Hand of Fate Game Data

I remember that gloating octopus all too well! For example, if you forgot to note down a sequence of flashing lights that you saw earlier in the game or make a foolish decision, you’ll get stuck here. In fact, during my original attempt at playing this when I was a teenager, this is where I abandoned the game in frustration.

Not only did some of the puzzles I encountered border on “moon logic” but, even with frequent walkthrough use, it is still possible to get stuck in an unwinnable state if you aren’t careful. Although it is mostly typical “point and click” gameplay (with an additional potion-mixing mechanic and lots of inventory slots etc.), it is typical of everything that is wrong with old-school “point and click” games.

However, you’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned the actual gameplay yet. This game is funny, atmospheric, unique and gloriously retro. Seriously, I cannot praise these elements of the game highly enough. In addition to the amazing artwork, cynical dialogue and hilarious characters, another reason why you’re going to enjoy hanging out in Kyrandia is probably the music and voice-acting in the CD-ROM and GOG versions of the game. “Wonderful!” sums it up perfectly! I LOVE this place.

Of course, history has a funny way of repeating itself…. Anyway, that said, let’s take a look at “Legend Of Kyrandia – Hand Of Fate”. However, since GOG was having a summer sale at the time, I decided to re-buy a discounted digital copy (that actually works on PCs from the 21st century) of it for less than £2. But, from my memories of digging out my CD-ROM copy of it a few years ago – I knew that it wouldn’t run on my current “ancient” PC.

I also wasn’t in a good mood and I needed something to cheer me up. It was a hot day and I was grappling with the more difficult levels of “SiN”. However, being terrible at point-and-click games, I quickly got totally and utterly stuck on a relatively early part of the game.

Last forward to last summer. Although it was already a retro game by the time that I found a budget re-release of it in a game shop, it was a game that would actually run on the ancient Windows 98 machine I had at the time. That said, I have a lot of nostalgic memories of playing the CD-ROM version of “Hand Of Fate” during my early-mid teenage years.

So, although this is slightly more than a “first impressions” article, it is far from a full review. Firstly, I should probably point out that this isn’t a full review of “Hand Of Fate” (for reasons I’ll explain later, I haven’t completed the game). Out, since this game holds a lot of nostalgia value for me and because I’d planned to review it about three weeks ago, I felt like writing a review of what I have played.

Hand of fate game data