I’ve not waddled again over to stable CCG/rougelite combo Hand Of Fate 2 since reviewing it final 12 months, however the sound of goblin trumpets drew me again right now. HOF2’s Arkham-lite combating was all the time so much much less attention-grabbing than its deck-building and choose-your-own-adventure development, however that had so much to do with seeing the identical few varieties of Bad Man repeatedly.
The free Goblins replace, out now, shuffles new threats into the deck, these being pint-sized, pea inexperienced murder-bastards with far too many enamel. Equally homicidal gnomes, with just a few straight outta Lilliput fight methods, appear to have been lumped in underneath the gobbo umbrella too, confusingly.
Everything in HOF2 is constructed across the idea of including playing cards to a hand or deck, which implies you’ve obtained fairly first rate odds of working into one of many new goblin playing cards quickly after beginning a brand new run. I’ve simply been nosing round, and it occurred twice inside about twenty minutes. These are smaller however quite a few enemies than the mostly-human HOF2 norm – individually pretty week, however as a horde they’ll tie you up one thing continual. The grey-purple-skinned, leering and pot-bellied gnomes are surprisingly creepy, binding me up with their bolos after which leaping onto my again to dole out injury at a alarming pace, however the upside is you’ll be able to insta-kill ’em with a fast Finisher stomp.
There are new gobbo-specific quest playing cards too, which open up new narrative/merchandise unlock paths if you will discover them after which full the challenges therein. Alternatively, there are goblin challenges within the Endless mode.
All advised, the inexperienced gits do appear so as to add some efficient selection to HOF2’s in any other case fairly repetitive fight, in addition to making its low-key fantasy world really feel somewhat wilder.
The replace’s free and stay now, and arrives alongside a patch which provides some new gear and improves efficiency and loadtimes – full particulars of which might be here. I be aware in feedback beneath these notes that the devs declare “We’ve obtained large plans for the remainder of the 12 months, too. Anything explicit you’d prefer to see Hand of Fate 2 do subsequent?