A fable with many more chapters to write…
Developed by Grenaa Games, Fabledom is a chill, laid back city builder that emphasizes romance above all else. As you embark on a journey of growth and prosperity, you will witness your settlement flourish by establishing trade relationships and diplomatic ties with your neighbors. And when you find your one true love, you can live happily ever after in this charming fairytale world. Having played the game on Early Access, I can say that Fabledom is a cute and competent city builder that left me enchanted. Having said that, there are a handful of balancing issues and troublesome feedback loops that keep this delightful game from having a fairytale ending.
At the onset, Fabledom hits you with a healthy dose of charm. Narrated by an old wizard, you are told a story about the world you inhabit and the kingdom you are about to build. After that, you can choose to be either a prince or princess, pick a plot of land, and set out on your fantastical journey. The city-building mechanics are about what you would expect from the genre, with basic housing and farms being built as you watch your population grow. The game takes place over seasons, with Winter being the toughest one to survive. As long as you are producing enough food and coal throughout the other three seasons, you should be fine. As your population continues to grow, however, the more important your food supply becomes. And this is where the feedback loop suffers the most.
At the top right of the screen, you can see all your current resources in real-time. When you hover the mouse over Food, the game indicates how many days’ worth of food you have left. It can be frustrating to have between 12-20 days’ worth of food while some of your population will have no food in their home…and may even die of starvation. This happens no matter how much food you have squirreled away. Different types of food combat “hunger” levels as well. For example, Bread (which requires a wheat farm, a mill, and a bakery to make) satisfies 35 Hunger. However, nowhere in the game does it tell you how much total hunger you need to satisfy to make your folks not die. It seems like a dead stat that may come into play with a later update, but as I watched my adorable Fableings perish all around me, it would be nice to know what exactly I was doing wrong.
Fabledom employs a caste system for its Fableings that adds a nice layer of complexity to the city. Peasants are the “boots on the ground” workers: they farm, mine, lumberjack, and do all manner of manual labor for the city. They are the lifeblood of the kingdom. The Commoner, which unlocks about two hours into gameplay, can run shops and some of the manual labor jobs. Peasants bring in fewer taxes (the currency you need to do anything), and the commoners provide a nice boost to the bottom line. This is offset, however, by how much upkeep almost all their unique buildings like condominiums and hospitals have on players’ funds. The third class of Fableing, the Noble, is locked in the Early Access build.
As your kingdom flourishes, you will ultimately need to purchase more plots of land and expand. While each plot brings its own unique resources to gather, the Early Access build, didn’t offer much diversity. Some of the more important resources like Flying Pigs – which add delicious pig meat to your food supply – are often just out of reach. Other plots of land will offer ruins to explore that provide fun decorations to make your kingdom all pretty and other useful items. In order to engage these ruins though, you will need a special type of Fableing: The Hero! The Hero is a large unit that is built for exploration and combat….I imagine. You can equip your hero with a handful of items to make them better suited for the battle ahead. The only thing is that the Early Access build doesn’t have any battles to speak of. And speaking of battles…
As mentioned before, Fabledom‘s main vibe is one of peace, tranquility, and finding love. Now I suppose you could decide to launch an assault on a neighboring kingdom, if you felt so inclined. The benefits of that however, don’t appear to outweigh the consequences. Since I’m a good guy at heart, I found it more rewarding to play nice with my surrounding kingdoms and charm the pants off of them. Fabledom has a fun courting mechanic that allows you to romance nearby princes or princess. By sending gifts and resources and building a relationship, you may one day be able to merge kingdoms with your sweetheart…I imagine. This feature wasn’t quite ready for the Early Access release as I hit a bit of wall with the available courting options.
Fabledom won me over with its whimsical fairytale atmosphere and I have a feeling I’m going to be playing this one for a while. The foundation of a unique and innovative city builder are here as Fabledom can easily become a mainstay for genre fans. With a little bit of tweaking and a deep dive into player feedback, it’s $15.99 cost of admission would be worth it. For now, it needs a handful of improvements to address a few of its more glaring issues. I’m not one for keeping a close eye on an post Early Access launch updates, but I’m all in on Fabledom. If this fairytale in progress sounds like it’s for you, it could be worth your early adoption. But if you are looking for a complete story, you may be better off waiting until this one has had a little bit more time to provide a more complete experience.
