Part 5: Endless Mode run 1

Part 5 - Endless Mode run 1 (YouTube) aka ratmen!

Endless Mode runs show off how spiteful the dealer can get when you try to give him a run for his money, and help me unlock a few cards. The run started out well but, but my choice of armor kind of hid the ratmen's poison effect too. Don't get boxed in like I did!

This Endless Mode run shows off two things:

The Suit of Scales

Lizardmen are the last of our four main Suits, and we get to see them a bit early. The melee variety has both a blockable and an unblockable attack, and will use its shield until you bash or kick it out of the way. They're much happier using the shield than some other enemies, too. The ranged variety shoots fireballs. Fire projectiles come at you quickly, and I find they're easy to block them as other projectiles, so I tend to dodge (or burn).

Scales are our second Suit vulnerable to a damage type (ice) but there are fewer options for stuffing your deck with ice damage than adding maces to deal with skeletons. Of course, there are also upgrades that will make Scales stronger.

Combat Queues

Many reviewers have noted that the combat in Hand of Fate is inspired by the Batman: Arkham series. I thought I had read an official statement from the developers stating that was their inspiration, but I can't find the article again. Either way, you can see some parallels. And the combat system in Hand of Fate has a neat feature that helps it be more manageable… an enemy queue system I explain in the video. If you prefer to read it in text, read on!

I noticed enemies in a combat area are put into one of at least three attack groups:

• Melee
  
• Ranged
  
• Special/Boss?
  

At any given moment, you'll only be attacked by one enemy from each of those groups. The game doesn't seem to treat the groups as simple queues; it appears to pick the next enemy a bit intelligently, such as having a melee fighter attack you if closest to you. This system stops combat from being a total clusterfuck, and lets you mostly dodge and block reliably if you play your cards right. It's also why mass melee becomes a block fest: you hit one enemy, then another attacks, you hit that one, then another attacks, rinse/repeat.

I honestly don't know if there are more attack groups, or if each boss enemy has its own separate group, but I've been lucky enough to not encounter that so far!