No retail price has been announced at the time of this review.
HAND OF FATE 2 PENDULUM PC
If Hand of Fate 2 sounds like a game you'd enjoy playing, you can find it on Steam for the PC - as well as the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One - on November 7. Combat has a few additions that add some more options and makes it slightly less “spam the attack button.” And the stories from the challenges have been fun and engaging.
The new additions to “the game” are well integrated and feel fairly balanced. If you liked the concept of the first Hand of Fate, then this is a game you should pick up. And once again the voice acting of Anthony Skordi - the voice of The Dealer - evokes a range of emotions. A lot of the time they're blended into the background so well that I hardly noticed them, and I like that - they don’t overplay in the collective whole of the game. The music is also very fitting, as are the sound effects. I personally really like the encounters from the High Priestess challenges - snow-covered mountain passes and roided-out Viking-like Northmen. The Dealer’s new den looks great with a number of subtle supporting environmental quirks that really bring it to life, and the battlegrounds are well styled and really feel whimsically fantastical. The characters look good, if still slightly cartoonish. Gone are the lack-luster, but passable graphics from the first game. Visually, Hand of Fate 2 has been overhauled from the original. It feels so satisfying to thin the tide of foes with a lucky dice roll or a perfectly timed pendulum game - especially when you’re low on health and resources. Other great additions to the meta-game include dice challenges, card roulettes, and even a pendulum timing challenge - adding a bit more skill and luck to your adventures. There are a number of companions that you’ll come across during your challenges, some of them even tying into the story in their own interesting ways - like the comedic relief/annoyance of Oswin, the potato farmer. Malaclypse - the first companion you meet during the tutorial challenge - is a roguish character that can help you negate damage and occasionally dole out splash damage to grouped enemies. In my case, I found that I only had three bombs total where I thought I’d have three per encounter.Īnother welcome addition is the companion characters - quirky partners with their own fighting styles and abilities. Artifacts can be immensely powerful but come with drawbacks, too. I was playing the “The Lovers” challenge where I received a powerful artifact to help me combat the hordes of undead I was faced with - and it was a boon for my strategy. Speaking of power, the addition of artifacts is something that is quite welcome to combat. This keeps players from “stacking the deck” so-to-speak and giving themselves access to overpowered weapons at the beginning of the mission. Additionally, more powerful pieces of equipment have “fame” level requirements, such as certain legendary weapons that can’t be used unless you meet certain requirements by progressing through the challenges. A personal favorite of mine? The additions of critical strikes, artifacts, and companion characters, all things that really tease out some of the best aspects of Hand of Fate into something more tangible.Įvery weapon has a something unique about it - whether it has a particular enemy it’s more effective against or if it's imbued with special powers like The Cardinal Blade. From wielding a mighty warhammer to a roguish set of dual-wielded daggers, there are new layers to combat other than the God of War-like single-button spamming of the original. These tell the stories of what’s going on in the world and contain stories within themselves.Ĭombat has also somewhat evolved with a number of new weapons and combat styles. One of the major evolutions from Hand of Fate to Hand of Fate 2 is the introduction of the map - a playing field with 22 different and challenging meta-games. Even though we've seen this enemy before, the game has changed, evolved into something different. Hand of Fate 2 starts the player against a familiar antagonist - The Dealer. So when I had the chance to try Hand of Fate 2, the direct successor to that wonderful RPG card game, I couldn't help but dive back into that world.Īnd so far, I have not been disappointed. Crafting my own adventures and challenges was engrossing and satisfying, like I had a hand in my own fate.
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