You take Metal Gear Solid, LA Noire, an occult vibe, mix it up and you get Sleight of Hand. But be careful with appearances, because the game has another secret.
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at 7 p.m., Microsoft organized an Xbox Partner Showcase to show the next games that will be released on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass and even PC. Frostpunk 2 finally announced its final release date, FF14 did the same and there were a whole bunch of other announcements. Among them, we had the officialization of the very beautiful Tales of Kenzera ZAU, the Stalker trilogy on consoles for the first time, and other unexpected things like Sleight of Hand.
New Sleight of Hand game announced for Xbox Series X|S and PC
For thirty minutes, Xbox Series X|S players were able to see the games that will be released in a few weeks or months. But one title caught the attention, even though we saw almost nothing, since there was only one cutscene. However, information is now available and Sleight of Hand has something to attract our curiosity. A new license created by Joshua Briggs, the creator of FRAMED, a software which was a hit when it was released on mobile devices and which also has a PC version.
In Sleight of Hand, we play Lady Luck, a witch in a black raincoat who was betrayed by her people. Following an internal event in her former clan, the latter loses one of her two hands, which is replaced by a cursed deck of cards. To take revenge, pay her bills and clear her debts, Lady Luck goes to Steeple City, very determined to thwart her ex-boss’s plans.
That’s the pitch, but what genre does Sleight of Hand belong to? Well, several actually. We have an action infiltration game like Metal Gear Solid, which mixes with LA Noire. Stealth will be one of the pillars of gameplay, but Lady Luck will also have to conduct interrogations with her former colleagues to progress in her revenge. Exactly like the Rockstar Games game. But Sleight of Hand has another ace up its sleeve.
In addition to infiltration, action and investigation, Sleight of Hand is a deck-builder. To get by on the streets of Steeple City, the witch can accumulate cards, improve them and will have to take out the right ones at the right time. They all have properties such as turning enemies into stone or blinding them, setting traps or revealing opponents hiding in the shadows. Added to this are cursed “trinkets” to provide permanent passive effects, but which will only activate under certain conditions.
And for Metal Gear Solid fans, there’s a final surprise. The main character of Sleight of Hand, Lady Luck, will be voiced by Debi Mae West. She is the actress who lent her voice to Meryl Silverburgh. Solid Snake’s love interest. The game will be available in 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PC and day one in Game Pass.