Hand of Fate 2 is releasing on PlayStation 4 very soon, so we got in touch with the team at Defiant Development to talk about the game’s path to Sony’s console.
PS4Blog: Welcome to PS4Blog.net Thank you for joining us. Could you please help us get started by introducing yourself to our readers and telling them a bit about yourself and your work?
Hey there! My name is Lee May, I’m the Communications Manager at Defiant Development, and I was also the editor on Hand of Fate 2. My remit is community engagement for the company. Essentially, whenever we have to espouse our own fine qualities, it’s me doing all the self-congratulating.
For Hand of Fate 2, I was responsible for ensuring a consistent narrative voice across the hundreds of encounters our design team wrote for the game. Mostly this involved fixing commas and quotation marks. Sometimes it involved head-scratching and rewrites.
PS4B: On that note, Hand of Fate 2 is making its way to Sony’s PlayStation 4 next month. How would you describe the game to someone who’s never heard about it?
Hand of Fate 2 is a nostalgic mash-up of everything we at Defiant love about boardgames and videogames. There’s a dungeon-crawling boardgame, collectible card deck-building, there’s choose-your-own-adventure storytelling. It’s all wrapped up in the rich atmosphere of a tabletop roleplaying game, and all our fights are resolved with chunky, third-person melee combat.
You are playing a magical board game against a mysterious, capricious opponent known only as the Dealer. At the start of the game, you’ll build a hand of cards – each card representing a cool fantasy adventure or a magical artifact you hope to encounter on your journey. Those cards get folded into the Dealer’s deck and then laid out into a dungeon for the player to explore.
As you move about the board, the cards will turn over to reveal a cool little story – maybe you meet a goblin in a bar, maybe you come across a traveling merchant, maybe you get attacked by bandits. If you get into a fight, you’ll fly into the card, all your weapons and artifact cards get equipped, and you engage in cool Action RPG combat. The whole time this is happening, the Dealer is commenting on the game. Sometimes he’s proud of your achievements, other times he’s disappointed that you’ve managed to defeat him. He’s a fun guy.
PS4B: When did the team start working on this sequel? Any particular challenges during development?
The team started work on Hand of Fate 2 pretty soon after wrapping development on the first game. We had a lot of affection for the setting and the characters, and we didn’t want to leave the board game hybrid concept only half-explored.
One of the biggest challenges we faced was determining how far to take the sequel without losing sight of what made the original game special in the first place. For example, early designs for Hand of Fate 2 had a very different character sitting in the Dealer’s chair, and our combat encounters had a much more Dark Souls-like third-person camera. These were both interesting ideas, but on reflection, they pushed the game too far away from Hand of Fate, so we nixed them.
PS4B: What has changed between the previous game and this sequel? What can players expect from their time with this release?
We’ve made significant improvements to our combat, our deckbuilding, and our storytelling. Our campaign mode is built around 22 challenges that players can play through in a nonlinear fashion. Each challenge has a unique, branching storyline and tiered deck building goals. Instead of simply having to build adventure decks to defeat a series of bosses, players will need to come up with clever combinations of encounters to solve a murder plot or rescue villagers from a magical plague. Our storytelling is taking center stage this time around, but it’s in service of getting the player to experiment with their deck.
On the battlefield, players will find a completely overhauled combat system, with new enemies, weapons, artifacts and special moves. Then there are our new companion characters to recruit, each with their own storylines, combat specialties and ways to influence the boardgame.
Everything that players loved about the first game is back, but there’s more of it, and the things that needed refinement have been completely redesigned.
PS4B: Due to the game’s nature, are you considering offering any free or paid DLC for Hand of Fate 2?
Right now we are focused on delivering the best possible experience on launch day, but our campaign structure makes it much easier for us to plug new content into the game, regardless of whether we’re talking whole new challenges, card sets, equipment, cosmetic items, companions or what have you.
We’re looking forward to supporting the game for a long time with fresh updates, and it’s something our fans have already expressed a keen interest in.
PS4B: Could you please share the game’s PS4 trophy list with our readers?
Absolutely. We can’t wait to see how long it takes our community to get the platinum trophy!
Games Master Platinum All other trophies unlocked.
The Fool Bronze Complete the Fool challenge.
Apprentice Bronze Complete any 2 challenges.
Mercenary Bronze Complete any 5 challenges.
Adventurer Bronze Complete any 10 challenges.
Protector of the Realm Gold Complete all 22 challenges.
Knight Silver Unlock 7 Gold challenge tokens.
Dungeon Master Gold Unlock 22 Gold challenge tokens.
Card Sharp Bronze Get Huge Success in 10 Chance Gambits.
Gambler Bronze Win 20 Dice Gambits.
Long Shot Bronze Get Huge Success in 10 Pendulum Gambits.
Grifter Bronze Get Huge Success in 10 Wheel Gambits.
Jack of all Trades Silver Get Success or Huge Success in a Chance, Pendulum and Wheel Gambit in a single challenge attempt.
Dice Master Bronze Win 5 Dice Gambits in a single challenge attempt.
Magician Silver Unlock the Magician companion card.
Hero Silver Unlock the Hero companion card.
Ally Silver Unlock the Ally companion card.
Rebel Silver Unlock the Rebel companion card.
Ninja Silver Complete 3 combats while taking no damage, in a single challenge attempt.
Thief Bane Bronze Defeat 50 Thieves in combat.
Northern Scourge Bronze Defeat 50 Northerners in combat.
Empire’s Bane Bronze Defeat 50 Imperials in combat.
Cure for Corruption Bronze Defeat 50 Corrupted in combat.
Smithy Bronze Unlock 3 Equipment tokens.
Leap of Faith Bronze Knock 20 enemies off of ledges during combat.
Purgatorium Bronze Complete 3 Brimstone tokens.
Gamester Bronze Win all 3 games against Thomas in a single encounter attempt.
Money Bags Silver Have 200 Gold on completing Heirophant.
Unburdened Silver Complete the Star challenge without any Curses.
Focused Silver Kill 5 or more enemies with a single artefact attack.
Devil Dice Bronze Roll three 6s during a Dice gambit.
Master of Arms Bronze Complete a combat in under 15 seconds.
Karma Silver Kill an Assassin with the Reaper’s Arrow.
Combat Ready Bronze Complete a challenge with one of each equipment type that you gained during the challenge.
Close Shave Bronze Win a combat with less than 10 health remaining.
Cursed Soul Bronze Possess 7 Curses at once.
Swordsman Bronze Kill multiple enemies with a single Weapon Ability from a One-Handed weapon.
Champion Bronze Kill multiple enemies with a single Weapon Ability from a Heavy weapon.
Flurry of Fury Bronze Kill multiple enemies with a single Weapon Ability from a pair of Light weapons.
Stuffed Potato Bronze Complete the Lover’s challenge with Oswin fully healed.
Broken Heart Bronze Defeat Oswin’s Lover.
Draknar’s Bane Bronze Defeat Draknar the Mighty.
Thomas’ Bane Bronze Defeat Thomas.
Final Death Bronze Defeat Theophilus.
Miracle Silver Get Huge Success during the Dealing with Thieves encounter.
Peaceful Coast Bronze Complete The Empress with the Encrusted Mace.
Pilgrim Bronze Complete The High Priestess with 10 Blessings and the Holy Mace.
Smiths Honour Bronze Complete Strength with the Jousting Armour.
Blood Pact Bronze Wield the Blood Crescent.
PS4B: And now it is time for us to go. Would you like to add anything else?
Hand of Fate was so warmly received by the gaming community – it seemed like a lot of people had been waiting for a game that mashed up boardgaming with the feeling of a really good, really intimate tabletop RPG session. We’re super excited about finally seeing Hand of Fate 2 released into the wild.. It’s a game we love, and we hope our fans love it even more.
