As a veteran of collectible card games I was really positively surprised by Fable Fortune. I find most card games available on Steam, if not all of them, to be dreadfully derivative and boring. They lack creativity for someone who has been playing Magic the Gathering (and other excellent games such as Android Netrunner) for a decade and has already seen the best the genre has to offer. I also wasn't able, despite many attempts, to enjoy Hearthstone, which I will grant is, objectively speaking, incredibly well designed and polished, but has just a couple of quirks that make it a very frustrating experience for me.

And on the surface Fable Fortune isn't that much different. Heroes are also classes with class-specific cards. Each has their own 2 mana power. 30 card decks. 2 cards per deck limit. Units can attack anything on the board. No main- or attack-phases. Crafting. Salvaging.

You can count all the ways in which it deviates from the Hearthstone formula on one hand, but those changes proved to be crucial and make in my opinion for a much more enjoyable and fair game. In fact those little differences seemed to be aimed at removing the most glaring issues that I, and many others, had with Hearthstone.

Let's preface this by saying that as an Early Access game, it has a number of technical issues, disconnects and bugs, and missing important features, however even in this unfinished state I find it madly enjoyable and well worth my time.


I write this assuming you have some knowledge of how Hearthstone or similar games work.

1. Everybody starts with 3 mana.

The biggest and probably the most significant change is that each player starts with 3 points of a resource used as mana (here knowns as "coins"), instead of 1. What it does is nearly completely eliminates the early-game phase and throws players right into the mid-game and puts them that much closer to the late-game. Coupled with the other points below it minimises the hit you take by bad draws, makes the game less reliant on tempo and getting perfect mana curve draws.

2. Start with 4/5 cards instead of 3/4.

The thing I could never quite understand in Hearthstone as a game with this much combo and tempo potential (or even a tempo requirement at higher ranks) were small starting hands. By all accounts, the game is in the same ballpark mechanically as MtG, Game of Thrones, Android Netrunner, or even WoW TCG which Hearthstone was based on, but instead of 5 or 7 cards, the players are given starting hands of 3 and have to mulligan/reshuffle that. This makes bad draws feel suffocating and not hitting the tempo or opting for a different strategy wasn't really a choice a player could make.

Now I understand that deck sizes were slashed by half and the game was intended to have a casual appeal, but if mechanics are basically the same, this design decision always felt like a rookie mistake to me and a painful side effect of Blizzard's love for simplicity.

Now in Fable Fortune you start with one more card and coupled with your hero ability, the guard and the quest system, it opens up a variety of options right away. Even as a seasoned player I have to think twice about my opening whereas in Hearthstone most of the time the choices during the first 3-4 turns were rather obvious and choosing to deviate from that could have bad consequences.

3. The aggro is non-existent. Tempo is much less relevant.

Despite the existence of creatures ("units") with haste ("rush"), they can never make for a MtG Red Colour or HS Hunter-style aggressive deck and are either very low HP and easy to remove or expensive so delegated to the late game. Thanks to the ability of your hero to grant a guard ability to any unit each turn for 1 mana and the starting mana of 3, the aggro strategy... well... would struggle to take hold at any stage of the match. Even when I aggressively hit my tempo and combo well from the start, my opponent can slow it down and defend efficiently if they play something decent and give it guard.

4. Combos are potent but kept within very resonable limits.

One worry I had was that an increased starting mana pools and hand sizes would make combos easier to execute than in Hearthstone but somehow they made it actually harder while still making them a viable option to pursue. Combo generating units are usually not ones that would also destroy your opponent's defences so they still have an option to attack them next turn. The combos also require some time for the effects to take place, usually at the end of your turn by which time it's your opponent's opportunity to respond.

5. Cooperative events.

Now this is pretty fresh. A two players vs AI mode. Every two weeks you are presented with a new AI boss, each with distinct mechanics and their own versions of player cards. Quite thematic. Pretty challenging at higher difficulties. If you beat the boss at Hard with all 6 classes you get two rare cards on top of the card pack and stack of silver you got along the way. Once I get my butt kicked by Hard Mode I go back to tweak the decks specifically for this. Very satisfying. I think this could be, with some improvements, much better than Hearthstone expansions, and is already a great way for people who don't feel like playing vs other people to spend time, earn silver and cards.



There are also many minor features I haven't mentioned but definitely add to the experience and make it richer. Heroes can complete quests and turn Good or Evil which changes their powers (and the portraits!). Some cards turn Good or Evil according with your hero's alignment which changes their art and abilities as well. Illustrations have much more space on the cards instead of being forced into a small frame so the whole visual experience is nicer. In general I find the art style to be great and because it is based on an established game series with its own lore, it doesn't feel as generic as almost every other card game on Steam.

But this is pretty much it. The developers still have a long way to go to make the game ready for the release day, but I feel like in those couple of days I already got my money worth and have a hard time keeping myself away from the game, despite the issues and missing features.

I was looking for a beautiful and polished online card game with familiar mechanics so I can feel at home but different enough to inject some excitement into the formula and tweaks to make it less frustrating than other big games in this space and that is what Fable Fortune already has nailed down without a doubt. A suberb foundation for what can with some technical tuning easily turn into many years of enjoyable content. An adventure, even.

Early access but these guys decided to stick around after Lionhead was closed. Fun gameplay and I hope they can eventually carry on the Fable legacy

One of the best CCG games I've ever played. Really. I'm a big fan of collectible card cards from my childhood, I've played dozens of them and here I've fell in love with this sweet stylish game. Here you can find:

Pros:

+ Cute graphics and design in Fable style
+ Exciting process of game campaigns and levelling up. I'm not a fan of non-stop grinding, but here's a balanced system of player's motivation to play and advance
+ 6 unique factions to play, every has it's own cons and pros + unique faction cards

Cons:

- Small questions about balancing some individual OP cards, but it's a daily job for every CCG developer

If you're a fan of CCG or liked Fable games before, I definitely recommend to try Fable Fortune and give it a try. But don't forget it's still open beta and can have some small bugs.
Heartstone - pff, Fable Fortune - yes!

Upd.: currently the game has almost no bugs, I hope it will be released from Early Access

This review has now been updated after the full release of the game.

I've been a playtester of this game for quite a long time and have seen the game develop pretty much since early alpha. While the game has made significant strides since then I'm sad to say it's also regressed in some other areas that for me personally, no longer make it as enjoyable to play as it used to be.

As has been pointed out by others, this game is similar in playstyle to Hearthstone but making a number of crucial additions, such as the Guard ability giving any unit 'taunt' a turn as well as the Morality and questing features really giving the player a lot more meaningful choices during the game than Hearthstone provides.

What really separated this game from Hearthstone however, were the competitive deckbuilding options. Back in alpha all the way through beta, this game had a whole host of competitively viable, yet not overbearing, combo decks as well as viable mill options in addition to the normal aggro and control decks.
My main gripe with the current version of the game is that these are all but eliminated in release after recent balance changes. The Morality system was changed a while ago from, rather than each additional morality point providing a better effect, just having one general effect on the first morality point, a change I quite strongly disagree with.

Competitive deckbuilding has similarly become a lot less diverse. It's pretty much all aggro or control now which is why the game now plays a lot more similarly to Hearthstone than it has ever done before and is a lot less appealing to me. This is, sadly, a deliberate design direction. The devs have repeatedly stated that having decks like mill in the game is undesireable to them and they are quite scared of combo decks in general becoming dominant. To a degree that is understandable but this attitude does have the unfortunate side effect of making the game feel a lot less unique.

It's still a good game and it being free-to-play I'd certainly recommend people to give it a go. But it does feel like it has lost some of its identity over the course of the testing process.

Fable Fortune is already one of the best looking among its peers and features voice acting that doesn’t try to embarrassingly shoehorn in card game terms whenever possible. On top of everything, there’s a solid foundation to build from when it comes to the way the game plays. With enough tweaks and a proper tutorial, the game has the potential to be a real contender.

Want to know more? My full Early Access preview is avialable over at https://techraptor.net/content/fable-fortune-early-access-impressions

The short version of this review is that Fable Fortune is an excellent card game and well worth spending time on. I highly recommend playing it if you're a fan of the genre, as it does several very interesting things.

Fable Fortune is what Hearthstone could have, and should have, been.

If you're into card games, you've probably heard those words before, and seeing them at this point should fill you with doubt.

But in all seriousness, that's what Fable Fortune does. At first glance the game looks similar to HS, with several classes to pick from, each with their own hero power. Minions have attack and health, they can hit other minions or your opponent's face if not blocked by taunt, there are spells, etc. etc. But Fortune adds onto that underlying framework beautifully, with both minor mechanical changes (You can spend one mana to give a unit Taunt each turn, no matter what), and one major addition, the quest system.

It's difficult to summarize the quest system, but the gist of it is each map (there are 3, the map used for PVP rotates each season) has 3 quests; each player chooses one at the start and after completing a quest. Quests are things like "use your hero power 4 times, play x number of damaging spells, play 2 minions with last laugh, etc. Completing a quest lets you choose between a good or evil hero power, and grants a reward based on the map. You can do this 3 times, switching between good/evil and getting successively better rewards. Certain cards also change based on whether your hero is good or evil and if they've accomplished enough quests.

This quest system also affects the meta, since the quests in play change each ranked season, ensuring a rotation of popular decks. Since I started playing a week ago, for example, the Gravedigger and Alchemist classes have been strong on the graveyard map, due to their ability to proc quests quickly. The next map will have an entirely different meta, with different popular deck. It's an interesting way to balance a card game, (in addition to normal nerfs/buffs).

Those are the main things that make Fable Fortune unique, and most of what I can talk about from experience.

The f2p model for fortunes is alright. Daily quests are to be added soon, as well as a buff to silver gained per match. Longer (won) games are supposed to grant approximately 10% of a pack, lost games half that. According to the devs this will make Fortune's f2p model more generous than most other games, so take that as you will. I will say crafting rates are pretty sub-par, and drop rates don't seem excellent. However you do earn an impressive amount of packs for levelling your hero up; those familiar with hearthstone will recognize the model of "each level grants basic cards, and then premium versions of basic cards"-this system is like that, except you get a pack every other level as well. The theme of the f2p system seems to be based mostly on games played rather than won, which is admittedly unique.

At this point I've said most of what I can talk about objectively. The game is in early access, so changes are being made. The dev team are nice folks, and are active in discord/reddit/etc. Overall, Fable Fortune is an excellent game, and a welcome addition to the genre.

This game is really good, just needs more people so if you are reading this and enjoy playing quality card games with cool hero mechanics, jump in and try it, you will like it. :)

Fun BUT a lot of fun features are locked into multiplayer modes that, unfortunately, don't have many players returning to any more.

Game adds a few unique things to the CCG space. Some I feel are great; others a detriment to the games balance.

Hero Archetypes are pretty typical for CCGs but also have some unique spin to it. I dig the Alchemist so far.

The morality system is interesting but I don't know how much it really plays into the game yet. I've picked "quests" in the game that I couldn't complete and still won. The quests when completed let you choose "good or bad"morality and rewards you a card in a match. IE +2 str to all units.

The games economy is similar to Hearthstone. "Ink" from salvaging dupes and in-game money to buy packs.
Crafting cards has some other aspect "collect 4 items" and you can make it or use Ink.

If you've played MTG, Hearthstone or Shadowverse... you'll be able to pick this game up quick.

It might be nice to play a game that isn't unundated with a metric frick ton of expacs.

We'll see if this game sticks with me but so far.. it's fun.

Sidenote... any Fable love is lost on me. I never really got into the series.

I've made it to the top of ladder in Hearthstone, Duelyst, Shadowverse, and Gwent. In short, I've played a lot of CCGs heavily. This game is really fun while doing little but enough to shake up the Hearthstone formula. Instead of having units with inherent Taunt you can instead spend 1 "Gold" (mana/play point) to give a unit taunt for a turn. This one change adds a considerable amount of depth and strategy to the game, as you have to decide if you want to force your opponent to make disadvantageous trades or if you want to play on curve and let your opponent have free reign of the board.

As far as barrier to entry as a F2P player I had 4 "Fabled" and 2 "Mythic" cards at the end of my first day, these are the equivelant of legendaries in other games. I also had a viable ladder climbing deck within 10 hours without aggressively dissenchanting. As for legendaries, at least at the time of writing, there aren't any clear "you have to have this card to play this deck." In fact, the "legendaries" of this game all seem kinda situational and fairly weak. For a HS comparison they all mostly feel like Deathwing, a late game powerhouse card that doesn't really fit into most decks.

Unfortunately the game is lacking some of the polish you'd expect from a fully released game, the menus and in game actions all seem to take too long and hang in awkward places. This can be fairly annoying. There also isn't all that many cards in the game at the moment, which is to be expected from a new CCG, but it's pretty noticeable that everyone is playing basically the exact same cards.

This isn't the most tactical CCG I've ever played, but it's definitely fun and shakes up the HS formula enough to be worth trying.

TL;DR: 6/10, fun to play and worth trying to see if you like it.