Hand of Fate 2: The Dealer’s Apprentice Free Add-on Available

Some people don’t like mouthy NPCs that never shut up. Fortunately, I’m not one of them, so I welcome the latest free update for Defiant Development’s RPG/CCG Hand of Fate 2 that allows you to recruit the game’s Dealer as a companion and have him berate you both in and outside of combat. This update, that should be coming to the consoles sometime in 2018, is set to be the first of many and is expected to be followed by a new game mode, new enemy faction, and more companions after that.

Here’s what you can expect from Hand of Fate 2 in the coming year:

Today sees the release of the first of our free add-ons for Hand of Fate 2 – The Dealer’s Apprentice! On starting a new run, players will unlock new Dealer-inspired customization options, while those who have completed the final challenge will be awarded the ultimate prize: a Dealer companion of their very own! To claim the Dealer’s Apprentice, simply head into the new Additional Content menu item at the start screen and select “Claim”.
The Dealer’s Apprentice is just a tiny taste of the cool ways we’ll be expanding Hand of Fate 2 in the new year. It’s no secret that we’ve been working on a full-featured Endless Mode – one that will provide both hardcore and casual players with fresh challenges and a ton of new unlockables. Beyond that (and without spoiling too much), we’ve got a brand new enemy faction in the works, even more companion characters, engaging new challenges, and some exciting new weapons and artefacts, as well as cool tweaks to a few already in the game (why should Estrella be the only one able to enjoy those flintlock pistols, amiright?).
2018 is going to be a big year for Hand of Fate 2, so stick around, folks. We’ve got plenty of tricks still up our sleeves.

The Dealer’s Apprentice add-on is accompanied by a patch that fixes plenty of bugs and issues:

General
Continued improvements to UI Keyboard and mouse controls.
Restored missing brimstone card textures to brimstone monsters.
Fixed an issue with the mirror ball in dealer caravan (Twitch).
Updated the Plentiful Harvest blessing to produce a larger range of results.
Minor updates to challenge deal sequence to improve game play flow.
Challenges
Justice: Added more clarity to the requirements for the Gold Token. Fixed a bug to prevent last section triggering early if you have a run in progress.
Balance pass.
Death: Updated life gained / lost from eating / starving consistent with other challenges.
Devil: Removed certain curses from the challenge to prevent non-progressions.
Judgement: Allowed players to attack Empire counters. Fixes numerous issues where players could get stuck or not be able to proceed after taking shortcuts.
Encounters
Fixed a bug with Battered Helm’s token not being awarded if the player didn’t have the helm equipped during The Blacksmith encounter
Fixed an issue in The Blacksmith encounter where the player could equip a piece of armour they didn’t have enough Fame for if they upgraded their currently equipped armour
Fixed bug in Whispers of the West encounter where only 2 of 3 questions could be asked
Fixed a bug in Healer encounter where the ‘Heal Companion’ would not display if your companion was not disabled
Fixed a bug in Forgotten Dreams encounter that caused the game to crash
Updated the Ascension encounter in High Priestess to include ‘Go to next level’ text for clarity
Fix a number of string substitution bugs in Raiders encounter
Hoarfrost Trial: Improved Korean translation
Combat
Improved UI clarity on Companion HUD when their ability is ready to be used
Improved clarity of playspace boundaries in some combat arenas
Phalanx of Steel: Updated heavy attack animation and improved clarity for when the unit is vulnerable or protected/blocking. Enemy is no longer protected/blocking while frozen
Shade (Wraith): Updated the enemy so that they teleport away when they disappear
Ogre: No longer gets stuck walking while stunned.
General performance optimisations