Fabledom Review
With thanks to the folks at Grenaa Games and Dear Villagers, I’m checking out their cust and cosy settlement builder Fabledom. I’m diving down under the clouds to take an up-close look at this one, to let you know how it plays. As ever it’s joined by my common-sense parent’s guide as well. If you’re looking to find out if Fabledom is any good, or if it’s safe for kids, you’ve come to the right place.
Watch our full video just below, or keep reading for our extended look at thus cute and folksy fable.
You can keep us ad-free here by subscribing over on Twitch, where you’ll get ad-free viewing, emotes and access to our subscriber-only area on Discord
The Basics – What is Fabledom About?
Available on: PC (Steam, Epic)
Price: c£18
Type: Cosy City Builder
Download: 3.18GB
Fabledom has had a long and at-least mostly positive run in Steam’s Early Access programme. Thankful, it’s now launched into general release, looking to deliver a cosy spin on your typical settlement builder. This is one looking for a more comfy-feeling builder title, which still provides a good amount to be getting along with.
Players will be tasked with building their very own King, Queen or Theydom. To do so, you’ll start with just a small handful of citizens, which we know as Fablings. It’s your job to take things from this small working outpost into a cute, cosy and bustling city.
Fabledom sticks hard to the general tenets of modern settlement builders. You’ll work to construct and unlock resource management and fabrication, new housing, food production and happiness-boosting buildings. In addition, there are quests, some light NPC combat and love interests to woo along your way!
To fully progress as a ruler, you’ll look to choose your perfect partner among six neighbouring princes, princesses and highnesses. After setting up communications using a cure messenger service, you can also trade and conduct basic diplomacy with each of your neighbours.
Picking a partner and progressing along your courtship will also unlock unique buildings and decorations for your city. Overall, Fabledom hasn’t brought anything incredibly innovative to the genre, but it has made the most of a winning formula.
Is Fabledom Safe for Children?
Rating: Family Friendly.
Fabledome is rated by PEGI at 3 and above and by the ESRB as Everybody 10+. The title does have some single player combat, but no blood or gore, with fantasy, cartoonish violence and off-screen action being the primary elements here. Love does play a large part as well, but there’s nothing that we’d find at all worrying for the micro-bandits.
All put together, it’s definitely one I’m happy to let them have a go with, though younger gamers may struggle a little even on easier modes, just to get to grips with everything.
The Run Down – Our Five-Point Rating for Fabledom
Gameplay – 4: Everything in Fabledom is certainly working as intended. Buildings give nice bonuses, and there’s a good balance been thought required for strategic city planning and just letting players get on with things. It would have been nice to see some truly unique innovations, but I do like the split between citizen types, and Fabledome does what it does very well, and does it in a way that should be welcoming for newcomers to the genre.
Visuals – 4: I really like the scope you can get to with Fabledom, from the sky-high views right down to mixing it up with Fablings on the floor. It would have been great to get a little more variation in Fablings and buildings, but even up close things keep looking pretty solid. The camera mode could do with some enhancements, but overall normal gameplay for Fabledom looks pretty great.
Audio – 4: Good music and effects throughout, and some great voice acting included as well. Importantly for a game of this type, the soundtrack and effects don’t get repetitive, and really compliment the growing city gameplay very well.
Narrative – 4: It’s probably a little more than I’d expect from a city builder, and the story does well to keep the cosy vibes which first drew me into Fabledom. Players will make their own story with their love interests in the game, and it’s great that this does have an effect on how your city grows.
Replay – 5: With re-generated maps, new rules to romance and unique buildings, there’s a fair bit to drag players back in, over and above the typical “let’s build a new city” feeling of regular city builders. Varied difficulty options mean that it’s continuously accessible, and there’s usually something new to find on your travels.
The Verdict – Is Fabledom Worth It?
Overall the Pixel Bandits As You Wish Level for Fabledom is an outstanding 9 / 10 . . I’ve really enjoyed the title overall, and while it can get to be a bit of a slog as your kingdom expands, it’s one I’ve had a great time with.
The good range of difficulty options should allow most folks to have a good time with it, and if you’re looking for a new cosy title, this should be one you take a really good look at. Fabledom has managed to tickle me with cute visuals and concepts, and while it doesn’t do anything completely ground-breaking in the genre, it does wrap up tried and tested mechanics in a cosy and accessible package.
As ever, to provide this review and common-sense parent’s guide, we received a free copy of Fabledom from the folks at DearVillagers.
