Developer: Cloak and Dagger Games
Publisher: Cloak and Dagger Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Legend of Hand – Review
The Grandmasters of the mainland of a country unknown to us, prepared hard and difficult trials for young and trained martial arts warriors. The one to win, is to embark on an even harder quest, and as it happens, your character in Legend of Hand is the winner of the trials. The future of the mainland is in your hands, so be sure to be careful, yet quick, as time is not on your side…
Story
In Legend of Hand, you play as a martial arts warrior who was selected by the Grandmasters of the mainland for a most important quest. This quest all revolves around one man: Hand. Decades ago, when the four islands known to the mainland were pestered by war, this man emerged from the mainland, and proposed to govern all four islands. He soon brought peace back to the islands, and thus became their official guardian. The man was believed to master unnatural martial arts skills that could heal the sick back to health, using his ‘Healing Hands’ techniques, which made people refer to him as ‘grandmaster Hand’. He governed the islands with much love, but over the years, he grew more and more distant, until one day, he simply disappeared. In his absence, four warriors came forward, calling themselves the Fingers of Hand, and they claimed to have been chosen by Hand to govern the islands while he could not.
Now, the grandmasters of the mainland have summoned you to go and find Hand, as the great dynasty of the mainland is slowly about to fall, and the only hope they have to avoid war, is to find Hand, as he may be able to ensure lasting peace.
The introduction to the game is actually quite extended, with a lot of background to the task at hand. The game itself doesn’t add much more story elements, but we found it quite fun to see that there is actually a proper, good reason for the task you get chosen to fulfill, other than just the fun of playing.
Graphics
The game looks quite different from other games, as it looks completely hand-drawn. That in itself is quite nice, but the drawing style itself doesn’t exactly look like that of an experienced artist, and also the color palette is quite minimal. While the colors suit the style, the overall look of the game didn’t blow us away, it simply looks fine. The characters, while talking or moving, also look quite basic and rough, but that too fits the drawing style.
Sound
Throughout the game, each place you go has a different background tune. The tune when you’re wandering outside sounds a bit arcade-like, yet not very loud, while it will immediately change into a different, more noticeable tune when you enter a bar, for instance. Overall, the music isn’t very noticeable yet after a longer playing session, it does get dull.
While there are quite a lot of conversations between the different characters in this game, none of them are voiced. It didn’t bother us much, as again, it fits the basic style of the game, but of course, we wouldn’t have minded a bit of voice acting.
Gameplay
Legend of Hand is a point and click RPG in which your goal is to find Hand. You play as a martial arts specialist, but don’t be mistaken: you won’t be fighting much. Your main occupation is the quest to find Hand, which initially will lead you to the Fingers of Hand. On each of the four islands, you’ll first have to do several side quests, helping the islanders with their chores. In return, you’ll get more info on the Finger of Hand ruling the particular island you’re visiting, which eventually will lead you to him. It’s mainly here that you will have to use your martial arts skills, as you’ll have to conquer him before gaining the information you need. If you want to fight some more, you can spar with an islander every now and then, which will gain you new moves, but overall, this is only a small part of the actual game.
In fights, you will first have to choose which kind of approach you’re opting for. There are a certain set of skills attached to this approach, which you can use against your opponent. You have to be careful though, as your moves can also take their toll on your own body, making you lose HP, as well as your opponent. You’ll have to think before acting, as this way, it’s relatively easy to lose the fight.
The main quest of finding Hand sounds rather simple, but thanks to the side quests, the game gets rather interesting. It’s a bit of a puzzle to always find out exactly what you’re supposed to do next, but you’ll always get there in the end, which we found to be a great plus, as you won’t easily get disappointed this way. We would have liked a bit more fighting in the game as well, as it’s a bit silly to be playing as a martial arts warrior, without actually fighting all that much. The fighting mechanics are basic in se, but the fact that you can lose HP with your own moves is a nice added difficulty.
Conclusion
Legend of Hand is quite a simple game, with a simple goal to achieve: find Hand. Nonetheless, the story has some depth to it and the side quests and fighting give it enough variety to keep it interesting. The music can get a bit tedious after long playing sessions and the overall look will probably not blow you away, but still, the game isn’t bad in its genre and is definitely worth checking out.
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