#defiant development

Continue reading The world of Hand of Fate returns with Hordes of Fate : A Hand of Fate Adventure later this year

30 Years of VGM with Jeff van Dyck – PA163

We’re joined today by another amazing and prolific guest; composer, Jeff van Dyck. Instead of focusing on a specific game we take a tour through Jeff’s entire career from Skitchin’ all the way to recent games like Unpacking. Jeff began his career in 1992 with EA (Electronic Arts), working on games like the FIFA, NHL series, and Need for Speed 1 & 2. He continued on to do the music for many of the…

The bittersweet feeling of completion. 

Hand Of Fate 2 was probably my comfort game of this past year, just the right combination of deck building, rogue-like and fighty-fighting for me.

And so...after 22 main challenges (with 3 recompleted under special difficulty increasing conditions), 2 DLC Challenges (+1 recompleted under a special difficulty increasing condition), fulfilling the various Endless Mode Achievement requirements and unlocking every Card, Token and Shard in the game...the thrill of completion makes way for the realization that it’s all over.

Sadly, Defiant Development are no longer making new games...so this really is where it all ends.  Thanks for producing two of my favourite games of the past decade, a solid Two of Awesome card. 

Farewell to the Dealer, the snarkiest video game GM you could ever hope to meet.

Scorched Blade

Hand of Fate, developed and published by Defiant Development in 2015, is yet another game I heard of thanks to the defunct, but much missed, YouTube series Previously Recorded (for those of you keeping count, that also includes XCOM, Bloodborne, and FTL).

Hand of Fate is best described as a rogue-like deck-building action RPG.  It shifts between a card game and action segments with “Arkham style” combat.  This seems like such an unlikely pairing of gameplay and yet it works marvelously. 

You play as an ugly looking brute who has seemingly died and is now being forced to relive his life via a devious card game created by a mysterious shrouded dealer who mercilessly taunts you the whole way.  The stakes are unclear, and the story is practically non-existent, but it doesn’t matter because the main draw here is the unique gameplay and the absolutely compelling running commentary of the dealer.   It must be said at this point that voice actor Anthony Skordi turns in a phenomenal performance as The Dealer, whose snarky jibes and anecdotes really underscore the game’s appeal.

Hand of Fate is a mostly sublime experience, but not without its flaws.  The hit detection during the combat sequences feels a little off and it was incredibly annoying how your character would always stop to kill a prone enemy as opposed to continuing attacking enemies who are closing in.  The “prone attack” really should have been assigned to a different button than the generic attack button.  The “obstacle course” sequences are irritating as well due to controls that just aren’t tight enough for the nuance needed to navigate through deadly traps and the camera angle could often be adversarial in these sequences as well.

I also don’t care for how much of the game relies on luck.  During your adventure, you’ll often be presented with scenarios that involve making a choice.  The success or failure of the outcome is determined by selecting a “Success” card after it is shuffled with three other cards, some of which can range from “Huge Failure” to “Failure” to “Huge Success”.  Eagle-eyed gamers might not have many issues choosing the correct card, plus it helps that you can obtain a “Blessing” that allows you to try again if you wish, but nevertheless, nothing irks me more than when progress through a game hinges on luck as opposed to skill.  Fortunately, for the most part, these segments can be avoided should you choose to play more conservatively and simply avoid these scenarios.  However, like in life, fortune favors the bold, and succeeding at these encounters often result in unlocking more equipment cards, weapon cards, “gain cards” (such as food or gold), or blessings that could be invaluable to ultimately beating the game. 

Hand of Fate 2

Developer: Defiant Development Publisher: Defiant Development Rrp: £23.79 (Steam) and £24.99 (Gog.com) Released: 7th November 2017 Available on: Steam and Gog.com Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad Approximate game length: Over 30 Hours For years I have worked on the game, this game of chance and choice. It is but a pale imitation of the real world, but it allows the player to hone their skills for the times ahead. So traveller, why don't you sit for a spell and play with me? Hand of Fate 2 is a digital board game and honestly I can see why is has to be digital, there are just too many components and variables to keep track of. I should mention that, yes, I know that there is a real world Hand of Fate board game, I own a copy of it and I can vouch for how good it is, but there are just some things the board game cannot capture that this game does. In this game you work your way across twenty two challenges (in the adventure mode) unlocking new cards as you go. Along the way you'll be testing your skills with arkham style combat, pushing your luck in dice rolls and four card monty, and lastly testing your timing with swinging pendulums  and spinning wheels of cards.

At its core this game is near identical to its predecessor, however though the core the may be the same everything surrounding it has been greatly improved, especially the combat. One major difference in this game is a running narrative. Each of the challenges you face (of which there are twenty two) will link onto the others, even if its just tangentially. When you enter a challenge the Dealer will lay out the cards face down before you, these cards will act as encounters and will activate as you move your player piece onto them. Just like with the previous instalment of Hand of Fate you construct the deck that the Dealer plays from with encounters, equipment, supplies and companions that you should find in each challenge (with exception of companions who will usually start with you). Of course, the Dealer adds some cards of his own to the deck, you can't have it all your own way after all. Within the deck that you construct you will find that there are three tiers of card, normal, platinum and brimstone and each challenge will only allow a specific allocation of each.

The challenges you will face can usually be completed to two levels; Silver and Gold. Silver means that you did all that was required of you to complete the challenge whereas gold involves you completing every optional part of the challenge. However I said 'usually' for a reason, in some cases there is no Silver completion in which case its an all or nothing challenge. Within each challenge your piece will move from one encounter to the next and with each new card that is revealed your piece will consume one food. If at any point you run out of food each new card revealed will take ten points of health instead. There are several mini games (known as gambits) that you will end up facing as part of your playthrough. Some of these gambits were a pain in the butt for me, but my fiancé found them easy so mileage may vary on them, thankfully certain pieces of equipment you can find will make these gambits easier.

A completely new feature to the game is that you can have a companion. Companions provide assistance such as casting spells, and attacking opponents in battle. Most also have a benefit that can be performed outside of combat, such as Malacylpse allowing you to redraw a card during the card wheel mini game. If you accept the offer to use this benefit your companion will be unavailable to you until you reveal three new encounters. In combat your companions are unkillable, however they can be stunned. In the event of that you'll need to get into close quarters with them to get them to stand back up and rejoin the fight. Thankfully this is a rather quick affair that can be performed in between attacks.

The combat feels a lot less like a arkham clone and is far more responsive, yes the game still has indicators that appear above your enemies heads allowing you to anticipate their moves somewhat but the enemies won't always come at you one at a time. While you're facing off with the Northman Berserker one of the trappers can be winding up a long range attack while a shaman buffs them both. As you may have gleaned from the last sentence the range of enemies you face has greatly increased from the last game, each of which having their own strengths, weaknesses and unit types that will require a different approach. For example the Empire have soldiers that will use their shields to block incoming attacks while protecting their riflemen who will attempt to hurt you at range. Meanwhile the Northmen never block, but will attack with great ferocity hitting hard and often. It should also be mentioned that not every enemy will be human, most will, but definitely not all of them.

There is an optional mode called 'apprentice mode' that makes the game easier by increasing your damage and making the prompted riposte and finishers automatic, everything else is left as is. The offer of this mode will appear if you die a few times, like I did. Personally I think this is a great addition to the game and even though I won't use the feature myself, it will allow less skilled (or stubborn) players to play more easily and is easily deactivated in the options menu. There is now an 'Endless' mode to play which changes a few rules, such as making all your equipment degrade overtime with exception of your base weapons and shield. Another thing that is different are the Trail cards, these make your game more difficult but will give you a reward for achieving it. You do all of this to attain 'Endless' points, which is just for score attack, however this mode is also a great way to unlock new cards.

I've got to say I have loved my time with game, so much so I fully intend on keeping it installed and getting all the DLC's. It should be mentioned that the game has lots of free content as well as three pieces of DLC that you can purchase. On top of all of that there is also mod support included. All that being said I can't claim that this game is perfect, there are plenty of minor issues such as the camera during combat and trap sections being a bit awkward and positioning itself in such a way that you can end up fighting blind.

'Hand of Fate' Creator Defiant Development Closes Its Doors, Will Continue to Support Existing Products

All good things must come to an end, or so they say. Approximately 16 hours ago, that was the case for Defiant Development, the studio behind the two brilliant Hand of Fate games, and that's a crying shame. Also, even after reading the announcement, I'm still not quite sure as to what caused the turn of events leading up to the decision to close up shop. Could have sworn that Hand of Fate, its sequel, Hand of Fate 2 - and pretty much every piece of DLC - were all doing well, positive feedback, strong sales, etc. Alas, that was apparently not quite the case.

Los desarrolladores australianos, Defiant Development, han anunciado el día de hoy que ya no trabajarán en videojuegos. Este equipo fue el responsable de crear Hand of Fate, un título que combinó características del género roguelike con elementos de rol muy similar a Dungeons & Dragons. El estudio admitió los riesgos que conllevaban hacer este tipo de juegos y también se despidieron con un teaser…