I have traveled to the end of the world, and what did I find, but an odd cabin at the end of nowhere. I approached the door, and before I could even check to see if it was unlocked the door opened by itself and a man's voice bids me to enter.
Inside the cabin, I first notice the smell of incense about the room which gives me a strange calm. Again the voice bids me to enter and have a seat, the voice is coming from a man, or at least I believe he is a man wrapped in fine silks, his body covered all but his hands and his eyes.
As I sit down at the table across from the veiled man, he pulls out what looks like a tarot card deck and asks if if like to play a game, a game of life and death? I am compelled to say yes, and with that he begins to shuffle the cards.
That is how the game Hand of Fate begins, it might not show that all during the intro of the game, but I know that's how it is because that's how I envision how I got to this game.
Hand of fate is a Rouge like, deck building, real time action game, it was released in 2015 by Defiant Development. I know what your asking, why are you doing a game review for a game that's 2 almost 3 years old? The truth of the matter is only really found out about the game about maybe 6 months ago when it was a free game on Xbox gold, I played it a bit, not being much of a console gamer, but PC is where most of my gaming is done, then a week ago I was wandering through one of my favorite gaming sites Humblebundle, noticed it was in a bundle, grabbed it, played it, and loved it. And of course, I had to share it.
Hand of Fate is simple game to understand, as the mysterious man pulls out his tarot deck, which is filled with item cards, monster cards, event cards, and shop cards. He lays out the cards of his deck in a sort of dungeon configuration, and places your token upon one of the cards, and you get to choose which card you move too.
On the left side of the screen you have a few cards in your hand, one of them is your life, you start out with 100, but that number can go up or down due to curses, equipment enhancements, and damage from opponents, or traps. The second card is your food, which is one of your most important, and each card you move too uses one food, and heals you a set amount, run out of food, and you will take 9 damage each move until the final conclusion DEATH. The third and final card, is gold, and as you might have figured it out, you use gold to buy better items, food or healing from shops you might find along the way.
As you move from card to card, the mysterious man turns it over and you are usually faced with a choice, such as "as you approach a ravine you find a skeleton at the bottom, and an item" "Do you climb down and retrieve the item?" if you say no, them you move on to the next card, but, if you choose to venture forth and get this item you are seen your chance at success of failure, when he pulls forth 4 cards, with varying levels of success or failure, he mixes the cards up on the screen and you pick one, if successful, you retrieve the item and get to add another weapon to your arsenal, if you fail, you take some damage and still might get the weapon.
Luck plays a big part in this game, as does getting a Tarot reading from a local gypsy. Eventually you will come across a ambush card which will bring you to the fighting aspect of the game, fighting is simple and can get a little repetitious, but the simplicity of the combat is also one of the greatest qualities of this game. You are whisked from the table of cards, and as the cards are placed down, your hero emerges as well do your enemies. You can attack, with your weapon in hand, stun then with a shield bash, is your are lucky enough to have a shield in your inventory, you can dodge and you can counter attack, if your timing is right when you see the green wavy lines above your foes head. If you have only a few opponents you will make quick work of them and continue on your quest, but if you get a lot of opponents, you will be striking, dodging, counter attacking in such a fury that smoke might literally start to arise from your keyboard.
As you land your last strike, it zooms in, time slows as you see your strike land felling your opponent at your feat, and as a sense of accomplishment washes over you, and you prepare to flip the next card to continue your quest.
Why are you continuing your quest? to track down and defeat the 12 bandits, or find death trying.
As you make your way through the card dungeon, and overcome obstacles. the veiled man will provide you with tokens, and if you make it to the end of the dungeon and face one of the bandits and defeat him, then his card will get locked into the chest, and your token will be shown to you, shatter and provide you with new cards, could be new missions, equipment etc, to be added into your deck to help or hinder you along your way.
I have had great fun playing this game, with each quest taking approximately 20 minutes to complete, its not all combat, as there are also obstacles courses for you to overcome and some huge monsters to defeat. You can pick this game up on Steam right now for $19.99 and I highly encourage you to do. The other day I also found out, that the crew over at Defiant Development are going to be releasing Hand of Fate 2 on 11/7/17 for $29.99 on Steam.
You cant beat the fun, for the price. I hope you have found this review helpful, if you did, please upvote, follow and resteem. And if you pick up the games let, me know what you think.
If you have anything else you would like me to review, please let me know.
Full disclosure, I am in no way being paid for, in the employ of or represent Defiant Development, Humble Bundle or Steam. I am just a man who enjoys life and games and like to share those with others.
photos are my own or used with permission from Defiant Developments press kit page
