Hand of Fate Reviews

REFUNDED, I love the card play and system, and I think games like Inscryption were heavily influenced by this game. Basically everything that Inscryption gets right, are the best aspects of this game, but it kind of falls flat when you go into combat with your character. It almost feels like one of those mini-games you try to avoid, and each battle feels like a Arkham batman fighting segment where you attack, see the indication for counter, counter, and keep fighting until the next indication. There are other variables added here and there, but the battles remain mostly the same. It IS a good game and paved the way for many others, but I wish this was an auto-battler, or the engagements were more like turn based strategy rather than quick battle-arena ventures. One other thing is, rolling good cards gives needed help, but rolling bad cards can be extremely bad and completely derail a game and to my knowledge, I dont think you have a lot to show for progress you make during sessions. You basically beat X amount of challenges until you unlock an incentive card that can help aid you in battle, but it doesnt feel enough, but maybe when the difficulty ramps up, so do the incentives. In short, it was a good run, but there are better games out there that take the good from this series, and omit the bad for the most part.

Really good and really hard. I really really like. fo real! I mean..really!!!! *Classic*

As with HoF2, Hand of Fate delivers an unprecedented and unique mix between deckbuilder, dungeon crawler, and action RPG. Also as with HoF2, there are glaring flaws in the implementation of mechanics, this time particularly with the Chance Card game and the action RPG combat itself. My issue with the Chance Cards is that it is the only minigame you have available to you. HoF2 rectifies this by introducing several others that aren't almost entirely RNG or perception-based: some moreso, some less so, but it all balances out. You also have a greater variety of equipment for dealing with or "gaming" certain minigame types. Hand of Fate has maybe two pieces of equipment that will help contribute to your success at Chance Cards. The action RPG combat is by far the WORST part of the game. While it's fluid and more dynamic (more options) in HoF2, HoF's combat is plagued by HORRIBLE camera movement and maneuverability of character. Too many times have I gotten stuck on a piece of terrain, surrounded by multiple enemies, and stunlocked by unavoidable attacks. On top of that, enemy HP feels much tankier than HoF2, which draws out combat encounters long enough that I began to feel the game was no longer respecting my time. Altogether, at this point in the game's life, I would have to say skip this one and try out HoF2 instead. While that entry has its own share of problematic features, they are not insurmountable, and the breadth of equipment and card types available allow you to take a more tailored approach towards the game's various encounters and challenges. Edit: Another thing I wanted to touch on is how some of the token chains for encounter cards feel REALLY unbalanced, requiring you to either repeatedly draw and complete the card's challenge with increasing requirements AND harder Chance Cards, or complete at least three Chance Card challenges with success or Huge Success. This is frustrating and a huge turn-off, but what I've come to understand is Defiant Development LOVES implementing things like this, as they were complained about also by users when HoF2 was fresh, and some things had to be nerfed. Engage with these cards at your own risk of sanity.