Defiant Development was kind enough to send a code of Hand of Fate 2 for the Xbox One our way, which Jason has already reviewed for the PS4 and can be viewed here. We thought we would give it a spin prior to it’s December 1st release and see if there were any major differences.
I’m happy to report, as someone who loved the original, the sequel takes the groundwork built by the first entry and improves on the formula in every way. There is a huge visual upgrade, with every aspect of the presentation looking much better than the original’s indie appearance. In my opinion, the game looks and feels like a spiritual successor to the Fable franchise. With the exception of a few crazy rag doll animations and some frame rate hiccups during the loading screen when transitioning to a combat phase, the game plays extremely well.
Much like the original, the combat is a bit mediocre; as stated in the PS4 review, fighting is fairly basic. Your attacks will depend on the type of weapon being used and will only vary further in the flourish or finishing move that the weapon has assigned to it that is unleashed after a specific combo count has been reached. I did find that the parry move could have been more responsive and did prefer to dodge attacks instead of parrying.
If you enjoy story based games mixed with action and lots of luck, this may be the perfect game for you. With a story you create yourself each time you play, mixing so many things people love about the physical board game with present day action games, it’s hard to not fall in love. Hand of Fate 2 is going to be overlooked by people because it’s card-based – don’t let that prevent you from trying this. There’s plenty to keep you coming back, and you never have to worry about anyone’s schedule to play it, other than your own.
9 out of 10
Pros
- Unique Gameplay
- Replay Value
- Choose Your Own Adventure
Cons
- Standard Combat
Hand of Fate 2 was developed and published by Defiant Development. It was released on PC and PS4 on November 7th, 2017, and XB1 on December 1st, 2017, for $29.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4 and XB1. For more on Hand of Fate 2, visit its official site.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.
Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.