Have Game, Will Play: Hand of Fate Review

 The ability to build a deck and stab a ratman in realtime has arrived. Hand of Fate Review

 Deckbuilding is something I don’t have much experience with. Sure, I’ve had friends and even people selling card games explain things to me about various card focused games. But
I typically understood it all(eventually) while it is being explained and then never got any
further than that. Deck building has never been my cup of tea. Then Defiant Development came along and made Hand of Fate. They combined deck maintenance with third-person action – and it works.

The game begins with a dealer explaining the stakes and then you can choose to create a deck or use a recommended combination from a selection of armor, weapons, perks, environments, people and encounters. Before you get too far into your game you are typically given a chance to acquire some health items, gold and food. These are integral as moving from the cards placed requires the consumption of food. As with most card games randomness and chance are a part of the fun. Sometimes you’ll be low on health and will come across a vendor who will charge you for healing. Other times you’ll be poisoned and have to fight off 6 ratmen hoping to survive.

The combat in Hand of Fate is fun and employs a simple, yet effective, countering system. Your ability to counter is not on par with an Arkham game but it allows you to defeat large groups of enemies. Acquiring new weapons, armor and other augmentations are vital if you wish to survive. The ultimate goal is to defeat a boss at the end of your game. Typically playing a hand took about 20-30 minutes. If you meet defeat, you must start over so there is a bit of roguelike element. Hand of Fate is a successful blending of typically separate play styles. It is far from the deepest deckbuilder and the combat is fun but a little rough in spots.  However its innovations are worth dealing with its imperfections.

Recommendation: Worth a buy
Full Disclosure: The Xbox One version of this game was provided to GameEnthus by the
publisher/developer.
Genre: roguelike/action-RPG/deck builder
Developer: Defiant Development
Publisher: Defiant Development
Platform(s): PC, Steam, PS4, Xbox One
Price: $19.99

Links
http://defiantdev.com/handoffate.php
http://GameEnthus.com
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/gameenthus-podcast
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2