The Hero's journey begins on the day of his sister's birthday – a day that the young boy unwisely forgot again. The Hero then embarked on a journey to uncover the reason behind his village's destruction, discover his destiny, learn the true fate of his family, and save Albion from one of its oldest foes. On Theresa's birthday, the village of Oakvale is suddenly raided and destroyed by bandits, seemingly killing the boy's entire family. Before getting killed himself, an old Hero named Maze rescued the boy and convinced him to join the Heroes' Guild to be trained as Hero. Together, the couple had two children: first, the eldest daughter, Theresa, and then a son, who would later become known as the Hero of Oakvale. Many years after the founding of the Heroes Guild, a famous heroine known as Scarlet Robe, a descendant of the ruling Archons of the Old Kingdom, got married to a woodsman from Oakvale named Brom. While games have changed immensely since Fable’s initial release, Fable Anniversary gives series fans a chance to explore Albion’s origins all over again-even if it hasn’t aged all that well.WARNING: This section or article may contain spoilers! But so are the one-note combat and awkward design choices. The distinctly British sense of humor and the unique customization and moral options are all here, just as you remember them. A newly designed interface streamlines many of the menus and UI issues, but the core experience remains unchanged, warts and all.įable may not have been the RPG to end all RPGs when it released nearly a decade ago, but we looked past a lot of its problems because of everything else it got right. Why is the combat so stiff and ungainly? Why do I have to go all the way back to the Hero’s Guild every time I want to level up or take a new quest? Why are my items and gestures hidden under layers of awkward direction-pad presses? Why are all of my spells mapped to a single button? You can switch between the original’s control scheme and the more recent layout from Fable 2 and 3, but both feel ill-equipped for the challenges at hand. What Fable Anniversary doesn’t fix are the same weird foibles that merely seemed odd back in 2004 now they feel downright archaic. None of these additions dramatically alter the game in any way, but they definitely make going back that much easier. Most importantly, a complete overhaul of the save system adds checkpoints and the ability to actually save during quests-something that the original Fable surprisingly wouldn’t allow. You’ll also get SmartGlass support, which gives you real-time map updates, as well as the location of treasure chests, Demon Doors, and other important information-including integration with Prima’s official strategy guide (sold separately, natch). In addition to the main quest, you’ll get The Lost Chapters, a series of additional missions created for the Greatest Hits version of Fable back on the original Xbox, extending what was originally an incredibly short game. Still, Fable Anniversary doesn’t look bad by any stretch, just.disappointing.įable Anniversary removes a lot of the headaches found in the original version by adding some very welcome new features. Perhaps the original Fable’s aesthetic doesn’t lend itself well to this level of graphical overhaul. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by gorgeous remakes like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.

Fable may have been full of weird glitches and bugs when it first released, but these are issues that should have been ironed out for an HD remaster. Hair and shadows shift back and forth between two different frames of animation, and characters hover inches above the ground or sometimes appear wildly out of frame during cutscenes.

Other weird graphical abnormalities will make it into your playthrough, even after downloading the required patch.

Fable anniversary