Hand of Fate Reviews

Hand of Fate wears its inspiration on its sleeve, but its deck has a few new surprises. Those looking for something new will find something to like here, but diehard dungeon crawlers might be better off waiting for the next edition.

Hand of Fate is a devastatingly addictive adventure game that mixes card collecting with fast-paced third-person action and board games. Although full of disparate ideas, the game is never confusing. It has a few technical issues and I would have preferred a way to continue, but none of that should keep you from experiencing Hand of Fate.

These gripes are incredibly minor though when you evaluate the rest of the game. Defiant has done a fantastic job of marrying together two very different flavours of game, presenting it a stylish package that feels one part adventure book, one part action brawler. The potential for expansions and sequels further down the line is immediately apparent so, hopefully, this won’t be the last time we’re dealt into Hand of Fate.

With an incredible card-based dungeon delving system, RPG elements displayed through your deck, and an experience that gets significantly more challenging each time you play – Hand of Fate is game that well worth your time.

Meant to be.

Brilliant decision making, horrible brawling. Hand of Fate fails to hit a straight flush like it hopes.

This does allude to my deeper concern, not just with Hand of Fate but also with every smart, adventurous roleplaying-esque game that appears somewhere in the Steam top ten in recent months. I don’t feel entirely qualified to get into the formalism debate going on in some quarters of games development (and moreover don’t believe in either/or), but I guess this is sniffing around the territory. Like the similarly excellent, similarly characterful Darkest Dungeon and Sunless Sea, Hand of Fate’s deepest foundations are compulsion loops, knowingly exploiting the human hunger for more and better items and numbers and to keep on cleaning up a map/board/menu until no more options remain. I love that there’s this trend to use a tried and tested design mindset to hook people into playing stuff that then goes to more experimental and thoughtful places, but I’m quietly concerned that there’s a routine forming and that it’s closing the door on emotional connection. Sure, there are plenty of ‘indie’ games which are exploring the latter, but I hope we don’t end up with a hard separation. This is, I suppose, a meta-criticism rather than a significant concern about HoF specifically.

Hand of Fate takes familiar elements from collectible card games, action RPGs, and choose-your-own adventure games and jumbles them all together to create an experience that generally feels unique and fun. Isolated technical glitches, an overly generous dealer, and simple combat dampen some of the fun, but the novelty of the design is usually strong enough to pull up the slack. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Leif Johnson is a freelance reviewer who loves online role-playing games, archery, and mighty beards. Follow him on Twitter @LeifJohnson.

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At the end of the day, Hand of Fate is a solid time waster because of it’s sheer randomness offered by the decks you use. The more you play, the more cards you unlock, the more random the game becomes. Some of the games may be a walk in the park, while other ones might have everything working against you, from carnies to goblin ambushes.

One part board game, one part collectible card game, and one part computer role playing game, Hand of Fate is a witch’s brew concocted by Australian based developer Defiant Development who tossed all of these ingredients into a cauldron and ended up with a game that is as entertaining as it is addictive. It is also one of the most unique games I have played in a very long time.

In Hand of Fate, you use a constantly growing deck of cards to form the very dungeons that you move through. You challenge increasingly difficult bosses, and seek to defeat the ominous dealer. Although Hand of Fate hinges on cards, it’s not a card game; it’s a roguelike action/RPG, and a surprisingly fun and original experience that comes together admirably.