Fable Review

Developed by Lionhead Studios, Fable is the brainchild of company founder Peter Molyneaux. This action RPG features exciting combat and a colorful world but suffers from a failure to commit to its own premise. Far from perfect, Fable nonetheless succeeds despite its numerous flaws.

Story

Fable takes place in the land of Albion, a chaotic realm where vast swaths of unclaimed wilderness divide small pockets of civilization. After bandits destroy the player character’s hometown, you are recruited to the Guild of Heroes and set out on a quest for vengeance. Along the way you perform numerous quests on the Guild’s behalf, many of which have the potential to lead you down the path of either darkness or light.

While side questing isn’t exactly a new concept, the player’s ability to choose between good and evil is. In theory, it is a significant aspect of the game. In practice, however, your Hero’s moral alignment is only as big a deal as you make it. Sure, good and evil characters will look different as part of a mechanic I will get into later. But otherwise, the story and gameplay effects are very minimal.

This brings us to my main gripe with an otherwise extraordinary game: the story. Fable’s writing isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. There are bit characters with more personality than the main cast of some games. The dialogue and flavor text is all very clever, and Fable’s sense of humor sets it apart from many fantasy RPGs.

Morality

But, the problem arises from how Fable addresses the moral choices peppered throughout the game. Despite being told our choices matter, the story progresses the same regardless of the decisions you make. Killing or sparing an important NPC seems like a big deal in the moment, but will never brought up again after the fact.

Every moral decision is like this. Fable repeatedly stresses that the player’s choices have consequences, but fails to follow through in a meaningful way. The fact that it also approaches morality with all the nuance of a Saturday morning cartoon doesn’t exactly help.

The Hero ages as he levels up and gains scars from injuries