Fabledom Review

Game: Fabledom
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Grenaa Games | Dear Villagers, Doyoyo Games
Controller Support: No
Price: US $20.99 | UK £17.59 | EU 20,99
Release Date: May 13th, 2024 (1.0 Release)

A review code was used, with many thanks to Press Engine.

In 2023, Fabledom was released on early access, and I previewed the game at that time. Now, a year later, Fabledom, a city builder simulation, is moving to its 1.0 release. Time for a review of the game as the developers have been busily updating Fabledom as it moved through its early access phase.

While playing Fabledom, you can engage in diplomacy with nearby kingdoms, recruit legendary heroes and troops, pursue romance, and maybe even be visited by a flying dragon or two, as the game is set in a fairytale storybook world. As your village expands, you will discover fresh game features and a few surprises.

Build a City in a Fairytale World In Fabledom

When you start a new game of Fabledom, you can choose between story mode and full creative mode. Each new game begins with a unique world made up of various regions differing in size, resources, and obstacles like mountains and oceans. However, visually, the regions appear the same in-game. Additionally, you can choose to be a prince, princess, or highness.

In the game, you begin with a handful of villagers, basic resources, and a pretty helpful tutorial that earns you coins when you complete the tasks. Coins are invaluable as you will need them to construct buildings with, as everything has a cost and uses resources as well.

The Fablings

Fablings (NPCs) of Fabledom are similar to small humans reminiscent of hobbits or gnomes, who lead simple lives; they prioritise food and entertainment as must-haves. They fall into three social classes with their own unique housing: Peasants, the lowest tier, perform manual labour like farming, construction, or logging. Commoners, a step above, specialise in trades like merchants. The highest tier consists of nobles, who hold administrative roles in your settlement.

Playing Fabledom is similar to crafting a charming village straight out of a children’s fantasy tale. You engage in typical tasks such as constructing homes, farms and logging camps, all the while ensuring your citizens are well-fed, warm, and content.

Building a worker’s camp will ensure you have Fablings always on duty for the construction of buildings, as long as you have the resources, of course. However, the Fablings can be slow. Even at maximum game speed, they take their time to get things done.

They can also be a little daft, as in one of my playthroughs, I wanted to build a hospital to help cure a few sick fablings before the whole town got sick. I had all the correct resources, and Fablings posted to the worker’s camp, but for whatever reason, the Fablings continued to ignore the hospital and refused to build it; in the end, all the Fablings became sick and died off one by one; if only they had built the hospital they might have survived.

It’s Hero Time in Fabledom

Once you build the hero quarters, it produces a single large melee warrior. You can use this character and send him out to search the map around your settlement in Fabledom. You can also send him on an adventure to climb a giant beanstalk and find out what lurks up there.

The hero can explore lost ruins or speak to witches or even stone golems. Doing so can earn you some resource, decoration, or temporary boon, or on the downside, your settlement can suffer from a witch’s curse, such as all the Fablings turning into skeletons for a set amount of time.

You can build barracks to turn the more passive Fablings into hardened knights and archers and use stone walls, as well as city watch towers for defences.

Romance in Fabledom

After building a messenger’s guild, you can send envoys to other kingdoms or lands. The first leader you meet is usually the main love interest, offering bonuses when fully courted through gifts, flirting, or dates. You can also end relationships, affecting your standings. I’m not really into romance in games, but it was fun to try it out on this occasion.

When you understand how Fabledom works, the tutorial acts mostly as a guide, giving you quests such as adding a windmill to turn farmer-made wheat into flour. As your population grows, you can build more structures, like homes, food production facilities, amenities, military buildings, or fortifications, though unlocking new buildings depends on reaching certain population thresholds.

It’s the Little Touches

Fabledom feels familiar and effortlessly playable throughout. I never found myself confused, thanks to the game’s helpful objectives system, which kept me focused on my progression. What surprised me were the distinct ways Fabledom distinguishes itself in the city-building genre.

While not groundbreaking, there is no doubt it is charming. For instance, expanding homestead plots to include backyard spaces for features like beehives or dog houses adds a touch that’s easily overlooked from a distance. Still, it enhances the charm of the game when you zoom in for a closer inspection.

Visuals

Visually, Fabledom is vibrant and colourful, and the characters are lively and nicely animated, brimming with personality. The music is great the first couple of times you hear it; when it’s on constant repeat, it does get tedious.

One niggle I have is that an unnamed narrator is telling the story, but some of his lines lack humour or are just downright weird, even creepy. Since there isn’t much dialogue in the game, the narrator can feel repetitive as he repeats some lines.

Conclusion

Overall, I’ve had a lot of fun with Fabledom. It can be a slow burner, and it takes a while to get going. That may not suit all players of the genre, but for me, it gives me an opportunity to watch the Fablings ambling around as they build their city, and I love the fairytale setting.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up