Hand of Fate Review - The Game of Life & Death

Video and tabletop role playing games have always had a difficult relationship. Whereas video games are begrudgingly marching towards the mainstream, tabletop games have remained, for the most part, in the basement kingdom of nerds. That being said, tabletop adventures hold a powerful weapon over their video game counterparts, one that Hand of Fate (a successful Kickstarter project by Australian team Defiant Development) attempts to imitate.

When you’re exploring the mythical land of Tamriel or Thedas, you expect to be awe inspired by the amazing vistas. This need for graphical integrity slows down production and restricts the gameplay. However big Dragon Age: Inquisition might be, it will always be the same every time you play it. Tabletop games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, are never the same twice, with people creating new adventurers, locations and enemies in the blink of an eye.

And with a hint of imagination, the players can also experience similar wonder by picturing the world for themselves as opposed to watching it on screen, though with a little help from the Game Master.

Hand of Fate feels like an attempt a creating a tabletop game in the digital realm. Combining the imaginative feel of tabletop games with the more exciting elements of action RPGs, Hand of Fate is mostly successful despite a few flies in the ointment. The menu is extremely simple, and some of the more flamboyant shuffling scenes will crash the framerate through the floor, at least on PlayStation 4. These mere problems hardly effect the game however, and the meat and bones of Hand of Fate work smoothly and look striking.

Playing Hand of Fate might be puzzling at first, with the game just dropping you straight into the thick of it. The first round of this mystery card game acts both as an introduction to the game as well as tutorial to its mechanics. The player has apparently journeyed far to reach this enigmatic hooded man, and play The Game of Life and Death.

This inexplicable man (who happens to be your opponent in the game) also acts as the narrator, filling you in on titbits of information while pushing your further down the rabbit hole. The dialogue is impressively fantastic and the acting is superb. The story is mostly nebulous, with the true enjoyment of the game following the tale itself rather than any particular story.

To play a round of The Game of Life and Death, first you need to build your deck which consists of two categories, items and encounters. The items are reminiscent of the RPG foundation, and you can equip them on your character to be increase your chances in the inevitable combat. The encounter cards make up the ‘dungeon’ of the game, and lead to every encounter you’ll face. Allowing players to choose most of the encounters means that you can curve the difficulty to your own play style. Each encounter is unique and extremely fun interacting with; Hands of Fate does however, leave you in the dark with cards for the first time, giving no description until you encounter it in the game.

Hands of Fate has a beautiful air of mystery around it, forcing you to explore, experiment and discover in order to learn. An early card might allow you to quickly and cheaply acquire a shield, while cards such as ‘River’ could be anything until you find out for yourself. You’ll have to try different combinations of cards with each progressing level, whiile also adding more cards to your deck.

The combat is unfortunately much less interesting. When encountering enemies you’ll leave the tabletop and delve into the direct control of the hero. The visuals are pretty enough and warrant a refreshing change of pace between the dry cards; the combat system is playfully borrowed from the likes of the Arkham series, and is a simple case of blocking, dodging and striking until everyone else falls over. It’s not threatening or challenging in any way, and the real danger of Hands of Fate comes from its terrifying lucky draws.

Some encounters ask the player whether or not to attempt an action; the accomplishment of these tasks is decided by success and failure cards shuffled together until you pick one. It might be possible to follow the cards during the shuffle, but as they’re constantly piled together I expect that very few players won’t be lost in the process. Failure can result in a lot of harrowing effects, from loss of money to permanent reduction in health.

It’s a shame that the combat couldn’t match the tension or intrigue of the card portion of the game. But with interesting and imaginative design couple with the build your own adventure concept, Hand of Fate is a game that you shouldn’t let pass you by. If you’ve got an appetite for tabletop adventures, this is probably the best title in the video game category to quell that interest.

Hand of Fate will be available later today on PlayStation Network (PS4), Xbox Live (XB1) and Steam (PC - Windows, Mac & Linux)