Fable Anniversary: Review

Arseface. Piemaster. Chicken Chaser. These names hold sway in the stuff of legends. Or at least they do if you played Fable back in the early 2000’s. Well guess what? The Chicken Chaser has returned in Fable Anniversary, a rework of the original game ported into the Unreal Engine, providing upgraded graphics and “upgraded” menus. Personally, I was one of those who spent hours in the original during my youth, laughing as I slaughtered entire villages and giggled as I “seduced” npc women. And if you enjoyed it as much as I did, you’ll definitely enjoy the Anniversary.

Ten years ago, Fable brought something new to the table of roleplaying games; a working morality system. This was one of the prime reasons people would play the game, to slowly watch as over the course of the game your character would physically transform to reflect how naughty or nice you were. Now the original game was running on the original Xbox (and a bit later on PC) which severely limited its options in the graphics department. Now however, on the 10th anniversary (see what they did there?) you can see the game in its intended glory.

The visuals are fantastic in the Anniversary edition. It’s incredible to me that they were able to maintain such a dedicated remake while maintaining the art style of the original. Your character still has oversized hands and feet. The environments still all have that storybook aesthetic to it. And Thunder’s head still looks way too big to fit on his body. The nostalgia abounds as Lionhead has gone through great pains to make sure the game feels the same.

Personally, the game was worth the money for me, because not only did I get to experience Albion again, I got a glimpse back into my childhood and that alone is priceless.

You can get Fable Anniversary now on Steam here as well as on Xbox 360.