Game: Video Game Fables: Nightmare Arena DLC
Genre: RPG
System: Steam (Windows & Linux)
Developer|Publisher: Momiji Studios
Controller Support: Yes
Price: UK £2.09 | US $2.99 | € 2,99
Release Date: October 25th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Momiji Studios.
Back For More
Video Game Fables is an RPG that already made a big splash with its release earlier this year with favourable reviews from multiple outlets including this one. Be sure to check out my review here. The main title is already a splendid RPG with an amusing plot and surprising depth to its combat system. For this review, I’ll be covering the recently released DLC which makes for a nice compliment to an already impressive game.

Enter the Arena
Aru, Nate and Tator are back for a new nightmare adventure. After chatting to the innkeeper at your home base, instead of having a nap to heal your wounds from questing, you are whisked into a new nightmare realm. Here the concierge challenges you to take part in the battle arena to test your skills. Only this is not your typical battle arena you may be used to seeing in an RPG. In these battles, enemies have various perks such as dealing more damage, being resistant to physical or magic attacks or maybe even targeting vulnerable members of your party. Having a significantly levelled-up party also won’t help your success as your EXP is strictly limited. If you are familiar with the core game EXP is used as a sort of currency to upgrade your party as well as equip items, armour and spells.
With a limited amount, it turns this arena DLC into more of a strategy game where you need to spend your EXP extremely wisely in order to have success. Nightmare is an appropriate title for the DLC as these battles are not easy. I myself ended up repeating the first battle a few times before I got to grips with my limitations. The advantage of this is you can start playing the DLC after the first dungeon in the main game. The drawback is, the difficulty may put off those looking for a casual experience. If you find this is the case you may be pleased to know you can jump in and out of the DLC at any time throughout the main game.

Rewards for Your Efforts
Your efforts to make it through the challenges are rewarded. If you succeed you will be rewarded with summon attacks which can be used in the main game. A familiar talking sofa makes a welcome return here. With the new DLC, the game has brought a free update in the form of enemy stickers. When you defeat enemies in the main game or DLC you will unlock stickers of those enemies which can be viewed later in a booklet.
That’s about it for the package. The game doesn’t really add a lot of story or additions to the lore. But a feature I did like is during battles I enjoyed how you could see the action playing out on the giant monitor called the Scream Screen. A small but quirky feature the game is already known for.

Conclusion – A Positive Reminder
Nightmare Arena is a nice compliment to this great RPG package. A tough challenge that will demand you put your thinking caps on, rather than relying on typical RPG grinding to succeed. By itself, it is decent but not as memorable as the main game. If nothing else this review is a reminder to check out the main game. Then consider spending a little extra on the DLC and soundtrack to support the developer. If Video Game Fables continues to release DLC I’ll certainly be interested.
Final Verdict: I Like it