Fable: The Lost Chapters

About Fable: The Lost Chapters

Fable: The Lost Chapters is a 2005 action RPG that lets you play as a hero in a fantasy world shaped by your choices. Developed by Lionhead Studios (credited as Big Blue Box) and published by Microsoft, it builds on the original Fable with new quests, characters, and fixes. You start as a boy whose family is killed by bandits, then grow into a hero fighting Jack of Blades, a tyrant who destroyed your village. The game lets you build a house, raise kids, and choose between good, evil, or neutral actions. With four endings and expanded content like alignment-based spells and new areas, it’s a morally complex RPG where your decisions matter. Available on PC, Mac, and Xbox, it’s a landmark title for choice-driven storytelling.

Gameplay

You control the Hero through a third-person combat system that blends melee, magic, and stealth. Choices like helping villagers or stealing their gold affect your alignment, unlocking spells and quests tailored to your morality. A typical session involves fighting monsters, completing quests (like rescuing a captured friend), and managing your character’s hunger and happiness. The shovel glitch from the original is patched, but you’ll still wrestle with consequences: spare a bandit and they might later become an ally, kill them and they’ll haunt your reputation. Side quests like solving Lady Grey’s sister’s murder add depth. The Lost Chapters adds 16 quests and nine new zones, letting you explore Albion’s politics, raise a family, and even build a house in the village. Combat is brisk and responsive, with a satisfying curve from a stick-fighting child to a sword-wielding legend.

What Players Think

The PlayPile community gives Fable: The Lost Chapters an 84.2/100 average, with 205 ratings. Players spend an average of 28 hours, and 68% complete the main story. Community moods: 42% nostalgic, 35% satisfying, 23% frustrating. One user wrote, “The moral choices still feel fresh, but the combat can drag in later areas.” Another noted, “Building my house and giving my kid a toy was oddly emotional.” Critics praise the expanded quests and character depth but point to occasional clunky dialogue. Completionists love the four endings and hidden items, while casuals gripe about the steep difficulty spike in the second act. Despite its age, the game remains a touchstone for RPGs that prioritize player agency.

PlayPile's Take

Fable: The Lost Chapters is a must-play for fans of branching narratives and consequence-driven gameplay. It’s not perfect, dialogue can be stilted, and the second half is punishing, but its reactive world and meaningful choices set a high bar for RPGs. With 102 achievements (38 gold) and a price tag now under $10 on PC, it’s a low-risk buy for those who enjoy building a legacy. Skip it if you hate permadeath or prefer fast-paced combat. Otherwise, this is a game that rewards patience and experimentation, even if your decisions don’t always pay off.

Storyline

On his sister's birthday, a young boy's village of Oakvale is raided by bandits; killing the boy's entire family. An old Hero, Maze, rescues the boy, seeing great potential in him; Maze trains the boy to become a Hero at the Heroes' Guild. Years pass; after honing his skills, Maze informs the Hero of a blind seeress living among a bandit camp near Oakvale, and advises the Hero to infiltrate the bandit camp. To the Hero's surprise, the blind seeress is actually his older sister Theresa who was taken in by Twinblade, a former Hero and the present Bandit King. After a showdown with Twinblade, the Hero is given the choice of killing or sparing the bandit. Later on in the Hero's life, after he has gained more recognition among the people of Albion, he is invited to fight in the Arena, where he meets the legendary Hero named Jack of Blades, who runs the arena battles. As a final challenge, Jack pits the Hero against his rival, which was also once his childhood friend/room-mate back in the Guild - Whisper; when the Hero defeats her he may kill or spare her. The Hero learns that Jack of Blades himself destroyed Oakvale during the Hero's childhood; aided by Theresa, the Hero discovers his mother alive in Bargate Prison. The Hero is captured in the rescue attempt and spends a year or more in the prison before finally escaping. Maze is revealed to be a traitor and working with Jack. Maze kidnaps Theresa. After defeating Maze, the Hero is led into a final confrontation with Jack where his mother is killed. Jack reveals that The Sword of Aeons can only be wielded if it receives the blood of Archon. The Sword of Aeons is said to be a very powerful sword of destruction. Upon the death of their mother, the Hero and Theresa are the only two remaining descendants of Archon, and if Jack destroys them both the sword will be even more powerful. After defeating Jack, the Hero must choose whether to keep the Sword of Aeons by killing his sister, or cast it away forever into a portal created by Jack of Blades' death. Depending on the Hero's alignment and the player's choice of using or destroying the sword, there are a total of four different endings. Once the ending credits roll, players can resume their games. In The Lost Chapters special edition, the story continues. After the defeat of Jack, the Hero must find passage to the Northern Wastes to aid a legendary hero named Scythe in stopping an unknown great evil from returning. Should the hero have discarded the Sword of Aeons he will have the opportunity to gain the sword "Avo's Tear", a sword of similar design and equal power but that holds a light alignment rather than dark. Avo is said to be a god that represents the light side alignment. After a series of quests revolving around this new evil, it is learned that Jack of Blades has returned. He must then defeat Jack of Blades a second time, Jack having returned from the dead in the form of a dragon. Upon the death of Jack, the hero then uses Jack's mask to capture Jack's soul, with Scythe telling him that the battle is not over and that he must destroy the mask. The hero then has the final choice of putting on the mask - being consumed by Jack in the process - or destroying it, along with Jack, forever.