I remember first Hand of Fate at PAX South 2015. The premise was pretty interesting. It had the player and a mysterious dealer play a game of cards. But not just any game of cards. This deck of cards builds a small dungeon that you will have to go through. Some of of these cards have encounters that you have to fight through, use your wits or just be plain lucky. Along the way you build up your own deck of cards to counter what the dealer has pulled. At the end you defeat the dealer and all is well….for not. Two years later at PAX South 2017, I encountered Hand of Fate 2 and once again I was face to face with the dealer once more.
It’s time to duel
Improved story- There wasn’t much story in Hand of Fate that I could gather. If there was, it probably went over my head. In Hand of Fate 2 there is a compelling story that takes place 300 year after the events of the first game. A strange evil sickness has rolled through out the land. The Empire has casted out the sick and the poor in hopes to prevent the notability from getting ill. Descent is rising among the people as monsters are starting to become more bolder in their attack. All of this, because you defeated the Dealer at the end of the game. Now he, or someone claiming to be the original Dealer is back and wants revenge. But he also sees that the kingdom is ruin. So he calls temporary truce and deals your fate once again.
Choices affect story/character In HoF2 there will be times that you will be given a choice. Depending on which choice you pick effects how the story plays out and will effect how NPCs react to you when you meet them through encounters.
Customized character/updated graphics- In the first Hand of Fate, you couldn’t really customize your character too much which was a shame. In Hand of Fate 2 there is some character customization. It’s not that much really; you pick your sex, hair style & color, skin color, and clothes color. As simple as it is, this is a really big step up from the previous game. The graphics in HoF2 also received an update. In HoF, the graphics were alright, just about average since environments and enemy models were repeated at times. That changed with HoF2 as you travel through different lands now instead down a randomly generated dungeon.
Companions come along for journey- In HoF, for the most part it was just you going on the journey. In HoF2 along the way you will meet with companions and have them fight along side you. Each companion has a different attribute that they bring into battle. Some are spells that will give you stats boosts others are attacks that help damage enemies. Taking along a companion also opens up routes and encounters that are specific to them.
Combat improved- With the combat in the first HoF, it took inspiration from the Batman Arkham series. Players had an attack and a parry. It was serviceable but clunky and when more than one enemy would swarm around the character, it was a death sentence. Now in HoF2 the combat has been upgraded with more moves. Players can now do a bash attack, which is a kick, to knock back enemies. This kick bash is also strong enough to knock back shielded enemies and make them open for a strike. In addition new new moves, the combat also has a special move meter that fills up each time you land a successful parry and attack without getting hit back. What type of special move your character has also depends on the type of weapon.
More chance encounters- In HoF there were encounters that were chance encounters, encounters that tested the players luck. These encounters usually took the form of shuffling a couple of cards and have the player pick one. IN HoF2, the Dealer challenges the player’s luck in more ways now, such as throwing dice and spinning a wheel. These encounters either add to the story, are side quests, lead the player down enemy encounters.
Banished to the Shadow Realm
Repetitive encounters and backtracking- Much like HoF, HoF2 encounters can get repetitive after a while since you will be using the same cards as your journey through to beat each boss. Sometimes there will be spots that you can’t get through and will have to turn around and back track to obtain new cards that you might have miss the firs time around.
Hand of Fate 2 greatly improves a lot of the first game’s short comings. It expands on the story which let’s the player’s choices affect the game. The graphics receive an upgrade and give the player the ability to customize their character. And let’s not forget that HoF2 allows the player trto bring along a NPC companion to help along the journey. However just like the first game, HoF2 suffers from repetitive encounters and backtracking through previous areas. Regardless of this minor annoyance, Hand of Fate 2 is worth checking out.
