Fabledom – Fabledom test – A slow progression

The origin of the world

Remember: last year, I offered you a glowing overview of Fabledom, one of my favorites of the year. If you missed this presentation, a little reminder.

Fabledom is a medieval-fantasy city-builder. City construction is quite classic in itself: construction in square boxes, roads, optimization of residents’ needs, etc. Nothing revolutionary, but the magical dimension brings a twist. Indeed, the player can perform met all magical, whether it’s a dragon passing by or a friendly cyclops.

Fabledom adds a very colorful narrative dimension, artistic direction and sound ambiance. Combined with a quality tutorial, you get a game that is easy to immerse yourself in.

Faithful to the appointment

In my overview I attached the developer roadmap. Rarely in the field of early access, they have been as faithful as they are efficient, delivering a new addition of content every few months. This is what allows them to release version 1.0 of their game just over a year after the early access launch, with all the promised content. This follow-up is admirable.

Since early access, the game has been greatly enriched, bringing new neighboring sovereigns, quite a few new buildings and new mechanics. However, and this is where I will have to start being negative: I find that all this does not add a lot of depth.

It took me about 10 hours to complete my game, which is double the time I spent in early access. However, by far the majority of that time was spent at maximum speed, waiting for the resources I needed to be produced.

Let’s take an example. One of the last buildings unlocked is the castle, welcoming the nobles, the last population category of the game. The castle can accommodate buildings diametrically modifying the rules of the game, by increasing the area of ​​effects of positive buildings or by allowing actions unique. Being able to modify the rules that you must respect from the start at the end of the game is super pleasant. The problem is that these buildings represent very little interaction. For me, above all, they embodied a phenomenal quantity of resources to produce in order to be able to build them (and then exploit them, for some). They also require nobles to function, which can only be obtained during events, almost always requiring… spending resources.

Basically, everything revolves around production and I have the impression that the game’s economy is poorly thought out, unnecessarily dragging out the creation of the last buildings or the accomplishment of the last objectives. At the end of the game, on the contrary, we would like to be able to put production aside to discover something else. The problem is that this something else does not exist.

Writers’ strike

Let’s take a new example. It is possible to carry out missions in other kingdoms; these appear from time to time, imposing a type of team (peasants, soldiers, etc.) and offering a reward. It’s an interesting mechanic, but it seems incomplete: once the expedition is sent, the player can do nothing more than wait. He also cannot be particularly prepared: only the hero can be personalized, but the soldiers and peasants are interchangeable.

Likewise, the big issue in Fabledom is marriage to the ruler – or ruler – of another kingdom. Like the rest, this requires an astronomical amount of resources. Above all, while I highlighted the quality of the game’s narration, I find it very subdued here: the romance is limited to a few written messages, for example there is never any dialogue between our character and the chosen one ( e) from our heart, no more than dedicated cutscene (except the ending one, which is general).

When size matters

More generally, as much as the simplicity of Fabledom seduces during the first hours, it tires in the last few hours. Let’s take one last example to illustrate it. One of the major additions since the launch of Early Access is the addition of the military dimension. It is possible to train soldiers and archers, create fortifications that can accommodate defenses or even create buildings that generate wealth but risk attracting trolls. This is all very cool, but it comes up against the size of the cards.

I would have liked to surround all my urban areas with fortifications, but even playing in a large kingdom, I occupied most of the map at the end of the game: there was simply not enough space to that. Furthermore, if I had wanted to protect every part of my kingdom, it would have required an astronomical amount of resources… which brings us back to the recurring problem mentioned earlier.

A children’s story?

Reading this review, you may get the impression that I have a very negative perception of Fabledom. Nothing could be further from the truth. The problem is the system, not the game itself.

First concern: the concept of early access. You may be the type of person who plays the same management game over and over again. Not me: I hate doing the same thing again. However, I had already played two games of Fabledom, one during a Steam Neo Fest, the other for thepreview. The effect wow that I felt when discovering the game has passed. To really seduce me during this new meeting, I needed important new things.

On paper, they are there: as I said, the developers have produced numerous updates, as promised. However, this is where you have to remember that there are only two of them. Yes, Fabledom could have been much richer… with a much larger team. As it stands, it remains a super impressive creation for such a small team.

Fabledom is a good game, don’t let anyone make you believe otherwise, especially not me. However, it is a good small game : the kind you spend a few hours on before moving on to the next one. This is very good, and its affordable price (€21 excluding sale) is in line with this proposition. If you haven’t tried the game yet, I recommend you pick it up and give it a try; by experiencing all the content in one go, your experience will definitely be much better than mine.

For my part, I can only hope that this game will be a significant success and allow the developers to create a more ambitious sequel from the start.

Test carried out by Alandring on PC using a version provided by the developer.

And on Steam Deck ?

I couldn’t find anywhere else to put it, so I’m doing it here: The game is not playable on Steam Deck at all. During the first moments, we are impressed by the haptic feedback from the right trackpad, serving as a mouse. However, the game simply lacks optimization for this device: for example, even when playing on Steam Deck, it requires pressing specific keys on the keyboard.

I think Fabledom could work perfectly on the portable console of Valve, but it would require time and money to adapt the interface; we come back to the problem of the team of two people. Perhaps on the occasion of a possible console release of the game?