a random event encounter such as a goblin who gives you free stuff, a maze which if you complete you get supplies. Just take note that each time you die, even if you get the same layout all cards will be in a different location so two runs will never be the same. So as you would image getting a good run of encounter cards could be the the success or failure on later stages and even more so when you start playing the endless mode which is very addictive. More often that not you will hit a sting of unavoidable combat encounters, and purely bad luck that will leave you in very sticky situations.
With multiple paths you can make through many dungeons, it would make sense to seek out the exit or final boss as quickly as you can as you can quickly run out of food. Oh yeah I forgot to mention. There is food in this game which is used on every movement. Yes you can buy food and earn it by random encounters but you can die to starvation so that is the reasoning you would want to find the exit and the dungeon leader as quickly as you can. With that said that the addition of tokens that could grant you extra cards could offer you an incentive for exploring and taking that risk as a reward. Tokens are earned from certain encounters if you complete them in a certain way, and will grant cards to that you would have unlocked so you can place them in your deck. The more tokens you receive and have, the better chances of getting stronger equipment, which is another small piece of bait that will make you keeping coming back from more.
Whenever you begin a combat encounter you enter a third person arena where melee combat is very similar to games like Batman (Arkham series), albeit a bit less smooth. The combat is serviceable at best and the AI enemies you fight are never up to much on their own. Multiple enemies can be a slight problem though as they fill the screen and attack you all directions, plus with enemies who have range can be a tad bit annoying. Even more so when you are underequipped, but the real challenges almost always is the final boss fight at the end of each story dungeon.
Strangely you are in 3rd person when you go into any type of ship, which personally feels slightly out of place and unnecessary and also when you enter a trap event. The Maze/Trap events I spoke of before you see your character in a area filled with traps such as spikes, dart traps, wall mounted flame throwers to avoid. The camera can be a problem when it comes to the trap themselves, as the frame rate could drop and make the game very unplayable at times and frustrating thus making the third person section quite unwelcoming. So, there is a patch needed to make combat and any and all third person sections improved and more playable.
Framerate and load times issues are not the only bugs that you can come across. (I haven't tested on the PC, but the PS4), There is a audio bug where all sounds cuts in and out and it is rather annoying when it does. Usually happens during combat and doesn't kick back in until one or two board moves. I also experienced a game error where my save was wiped. So everything I earned (which wasn't much at the time due to me just starting the game) was gone. Lastly sometimes the game will randomly freeze up which could lead to a corrupted save.
Another little problem is that the combat encounters could become a bit stall and boring as the environments that you battle in could be rehashed over and over again. Same with the enemies. You have four types of enemies that you will be mainly be against. Humans, Lizards, Skeletons, and Rats. Sometimes you will be against mages, lava giants and minotaurs all which you have to unlock. The only thing that will keep you on your toes here is that everything could be mixed and matched up so you can go up against skeletons and humans in the same encounter. Lastly boss fights could be rehashed as normal encounters you could go up against a boss that you previous beaten.
Beyond those problems which only one is game breaking and like the game its based on luck if you get it. (How fitting right) Each little gripe could be easily overlooked as Hand of Fate presents a genre that is newer and fresh and could be explored. The game feels like nothing I have played before and it was exhilarating to discover what lies next in the next adventure. Unexpected encounters, brilliantly written situations and the ability to use your imagination to see the situations that are explained on screen makes the game enjoyable to play and not just for the D&D fans but casual fans as well.
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