I didn't care that the first game had generic writing because there wasn't much of it. The host quips about fleshing out narratives from the first game but the writing isn't any better, there's just a lot more of it and the game draws more attention to it. You have to click through paragraphs of text every time you start a game, campaigns have dialogue trees full of empty and meaningless choices, and victory often requires you pay attention to details buried in the word avalanche. Especially since this is a game built around replaying the same few challenges over and over, it really grates having to decipher a randomly-generated murder mystery over and over by grilling people about their favorite foods and solving timing minigames. Even the Endless mode is composed of the same handful of generic plots that you have to flip through every time you progress.

The original Hand of Fate was a lean, addictive experience. The sequel tries to expand on this but bloats it into something tepid and inert. I have so many cards to unlock and stories to complete, but don't particularly care to because there is tedium and frustration that wears you down every step of the way.

I didn't care that the first game had generic writing because there wasn't much of it. The host quips about fleshing out narratives from the first game but the writing isn't any better, there's just a lot more of it and the game draws more attention to it. You have to click through paragraphs of text every time you start a game, campaigns have dialogue trees full of empty and meaningless choices, and victory often requires you pay attention to details buried in the word avalanche. Especially since this is a game built around replaying the same few challenges over and over, it really grates having to decipher a randomly-generated murder mystery over and over by grilling people about their favorite foods and solving timing minigames. Even the Endless mode is composed of the same handful of generic plots that you have to flip through every time you progress. The original Hand of Fate was a lean, addictive experience. The sequel tries to expand on this but bloats it into something tepid and inert. I have so many cards to unlock and stories to complete, but don't particularly care to because there is tedium and frustration that wears you down every step of the way.