In the Temperance challenge, I found myself constantly faced with situations where beggars wanted food from me, so I packed in cards like Friendly Innkeeper that gave me free food when I uncovered the cards. The opening screen for each scenario gives you clues as to what you'll find ahead, smartly allowing you to build your deck to face the challenges ahead with cards you've won in previous challenges. The resulting wide variety keeps the scenarios interesting, along with the differing conditions and handicaps for each one. They're basically small, self-contained tales in their own right, being only loosely tied to a larger story about a conflict between the "empire" and the zombie-like blight. It's now a collection of over 20 "challenges” that gradually unlock over a three-dimensional board inside the Dealer's wagon. The structure of the story, for one, has been redesigned to better suit the deck-building aspect. Whether it's the artwork or the balance, virtually no element was left untouched. Hand of Fate 2 is the vastly superior game, as it enhances the already attractive basics with new encounters, companion characters, better combat and weapons, and a host of smaller changes. Acting as a Dungeon Master of sorts, the dealer magically slaps down encounter cards from both his deck and a selection of cards you choose to craft a partly randomized story, with conflicts being resolved either through combat or through gambits involving dice, pendulums, or wheels of fortune.īut as the Dealer himself says, "Every element of the game has improved, even those elements which at first seem familiar." He's not kidding. It defies easy classification, other than to say that it’s a cocktail that works. It defies easy classification, other than to say that it’s a cocktail that works.The basic concept remains the same: an unusual but satisfying mashup of collectible card games, action RPGs, and choice-based games like Oregon Trail. Much as in the first game, his enigmatic charisma is enough to mask some of Hand of Fate 2's handful of significant flaws. But it probably wouldn't work as well if the Dealer didn't feel so real thanks to impressive personality and voice acting that compensates for the fact that he’s covered head to toe in robes, other than his scabby arms.
Much of Hand of Fate 2's appeal is that it feels like a one-on-one session of Dungeons & Dragons being DM’d a slightly sadistic friend, with some battles resolved with some light Batman: Arkham-style action combat.
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