Developer: Clever-Plays
Publisher: Clever-Plays
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Leap of Fate – Review
Leap of Fate brings a blend of isometric gameplay perspective mixed with fast-paced action together with quite a few of elements from the roguelite genre. It features mages who try to become the most powerful mage in the world as they confront the Crucible of Fates. Seek your fate and uncover huge powers!
Story
Leap of Fate puts you in the shoes of one of four different sorcerers. Each of these sorcerers has their own story as to why and how they’ve ended up where they are, but they have a common goal. They all get attracted to the Crucible of Fates, an epic challenge for every sorcerer to try. Once a sorcerer gets to the end of the Crucible, he or she can all themselves the most powerful sorcerer alive.
The story line of each separate character isn’t that big, but it’s pretty fun to follow. Aeon for example, the starter character, was a disciple with the Cabal sorcerers and they tried brainwashing him. He escaped and then found his way to the Crucible of Fates, hoping to escape the Cabal for the rest of his life.
Graphics
Leap of Fate looks quite nice graphics wise. It’s not the greatest or most detailed game ever, but it’s good for what it is and the graphical effects of shots and explosions actually look quite nice in contrast to the rest of the game. There’s a variety of maps you’ll play on, each with a unique look and feel to it, giving quite a bit of variety throughout the levels.
The only thing that’s quite weird is the aspect ratio. It seems to be 16:9 everywhere except in the levels themselves. The pre-menu area is rectangle, the cutscenes are rectangle but when you actually start playing the view port is 4:3, which is an odd choice to make.
Sound
The music and sound effects in Leap of Fate are pretty good overall. The music is awesome and fits perfectly with the atmosphere of each of the levels and the sound effects are spot on, even though it seems like sometimes there’s missing an effect here and there. One set of levels in particular has great sound effects, providing a very spooky setting together with the look of it.
Gameplay
Leap of Fate is a mix of a couple of genres, but in essence its an action-packed roguelike with an isometric perspective. It can be played with both mouse and keyboard and a controller, which was added since the last time we had a look at this game.
The goal of the game is pretty simple. In total there are six levels to go through with a boss at the end of each level. At the start of every level, a deck of tarot cards is dealt for the player which represent a bunch of different game modes. There’s action cards, shop cards, secret cards, boss cards and more. The cards are dealt in a pyramid so you can pretty much carve out your own path in search of the boss card.
In an action card, there are a couple of waves of enemies that have to be beaten, usually from one to three waves. At the end of the waves, you can get a reward chest that small, medium or big which is indicated on the card itself. These chests contain mana, which can be used to buy things in the shops and purchase upgrades, and can also contain other stuff like glyphs for example.
Each character has a couple of skills that can be used. First of all there is the primary attack, which can be dual guns, a laser, a melee weapon or more. There are also two skills that can be activated. Every character has the shadow walk as main skill, which teleports the player forward and damages everything in its path. The second skill is a glyph, every character has its own standard glyph to start with but other glyphs and upgrades can be picked up along the way. This can be everything from a huge gun to a black hole.
In order to specialize your character, you can upgrade mobility, passives and offense through a talent tree as you fight through the levels. These upgrades can be accessed by tarot cards or extra cards that can be unlocked with tokens. The upgrades can be everything from extra damage to faster running to a drone that follows you and shoots enemies, there are a lot of different combinations available.
There’s a lot more to the game like random events, challenges, sacrifices, deck shuffles, special modifiers and items you can use to modify the tarot deck and more. A lot of elements were added to the game since the pre-release to make it more random, which is a very good thing.
Conclusion
All in all, Leap of Fate has come quite a way since the last time we’ve looked at it and it has addressed a lot of issues since then. The game feels like it’s more random with more risks and more rewards, combined with fun new characters to play. The only downside is that the game is still played in a 4:3 aspect ratio most of the time.
Leap of Fate - Review,
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