Initially, I was put off due to the disastrous launch 2 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised that I only encountered minor bugs and no performace issues at all. What makes this game great is the combat, theme and open world level design. The story is good, although the dialog options appear to have little impact overall and feels like you're being spoon fed. It's good, yes, but I agree with other reviewers, the story has too much dialog and cut scenes to the point it can be like watching a film. This really impacts the game's pacing, slowing everything down especially in the more duller parts. The game is very heavy on the sexualization, almost to absurdity which spoiled the experience for me a little. If you can accept those flaws and a few minor bugs then it should be worth your time.
I've heard and read a lot about this being an RPG, it's not an RPG in the sense of a normal computer RPG but in the sense of a tabletop RPG where you "roleplay" a character. This is how it stands out from a traditional point and click adventure game where the character is usually predefined. One caveat, your character must be a mentally unstable alcoholic cop, which is interesting especially with the internal monologue. All point and click adventures have dynamic dialogue and free choice to a degree, I don't agree this is unique or clever at all. This may definitely be a 4 or 5 star point and click adventure game if you enjoy that genre. However, being defined as a RPG, turn based fantasy is misleading and in the case of being turn based, has nothing to do with that genre.
TL;DR Great for theme and fun mechanics early on but don't expect to be kept occupied by it for long as it becomes repetitive. Hand of Fate is a board game with real time Arkham style combat in which you will face the dealer. Each level is built from cards that you choose from those that you have collected as you play through the game. The theme is brilliant blending card and computer game very nicely with nice visuals and sounds. The games concept is quite unique for PC gaming but similar to some living card in the board game market. I don't believe that they have built enough on the weaknesses that exist in the board game and in some aspects I believe the board games are better. The developer should have investigated a more dynamic play style and utilised the possibilities with the PC more rather than keeping it a strict board game clone. I believe the games unique selling point is ultimately its main flaw as the board game influence locks it in to a repetitive and predictable cycle. The games background does it no favours either as its always the same place. Maybe the developer could have broke it up with more cut scenes for the in game events rather than combat and stores only. Another RPG card game which had a similar theme but wasn't repetitive was Lost Kingdoms on the Nintendo Game Cube which maybe worth a look. In conclusion it's definitely worth a play if you like the concept but would avoid it if you want a deep, complex or a game that will keep you occupied in the long run.
