You may not have heard of it, but Hand of Fate is a pretty cool little game. It's been out on Steam for a while and is $25, so we're not talking a $60 game here.
The premise is simple: you wander into a mysterious mage's parlor, as he says many have done before you. You will play a card game with him, and attempt to defeat his champions and win more cards from him.
The game progression is straightforward: you have a deck that consists of weapons, armor, power-ups, etc. Cards are laid out face-down on the table which represent the level "map," and you move your figurine from card to card, revealing story events and enemy encounters. The enemy encounters propel you into a combat arena that plays more or less like the Arkham games. Combats tend to be resolved fairly quickly--often under a minute, but a few minutes at most.
As you progress through the game, you win tokens from the mysterious mage, which unseal more cards that you can put into your deck. Of course, the better the cards you put into your deck, the more dangerous challenges and adversaries the dealer will add to thwart you.
Through it all, the dealer comments on your actions, his motivations, and what this may all mean. There is a story about your character and your past buried in the narrative of the cards, and it unfolds slowly and mysteriously, and the dealer grows more and more concerned about who you are and why you're doing this. It's a fascinating element and a more complex twist on game narratives than you usually get.
Mechanically, the game is a lot of fun. Because you can customize your deck and are always winning more cards, even replaying the same level is a different experience each time. The map layouts change, the cards are shuffled. A level that kicked your ass 20 times might suddenly become a cakewalk because you unlocked just the right cards, and encountered them at just the right moment in the game to give you the edge you need.
Difficulty ramps up after the first couple tiers of levels, and that's where getting better cards really comes into play. Some fights (and especially bosses) are hard to beat without strong gear and artifacts. You also have to manage food resources, which dwindle as you progress through each map. Will you spend your last bit of gold getting more food, or save up to buy that weapon you need for the boss, hoping you'll come across some food along the way? It's up to you. The card game is surprisingly strategic in nature, even though it doesn't play like Magic or other CCGs.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout-out to this little gem. Has anyone else played it?
The premise is simple: you wander into a mysterious mage's parlor, as he says many have done before you. You will play a card game with him, and attempt to defeat his champions and win more cards from him.
The game progression is straightforward: you have a deck that consists of weapons, armor, power-ups, etc. Cards are laid out face-down on the table which represent the level "map," and you move your figurine from card to card, revealing story events and enemy encounters. The enemy encounters propel you into a combat arena that plays more or less like the Arkham games. Combats tend to be resolved fairly quickly--often under a minute, but a few minutes at most.
As you progress through the game, you win tokens from the mysterious mage, which unseal more cards that you can put into your deck. Of course, the better the cards you put into your deck, the more dangerous challenges and adversaries the dealer will add to thwart you.
Through it all, the dealer comments on your actions, his motivations, and what this may all mean. There is a story about your character and your past buried in the narrative of the cards, and it unfolds slowly and mysteriously, and the dealer grows more and more concerned about who you are and why you're doing this. It's a fascinating element and a more complex twist on game narratives than you usually get.
Mechanically, the game is a lot of fun. Because you can customize your deck and are always winning more cards, even replaying the same level is a different experience each time. The map layouts change, the cards are shuffled. A level that kicked your ass 20 times might suddenly become a cakewalk because you unlocked just the right cards, and encountered them at just the right moment in the game to give you the edge you need.
Difficulty ramps up after the first couple tiers of levels, and that's where getting better cards really comes into play. Some fights (and especially bosses) are hard to beat without strong gear and artifacts. You also have to manage food resources, which dwindle as you progress through each map. Will you spend your last bit of gold getting more food, or save up to buy that weapon you need for the boss, hoping you'll come across some food along the way? It's up to you. The card game is surprisingly strategic in nature, even though it doesn't play like Magic or other CCGs.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout-out to this little gem. Has anyone else played it?
