Developed by Spline and published by Akella, A Stroke of Fate is an interactive detective story located in a fascist Germany in the 1940's. You play as Adolf Mayer, a special sabotage and espionage agent who has to infiltrate into Adolf's closest minions. All the way you have to conduct him and help him to act as a true German patriot. The story includes several chapters, each chapter presenting a new attempt of Hitler's assassination, based on true events, featuring authentic places and historical personalities: Muller, Goebbels, Himmler, and Hitler. I had the opportunity to test the pre-alpha of this game which includes the second chapter. It begins with your arrival at the Ziegenberg castle (or Adlerhost, as Hitler named it), which was hiding a secret compound made up of seven buildings. In this compound in winter 1944, Hitler and Himmler were hiding here. Your character has to infiltrate in that compound and to prepare the preterm death of Hitler.

The whole gameplay is concentrated on dialogs between you and different NPC's scattered through the castle. Depending on what retort you choose, you will receive new informations, which otherwise were unable. You actually feel that you use interrogation and sabotage methods exploiting fascist negative flaws inherited from Prussian era. Every character in this game has a weak point which can be exploited if you find out which one it is. A somehow peculiar fact is that in every move you make or decision you take you have to pay attention as Gestapo agents are observing you and you have to be an example of a true German patriot. There is a situation in which you have to obtain a pack of cigarettes. The only way to obtain them is to threaten a guard soldier of his bad habit of smoking while he is on duty. Abusing of your rank and using a couple of patriotically sentences, you obtain the wished cigarettes. You will meet plenty of such situation, realizing that every member of Hitler's entourage, have their own little secrets and their own sins.

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I almost forgot about the puzzles and their solutions. There is a strong connection between these and the dialogs you choose. Almost every object and information can be obtained by discussing with different characters and every object or information can conduct you to a new situation in which you meet new characters. In order to enter the library in which Himmler is studying, you have to obtain the name of a courier which he is waiting. After an apparently innocent conversation with Victoria (the girl from the reception), you get the name. Only in this way the Ahnanerbe soldier will let you enter.

Of course the game features an inventory menu in which you can gather and sometimes combine important objectives to obtain others, but also it includes important documents and notes that will make your lifetime much easier in this game.

For such a game, A Stroke of Fate looks extremely polished, based on authentic buildings and surroundings. There was a huge work put on recreating detailed surroundings. You will not find repetition in any of the rooms or buildings, unlike other games of the same type which include repetitive textures or ornament objects. Even the faces of the powerful personalities, such as Hitler or Himmler are recreated after historical photos. Every uniform and other vestimentary article, respect the regulations of the Reich for each separate military rank. Being a point'n'click game, the developers decided to reduce as much as possible the unnecessary movement actions. You can travel pretty fast through the rooms of the castle by directly clicking the final destination of the next environmental frame. Though I wish for the final version the running mode to be implemented, by double clicking the desired destination.

A Stroke of Fate can become a valuable adventure game that should not lack from any of adventure fans collection. It's major quality is the pseudo-historical story and its almost real situations that could change the history of 1940's Germany. The minus of the game is the mediocre translation of the dialogs in English, many of the confusing situations being the result of this. Lot of the expressions and phrases have to be interpreted in English in order to obtain the right meaning. A straightforward translation is not enough. Not for the casual gamers.