Fate’s Theater – The battle between Fortune and Misfortune is in your hands

Totally Normal Creature brings this micro-tale game to life. I’d say it’s a fairytale (only because a fairy tells the story), but it’s much deeper and sometimes darker than I could have imagined. Fortune and Misfortune both vie to twist mortal lives into branching stories. The game is written is delightful rhyming couplets and has moments of levity and darkness that I wasn’t prepared for.

You choose who to play as, the computer plays your opponent. First one of you is designated to start by applying a bane or boon to up to 3 of you (or your opponents) mortal cards. The other player picks one from each side to combine the mortals and determine the destiny.

You hear the first part of the story that will tell the tale of this meeting. You then each secretly bid your fate points and try to ‘win’ the hand. If Fortune wins, it’s a positive outcome; if Misfortune wins, it’s negative. There are over 400 handwritten, 2-line tales in the game, and the stories are written in such a way that I wanted to see every outcome. This is what makes Fate’s Theater so addictive. You will potentially uncover a new card from combining the two mortals, and the winner adds both of the cards to their hand. Music and colours shirt with each outcome, purple for Misfortune and teal for Fortune.

The round ends when one of you runs out of cards. The rounds can be of varying lengths, and management as well as luck play into the gameplay. I enjoyed my time immensely with Fate’s Theater, even playing solo. There is an option to invite a friend to play instead of playing versus the computer. I didn’t have the chance to try that out for this review, but I will be looking into it as soon as possible.

The rules are simple to understand and are clearly explained in the first stage of the game. The artwork of shadow puppets is delightful, and the music from composer Nick Harrison Palmer is whimsical and magical. It was the perfect compliment to the style and feel of the game.

There is a Mature Content note from the developer in-game. The game “features poetic descriptions of violence and gore, served with a dark sense of humor”. I was sad to read that this is the final game from the developer Totally Normal Creature, but they are leaving us with a real gem of a title here.