Hand of Fate 2

Not sure why people were expecting something different, but it's an improvement on the first HoF, in my opinion. It is RNG heavy, but I quite enjoy the mix of cards, combat, and other minigames, all strung together with the narrator/dealer teasing out bits of the story along the way.

I have enjoyed this game in short stints. It has some refreshingly unique mechanics. The combat is difficult to get a hang of though and spoils the experience occasionally.

Overall, I liked Hand of Fate 2 (HoF2). It's a very good game. I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling, most of the quests, the mini-games, and the sense of progression. The narrator is a perfect mix of wisdom, cleverness, and creepiness. The game has quite a bit of charm, and I especially like how you can build your own adventure by selecting quest cards ahead of time, although the dealer spices things up a bit with his own cards. The main thing that keeps this game from being great or a true classic is the combat. The problem is that you have no control over the camera angle, nor does the game automatically track your guy's movement so that you can see a wider view of the field. On top of that, the game likes to throw mobs at you. So, in a typical encounter, you are struggling to find your guy in the mob, while trying to avoid taking damage from some unseen enemy just off-screen. Chances are, you are going to take some damage. Not only does this weaken your character against other threats in the mini-game parts of the story (which involve card selections, dice, cards, pendulum, etc.), but it also forces you to consume food in order to restore health. And as fate would have it, food can be scarce in this game--you can literally lose a mission through starvation. Ideally, the combat segments should have been handled like everything else in the game--that is, through cards, dice rolls, and the pendulum. In addition to being poorly done, the current combat system breaks the immersion of the game. After all these years, I am shocked that the developer never fixed the combat camera with a patch. Outside of the poor combat camera, if you are put off by RNG and being at the mercy of dice rolls and random card choices, you might not like this game. I actually quit after completing about 2/3 of the missions due to the combat alone (I like the random mini-games though). Anyhow, I definitely would recommend HoF2, including the DLCs, on sale.

Good fights & enemies.

Excellent, story driven game utilizing Tarot card connections for missions. Horrendous cheating at some of the mini games makes it only a 4 star as it can be frustrating. Combat is decent, but can also be a little clunky when trying to fight multiples.