Scales of Fate – Board Game Preview

Nine demigods vying for power look to humanity to determine their future. In this head-to-head battle for two, you are playing as a secret servant of two demigods. To ensure your chosen ascend to celestial glory you will meddle in the affairs of all the gods, strategically influencing their renown to meet your own ends. You must engage in mind games and subterfuge to enable your patrons to achieve their divine goals.

The game shown in this preview is a prototype; components and gameplay in the final version are subject to change

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Rules Overview

The goal is to score the most points by manipulating the renown of the demigods and correctly guessing who your opponent supports. This happens over three rounds or ages. The game takes place on a dual-layered board with randomized quest tokens and action tiles slotted in. Two identical demigod card decks are shuffled separately and each player draws two demigod patrons from their own deck.

A turn consists of a single action. Players may choose to:

Place a demigod onto an available action token on the board to obtain servants or other actions. This is the main action of the game.

Place a servant onto any available space on the outer edge of the quest board. Servant placement causes immediate scoring and is the primary way to influence the demigods’ renown. 

Use a God Power to immediately perform a once-per-game action. These three God Powers may turn the tides in your favor, but accepting them will cost end-game points.

Each age ends when the action tiles have been filled and all servants have been placed. The demigods in the Abyss are scored according to the Abyss marker. Both players then announce if either of their demigods fits the criteria on the current Age card. The board is set up according to the next Age card, servants and demigods are removed, and the next round begins.

The game ends after the completion of Age 3. Players will then guess their opponent’s demigods. Points are scored based on demigod renown positioning – if they are on different spaces of the track you score the numerical difference, if they are on the same space that will be the score. A player will gain 3 points for correctly guessing both of their opponent’s demigods and -1 point if they don’t identify at least one. Finally, players who used God Powers lose points. The player with the most points wins the game!

Gameplay

Scales of Fate is a two-player deduction game that facilitates mind games and deception. This is executed through a clever board design that ensures every move made has the potential to convey important information. Players must scrutinize each move and determine whether this information is useful or a red herring, at the same time weighing how their actions might telegraph their own intentions.

It was incredibly easy to learn and to play. The abstraction made the board look a bit confusing at first glance, but once I understood the basics of the symbols it all clicked. The ruleset is not overly complicated. The heaviness and depth of the game stem from the deduction rather than the mechanics. The game’s difficulty will depend on how tricky you and your opponent are.

The rules may be simple, but the game does not lack strategic depth. Demigod renown has the most point potential and can be tackled in two ways: keeping your demigods on the same renown number, or tanking one and boosting the other to create a renown gap. Keeping the demigods together is akin to “shooting the moon” – it can pay off in a big way, but one wrong move and your point potential is decimated. You may instead choose to tank one demigod and boost the other to exploit the renown differential, but that comes with a high chance of telegraphing information. Both strategies must be handled carefully. There are several ways to utilize bluffing and deception to your advantage, and with variable board setups, the replayability is quite high.

There are nine demigods to interact with. While each player is only concerned with two, they will still interact with the other seven to achieve their goals. Each action conveys information. You will be left wondering if placements were done for the action bonus, for the point potential offered by the neighboring quest tiles, or for deception. More information is revealed at the end of each age with a significant information dump – the reveal at this stage adds another layer of strategy to consider while manipulating the demigods. Even the use of God Powers may shed light on a player’s intentions. Guarding your secrets and playing mind games is at the heart of this game.

Impressions

Deduction games, especially social deduction, are very hit-and-miss for me. Despite my reservations,  Scales of Fate clicked for me right away. Maybe I enjoy being able to hyper-focus on a single opponent rather than getting lost in a sea of intentions in a large social deduction game, or perhaps the visual representation of the board gives my brain a visual puzzle to latch onto. Whatever the case, I have been enjoying my time with the prototype. I can only guess that a deduction game for two players is a difficult design to pull off with any elegance. I am pleased to say that, for me at least, IV Studio got it right.

As can be expected from this publisher the production is top-notch. My prototype contained beautiful wood tokens, dual-layered boards, easy-to-understand symbology, and unique card artwork. It’s a joy to look at and play with and I only expect the final product to improve.

With deduction, bluffing, and mind games baked in, Scales of Fate is highly interactive. Scoring is low so each point you can squeeze out of the experience feels significant. This adds weight and excitement to every move, and to wring out every possible point you must pay attention to your opponent – no phone scrolling between turns. Fortunately, the turns move quickly, and downtime is minimal. It’s fast-paced and, for me at least, quite a bit of fun.

Who it’s for – If you are looking for an interactive deduction game for two that is easy to learn, plays quickly, and provides a depth of strategy, it will be worth your time to take a closer look at Scales of Fate.

The Kickstarter campaign is active March 18th, 2025. For more information, check out: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivstudios/scales-of-fate