GamesRadar+ Verdict
Veiled Fate offers interesting twists to your typical social deduction and hidden movement game. It delivers a more strategic and interesting experience than others I have played, making me feel more like a puppet master than an angry neighbor hurling accusations across the table.
Pros
- +
A slower and more strategic option for fans of social deduction games
- +
Amazing art and aesthetic
- +
Simple mechanics help highlight and don’t get in the way
Cons
- -
The Tribunal expansion really adds much of the replayability to the game
- -
Some of the components fall a bit short of IV Studios’ usual quality
- -
The board feels larger than it needs to be
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I’m a sucker for a good social deduction or hidden movement board game, and that's why Veiled Fate appeals to me. Ever since I got into the hobby, the allure of playing detective and trying to figure out the true identities or end goals of my opponents has always drawn me in. IV Studios, known for their other titles like Mythic Mischief and Brink, offers a slower and more strategic take on this genre that may be up your alley if you want a break from loudly proclaiming the person next to you as a traitor.
In Veiled Fate, you and the others around the table are all divine beings and have found yourselves with secret demi-god children (depicted as lovely little miniatures), and as any doting parent would, you want to do everything you can to put your little kiddo in the best spot possible. Only, as a god yourself, this is less about making sure you bring the best cupcakes to the school holiday party, and more about working and changing fate to earn your demi-god more renown points, while lowering the renown of others. With everyone’s progeny being secret from everyone but themselves, Veiled Fate requires you to maneuver the pieces around the board, completing quests, and trying to have your demi-god kid end up with the most points at the end. This is a similar setup to many of the best board games, but the trick is doing so subtly to try and keep your motives obscure for as long as you can.
Veiled Fate features & design
Price | $89.99/£67 |
Ages | 14+ |
Game type | Hidden role/deception |
Players | 2-8 |
Lasts | 60mins |
Complexity | Moderate |
Designers | Max Anderson, Austin Harrison, Zac Dixon |
Publisher | IV Studio |
Play if you enjoy | Coup, Resistance, Traitors Aboard |
- Play as gods trying to get their children ahead
- All about deception, misdirection, & skulduggery
- Stunning & unique visuals
Veiled Fate’s turns are pretty simple – you either move a demi-god one space or you use one of the special god powers by spending Fate cards (cards you’re dealt that you use to secretly vote for quest outcomes or for these powers). Portal allows you to move a demi-god to any location or open quest spot; Transfiguration lets you swap places with another demi on an incomplete quest; Smite sends a demi miniature to the Abyss (a special spot that delays a demi from moving elsewhere) and their point marker to the back of the line on their current renown space; Omniscience lets you shuffle a random Fate card into a quest vote pile and then look at the existing pile; and Influence lets you add an additional Fate card to a quest from your hand after placing one.
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I’ve mentioned “quests” a couple of times now. For anyone who has ever played similar social deduction games like Coup or Resistance, these will feel fairly similar. Those taking part vote with cards from their hands, either with Feather cards or Scorpion cards (basically “in favor” and “against” votes), with the highest value resulting in a specific outcome for the quest, usually resulting in either the demi gaining or losing favor, depending on the slot of the quest they find themselves in.
At the end of the game’s three ages, each ended when all players pass (i.e., rested) or all quests are complete, everyone reveals who their secret demi-god is, and whoever controls the one in the furthest ahead spot wins.
Gameplay
- Not as aggressive as some hidden role games, allowing for more nuance
- Lacks some replayability
- Tribunal expansion is almost a necessity
What I appreciate the most about Veiled Fate is how subtly it scratches those social deduction and hidden movement itches of mine, while rarely feeling as aggressive as others in those genres. As Veiled Fate is a longer game than something like Coup, it rewards being more observant and trying to plan for the future. As exciting as it can be to shout across a table proclaiming someone to be a traitor or arguing that you can be trusted, I found myself really appreciating the nuance that Fate provides. And the fact that the identity of everyone’s demi is hidden from the others, despite all the miniatures being on the board and being able to move any of them, meant that I was never completely certain if that last piece my friend moved was their demi or not.
In one of the most memorable games I’ve had, a friend of mine purposely put a specific demi in rough spots, losing them renown early in the first age, even smiting them. As a result, we all wrote that off as their demi, but seeing as they did this earlier on, they had plenty of time to stealthily and delicately work their demi-god into the top spot by the end. When they turned over their card for the big reveal at the end, it was a big shock to all of us and really solidified Veiled Fate on my game shelf.
If Veiled Fate has you in a mood for more Ancient Greece, it's worth checking out Iliad. It's an excellent 2-player strategy game that we gave four stars in our Iliad review.
Veiled Fate’s board, composed of a central piece with wedges that slot in and result in a circle, is surprisingly large considering the game’s box and what it’s for. Each slice is able to easily house the tarot-sized quest cards and a spot for the Fate voting cards. I wish that it was more compact, but what I would love even more is if on the backsides of each was an alternate zone that perhaps added unique properties or rules when you’re on them. As it stands, the backsides are just solid black, and even with as much as I have enjoyed the base game of Veiled Fate, it doesn’t offer much spice to keep the game from losing a bit of shine.
The Tribunal expansion, which was released last year, does come with three modular expansions that can be added in and bring with them special roaming hazards, new victory conditions, and even unique roles that a player can choose to play as. Tribunal is great for keeping things exciting; it would have just been nice if some of that had found its way into the base game too, but at the very least, if you find yourself enjoying Veiled Fate, then Tribunal is an easy recommendation to follow up with!
Should you buy Veiled Fate?
Veiled Fate manages to mix clever social deduction and hidden (but out-in-the-open) movement and delivers a game that feels more chess-like than I was expecting. Maneuvering my demi-god around the board and shifting others, I felt more like a spymaster moving my pawns around than a frantic town crier, proclaiming the player on my right as a traitor or that they couldn’t be trusted. The fact that on any turn you can move any piece is a big factor in that, and a welcome twist.
While I do wish the base box included some additional elements that could be dropped in or made additional plays more exciting, it still is a solid offering, and Tribunal addresses those issues in spades.
IV Studios continues to deliver, and Veiled Fate is just another notch on their belt of bangers.
Ratings
Criteria | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Game mechanics | Veiled Fate has simple mechanics that don’t get in the way of what really matters, subtly shifting the pieces around the board while keeping your demi-god’s identity safe, while positioning them at the top at the same time. | 4/5 |
Accessibility | A heavy emphasis on symbols and the larger tarot-sized cards help keep things readable from across the table, even at the higher player counts, which is always appreciated! | 4/5 |
Replayability | The base game is light on options to help keep additional plays (especially with the same group) as exciting as those first few games, but after those few games, you will know if you enjoy Veiled Fate, at which point picking up the Tribunal expansion is almost a necessity. | 3/5 |
Setup and pack-down | With clearly marked spots for components in the custom GameTrayz that come in the box, setting up Veiled Fate can easily be done in just a few minutes, with teardown only slowed by trying to remember which miniature goes into which slot of the tray (just take a picture and save yourself some headaches). | 4/5 |
Component quality | While the cardboard components and trays all feel solid and good in the hand, the miniatures and small demi-god point markers feel less so, without much weight to them and lower quality than other miniatures included in other IV Studios titles. | 3/5 |
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How we tested Veiled Fate
This review was conducted using a copy provided by the publisher.
As is procedure for all of our board game reviews, the writer made sure they examined and were familiar with Veiled Fate's rules before running multiple test sessions with a variety of player counts. This allowed them to see how the game fared with repeat play, and with a varying number of people.
For a more in-depth look our process, check how we test board games or the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.
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