Hand of Fate

Whether you're sitting down for a quick coffee break adventure, or an all-night binge, Hand of Fate delivers in spades.

Hand of Fate is a devastatingly addictive adventure game that mixes card collecting with fast-paced third-person action and board games. Although full of disparate ideas, the game is never confusing. It has a few technical issues and I would have preferred a way to continue, but none of that should keep you from experiencing Hand of Fate.

A rare case of a brilliant idea coming together brilliantly.

For those that have played deck-building games or Dungeons & Dragons will know, sometimes it just comes down to the luck of the draw or the roll of the die. Some may find the game easy while others may just rage quit due to the unfairness of the draw. Those who stick with it will find a great combat system and well thought out mechanics that should have you coming back for hours on end.

Hand of Fate may not be that game that is shoving the visuals and story down your throat, but Defiant Development is allowing my imagination to be a part of their development team in order to help craft my own tales of failure, success, and luck, and that right there is a fantastic hand to me.

No mulligans here – this is the real deal. [April 2015, p81]

Defiant has done a fantastic job of marrying together two very different flavours of game, presenting it a stylish package that feels one part adventure book, one part action brawler.

Although it's technically flawed in more than a few ways, Hand of Fate is an intriguing premise that delivers an old-fashioned choose-your-own-adventure style card game that's infinitely replayable.

Each adventure through Hand of Fate has allowed me to imagine myself journeying through many far off places, meeting different people, and overcoming any number of obstacles. Even in the face of many technical issues I’m so hooked that I can’t help but continue to come back for more with each passing day.

While Hand of Fate can get aggravating, the novelty and personality oozing through it is undeniably alluring. The game’s simple but satisfying combat and risk versus reward card game will have you coming back for one more hand, waiting for your luck to turn around.

Intriguing game dealt a bad blow by underwhelming action gameplay.

A great idea with some annoying issues in terms of execution.

Unfortunately, this version is inexplicably and inexcusably broken, prone to game-ruining bugs and frequent crashes. If all you have is a PS4, then I’m sad to say you should give Hand of Fate a pass.