Fabledom Review — A Magical City-Builder

Fabledom adds myth and romance to the city-builder genre. Read more in our 2024 Fabledom Review below.

The Indie games category is made of a plethora of incredibly unique titles. Some of these attempt to blend genres, resulting in wild and zany titles. But sometimes you find a hidden gem that reminds you why you fell in love with indie games in the first place.

Fabledom is a casual city-builder taking place in a world of epic fables. Published by Doyoyo Games and Dear Villagers, this laid-back colony sim focuses on letting you build the kingdom of your dreams. Besides having the basic structure of a fantastic city manager, Fabledom goes above and beyond. Its themed missions, quick gameplay progression and romance sim give it a unique twist. And Fabledom’s Overview system eliminates the information overload commonly seen in most city-builders.

Giant beanstalks, epic quests and not-so-fearsome cyclopes come to life in Grenaa Games’ “Fabledom”, a cozy city-builder dating sim set in a storybook. Follow our 2024 review for Fabledom for a look into one of the best city-builders in 2024.

A Tall Tale
Fabledom puts fun and creativity at the forefront while making gameplay a breeze with its simplified user interface — a feat for any city management sim. More than that, it keeps things simple (settings to further optimize your economy are available, but tucked away) and never betrays its central theme, keeping you hooked for the next fable that’s right around the bend.

At the start, you set the foundations for your future kingdom. As you expand, you get acquainted with the game’s rhythm: farm for food, finish time-sensitive missions, let your Hero take on random world quests and hoard resources to survive the next winter. But what I liked the most was Fabledom’s gentle learning curve at the start — or any point of the game for that matter.

There aren’t a lot of moving parts in Fabledom’s economy manager. But Fabledom’s challenge ramps up once you grow beyond your small village. Witch curses, greedy dragons and pesky fairies will visit your lands and threaten your kingdom’s stability. Luckily, the game gives you two solutions: spending Gold or using Nobility points.

Love and War
Nobility points are a resource that can be earned by performing heroic/generous deeds in World Events. These will usually cost you resources like Food or Wood. But saving some for a rainy day is key for a stable economy since random catastrophes can be repelled by spending Nobility points.

Fabledom also lets you befriend and marry distant rulers across the Realm. Courtship can be as easy as sending them a hundred flowers or building siege equipment for their affections.

Cultivate strong relationships with other leaders to trade with them and get certain perks. Or be a complete menace and raid them when they’re not looking. All is fair in love and war after all. And Fabledom gives you complete freedom to do as you wish.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race
While challenging, Fabledom’s World Events and discoverable events help your kingdom grow. And as fun as it is, there really aren’t any disasters you have to watch out for.

Fabledom forsakes any challenge for an easygoing kingdom sim. After building more farms and pigsties to survive future Winter months, you focus on Coal production. After that, you only need to control population growth to ensure you don’t run out of resources/still earn enough through taxes. These are all you need to do for your city to thrive. Sure, the occasional skeleton curse might impact your food stores. But you recover in the long term.

Unnaturally long winters, devastating droughts, random raids. These kinds of late-game challenges were what I expected the longer I played. And while I felt like something was missing, it didn’t take anything away from Fabledom’s insanely addictive gameplay.

If you’ve never played a city-builder, Fabledom gives you time to learn the ropes before taking the training wheels off. It’s easy to get into, and you control the pace of your game. Especially when you begin dating rulers from other realms.

A Golden Goose 9/10
Fabledom’s mystical journey captured my gamer heart the longer I played. It is intuitive, beautifully crafted and mindful of newcomers to the genre. It barely punishes you for your mistakes, and is another fun indie game that is a credit to the genre.

If you haven’t added Fabledom to your already growing pile of indie games to try, run, don’t walk. Its gorgeous, down-to-earth aesthetic and easy game design make it a must-have for any comfy game enthusiast. And it holds up after a year of release.

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Paul started writing game guides and match predictions for ESTNN’s editorial team in 2022. Since then, he’s covered big-ticket esports events and the latest news on tech and AI.