Hand of Fate is a wonderful game, but it’s nearly impossible to describe. According to the developer it's a "card based roguelike", which may be the closest and simplest description, but it also incorporates elements of deckbuilders, RPGs, and even action titles, to become what's easily the most unique game we've had the privilege of playing in a very long time.
It’s all about cards, though. You play the game in spurts, each round sitting down at a table across from a mysterious masked man who acts as your Dungeon Master of sorts. It’s his game, his creation, and he controls the cards. He deals you out cards from a deck that grows game to game with new enemies, challenges, and equipment for your characters, but he doesn’t do it quietly. He taunts you with the deck, promising it will feature challenges the likes you’ve never dreamed of. And he’s likely right.
At the start of each game you choose from a list of boss monsters that are plaguing the land, and he takes the cards attached to that monster and shuffles them into a deck that you have created, and it all begins.
He then deals out cards face down on the table and places a little miniature that represents you on the starting card. It’s now your goal to find the card that lets you escape this level. Each turn you move to an adjacent card, turning it over and dealing with whatever encounter it represents. It might be a friendly face, or an ambush, or any number of obstacles and challenges. You might have to do a little adventure gaming, making decisions of whether to assist people in need, try to loot treasure by picking the right card from a little four-card monty mini-game, or even come across a merchant or priest who can assist you. Get through the card and you’ll move to the next, and so on, until you get down to the level with the boss and defeat him or her.
But most remarkable thing about this? It’s was a Kickstarter project. This is the kind of game that shoots down all the naysayers about the crowdfunding site, because it feels completely unique, certainly not the kind of title that would have been attempted by a studio without that kind of initial funding.
Hand of Fate is a game you should own merely because it's trying something so different and being so successful at it. Try to explain the game to your friends and you might be stuck without an easy answer, but have them sit down and play it, and they'll soon understand.
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Hand of Fate was reviewed from a PS4 code provided by the publisher. It's also available for Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux.
