Summary
The fantasy world ofFableis a curious one with a lot of style and flair to it. With over two decades ofFablegames in the franchise, the series is ready to turn back the clock and reboot withFable 4. With no release date set, it’s the perfect time to look at the bestFablegames.
There have been a variety ofFabletitles ever since 2004. Spurning a larger franchise from the beginning,Fablequickly became one of the best RPGs, and this classic action RPG series has varied in style and gameplay.
Updated on 16th November 2023 by Christopher Harkin:The Fable franchise is still looking forward to the next huge entry in the series, but with no clear release date, fans are instead looking back at the long history of great games bearing the Fable name. With the series unlikely to end anytime soon, more Fable games will be added as they come!
9Fable Coin Golf
Metacritic Score: N/A
It is sometimes baffling where franchises likeFablewill go to try and create something different.Fablehas always enjoyed including elements of British lore since the land of Albion is based on the ancient United Kingdom.Coin Golfis just one of the pub games that was borrowed from the British for the series.
Turning it intoa fantasy game for Windows phoneswas a strange decision. Players have to try and rid the land of evil by getting Puck, the player character, into the “Pillar of Light” in the least number of shots possible. Gold earned could be transferred into theFable 3game afterward, which was the appeal for the majority of fans, but without a doubt, this was the least interesting entry in the history of the franchise.
A beat-em-up set in theFableuniverse was an equally interesting decision on the part of the developers. Supposed to bring a family-friendly nature to the franchise, the hack-and-slash style of this adventure allowed players to takeone of their favorite charactersfrom theFablefranchise and launch into battle.
The option for co-op was also included with up to four players over Xbox Live when the game was released in 2012. The hero doll characters used were quite an artistic shift for the franchise to boot, as was the gameplay featured, and while it made for a fun effort, it didn’t produce anything special enough to be regarded at the level of the main franchise entries.
7Fable 2 Pub Games
Metacritic Score: 53/100
Fable 2came with additional content inspired by classic British pub games. An Xbox Live Arcade title, theFable 2 Pub Gamescollection included Keystone, Fortune’s Tower, and Spinnerbox. All the gold won through the game could be accessed by players when they returned to theirFable 2game.
While this was a unique idea for 2008, and included various concept art that could be unlocked as players progressed, the idea of gambling for in-game money in a different game didn’t take off to a huge degree, and wasn’t copied much in the future, helping it become relatively forgotten by all but huge fans of the franchise.
It feels strange to put aKinect-exclusive gameabove one of the main entries in the franchise, butFable:The Journeywas a shock in how immersive and fun it managed to be. Allowing players to move their hands in certain patterns to form spells for combat,Fable: The Journeywas one of the best Kinect releases the Xbox 360 ever had.
WhileThe Journey, as with almost all Kinect games, had problems and critics complained about limitations, these were made up for by the strength of the narrative, which was at times positively heart-wrenching. Still, the weaknesses leave this easily below the main three entries in the franchise.
Another way thatFablehas attempted to change up the style of the franchise came in the most recently released game in the franchise,Fable Fortune.This title isa free-to-play collectible card gameset in theFableUniverse. Released in 2018, it provided players with the chance to interact with theFableworld differently.
While it received a mixed reception,Fable Fortunewas a fun card game that managed to gain a level of following. Unfortunately, support for the game was discontinued after a lukewarm response from the fan base in mid-2020. Still, it was easily the best spin-off from the main franchise, without doing enough to trouble the biggest releases.
The third official entry in theFablefranchise took the unusual step of jumping so far forward in the timeline of Albion that the world now resembled more of a 19th-century Britain than the previous. While a bold choice, fans still loved the game and story, which featured the player character attempting to overthrow the king of Albion, their brother.
After succeeding in their quest, players then had to guard Albion against a great evil.A fantastic take on the franchise, but the least loved of the main entries by most fans.Fable 3stands as the step that led to the decline of the franchise.
The Lost Chaptersis a surprisingly significant part ofFablehistory. Despite only being a re-release of the original game with added content, much of that content was a huge part of keeping the franchise moving. Featuring new areas, sixteen new quests, and a great deal of added equipment,Fable: The Lost Chaptersis a huge re-release of the original.
While it had its own issues and problems, this expansion, while not as innovative or mold-breaking as the original game itself, did manage to be a great addition that was very much in the style ofFableitself. Feeling true to the original while bringing in a huge amount of extra content,The Lost Chapterswas one of the precursors to DLC becoming more popular in games.
The originalFablegame has already been extended, re-released, and now will be rebooted. It stillstands since its release in 2004as one of the absolute best RPGs ever to exist. The story of The Hero of Oakvale, featuring such a great morality system, and the beautifully designed land of Albion, were all great factors that helpedFablebecome legendary.
A classic story of loss that leads to the rise of a hero,Fablekept things classic and classy in narrative terms. Jack of Blades' villainous story and the sacrifices that the hero makes to finally bring him down are all beautifully told, andFableinspired many games to follow in the footsteps of the morality system as well as the darker tone for a game. Unfortunately, the ambition ofFablemeant that some of the mechanics weren’t as fine-tuned as they would be a little later.
It is hard for a completely original game to nail everything on the head, andFablefrom the start wanted to do so much that was completely original to the gaming world that it was always going to behard to perfect the systems. But while these were all upgraded and improved in the sequel, the real surprise was that the story and setting were also greatly improved.
The shift by five hundred years into the future of Albion, giving the world a more 16th-century sort of feel, and the additions to gameplay such as the larger world and extra side missions, as well as the property empires that players could build, made for a much-improved game. Taking place over the entire lifetime of their hero,Fable 2was a journey unlike any other at the time, which nobody has as yet been able to repeat.
Special Mention: Fable 4/Fable Reboot
Fableas a franchise has been very much stuck in the mud, with the last major entry being released over a decade ago. With the news of an upcoming major entry/reboot that will act asFable 4(but may just be calledFable)coming soon, there is a possible huge re-ignition of the franchise on the way.
No news about other spin-offs or entries has been announced, meaning that any future this franchise has could rest on this next major installment.
