Recent reviews by Roman Eckhart

I bought this game and its expansion "Wildcards" on a sale yesterday and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a roguelike that's kind of a mix between a card game and an RPG. I'm not usually a huge fan of card games in general but this game works differently, the deck of cards contains both equipment and such for you, and the encounters, locations, and games of chance for you to experience throughout your adventure. It plays a lot with the concept of using a deck of playing cards to represent each aspect of the game, with different types of enemies being represented as "suits". Even your character is represented as a tabletop miniature, moving between cards making up the layout of the current leg of your journey.

When you get into an encounter the playing table changes into a small arena where you engage in combat with enemies drawn as cards in real time from a third-person perspective, effectively becoming an action game for the duration of the encounter. The combat mechanics are simple but well-done. As a game on their own they'd probably get stale before long, but when used to shake things up from the text-based gameplay that serves as the game's backbone the're quite fun, and just might have you on the edge of your seat.

The whole thing is narrated by the guy dealing the cards, who is voice acted very well and rarely feels repetitive. His commentary and conversation really sets the tone for the game, and while you're naturally aware that he is simply a character model and collection of voice lines he is dynamic enough that his speech always feels relevant to what's happening. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he feels like a real person, but he definitely feels like a solid character and I find his presentation quite immersive.

Initially I was a little worried that the game was feeling a bit easy and moving by too quickly, but with every victory the dealer ramps up the difficulty a little, and now each attempt is truly a challenge. Each time you succeed in a new challenge you'll win "tokens" from the dealer which will reward you with new cards for your deck, which you have the option of customizing before you start your next adventure. I know that makes this sound like I'm setting up to talk about microtransactions, but this game is entirely free of them, which is quite refreshing. The tokens the dealer wagers on your success are merely part of the game's progression mechanics, untainted by the modern game industry's intent to milk your wallet dry.

I can vouch that the Wildcards expansion adds a lot of extra depth to it, by changing your starting conditions and adding specific quests for the path you've chosen, so if you've got a few extra dollars grab that too. I bought it on sale for cheap of course, but if you're buying this game full price I'd say buy the game first and then grab Wildcards if you like what you've already got and want to make the game more interesting.

In short, Hand of Fate earns a solid recommendation from me.

http://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/266510/Hand_of_Fate/