Fabledom Preview

City builder games are perhaps some of the most prevalent titles found on PC. Practically no stone has been left unturned when it comes to themes and settings of the genre, and yet I still can’t get enough of them. Enter Fabledom: a city builder with a much more relaxed style of play, with less of a focus on balancing your town's budget and instead leaning more towards its fantasy themes and light-hearted nature.

Starting off, Fabledom opens with a wonderful introduction shown through a storybook and a more than enthusiastic narrator. Straight away, it gives off classic kids film vibes, and it certainly made me crack a smile. You’re then given a few choices, such as which area of the world map you would like to colonise, before being guided through a short tutorial to get your new settlement up and running. The opening hand-holding doesn’t take too long, and soon you’ll be managing to keep your small village running smoothly all by yourself.

Beginning with a small plot of land and a few peasants to rule over, the aim of Fabledom is to grow from a tiny hamlet to your very own kingdom, which is helped along by some useful quests that appear on the heads-up display. These give you a sense of what to do next, such as “build a silo to store food before winter” or “send a messenger with a gift to another ruler”. They’re not time-based, which was helpful when I was a little low on funds and I still had a few days to wait until my taxes were due, but they’re still worth working towards! This is mostly because they not only unlock new buildings and the like (unless you began in creative mode), but also grant you some gold upon completion.

With Fabledom being a fairytale-themed city builder, your town looks like something straight out of mediaeval history with a fantasy twist. You’ll build homes for new settlers (who visit and potentially decide to stay each in-game week), farms, mills, and mines for them to work in, and places to unwind such as an inn. It’s not overly complex, and a fair amount of content is locked behind a “coming soon” message, but the developers have already introduced a good number of things since release.

There isn’t too much micromanaging, although a villager overview tab helps to ensure each citizen is happy and employed, and its simple design means with just a few clicks you can put any lazy freeloaders to work. They don’t ask for much either, meaning that they generally stay happy as long as they have a well close by and enough food so as not to starve.

Besides improving and maintaining your village, you have the option of courting rulers of other kingdoms. You’ll send gifts or messages to improve your standing with them, and falling in love with each other grants your settlement some rather substantial bonuses. One ruler's love ensured my farms would produce double the amount of crops each harvest, something especially vital during the winter months when your only food source is what’s been stored away during the summer months.

There is also the option to recruit a hero, although thus far the only advantage they brought was the ability to scout ruins, which unlock new buildings or decorations to place in your kingdom. And with that, that is about as much as there is to see in Fabledom for the moment. It certainly has laid the groundwork for what could be a huge time sink in the future, but for now, this cosy little city builder only has around three to four hours of content.

There are also a few bumps in the newly constructed road, such as a bug where — despite having more than enough food stored away — the townsfolk wouldn’t eat and eventually starve. A few other gripes like not being able to dictate where certain resources go (being able to send half of my produced lumber to a sawmill, whilst the other would go into storage, for example) and times when I found myself just waiting for an age for a building I’ve prioritised to be built, but it’s overall a decent package for an Early Access title.

Quickly touching on Fabledom’s audio and visual design, I really liked the cutesy, almost Pixar-esque look of it all. It perfectly encapsulates the fairytale theme, and the ambient music heard throughout goes hand in hand to create a very relaxing experience. Even the smaller details, like rain water flooding parts of well-trodden paths, or animals roaming the countryside, add to an already charming looking title.

It’s not been too long since its Early Access release, and with some interesting features teased within the game, such as building a castle and spying on neighbouring rulers. Furthermore, it certainly doesn’t feel like a complete game at the time of writing, but with the future content that’s been announced so far, I’m looking forward to seeing Fabledom, and my small kingdom, grow and prosper.