Rogue Fable III

Rogue Fable III is a game that asks the question: what if rogue-lite games could be beaten during a coffee break? A game that understands that not every RPG has to include over a hundred hours of plot to be entertaining, this is the proper culmination to an outstanding series of rogue-lite games that redefined what it means to be an adventure game.

Featuring a class system that’s now much more robust than ever, playing Rogue Fable III is an exercise in creativity. Sure, the game is over in less than two hours, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll see everything that’s meant to be experienced in a single playthrough.

Be Creative

The idea of beating the game over and over is nothing new for the rogue-lite genre. The Binding of Isaac basically demands that the player goes through the same levels ad-infinitum in order to beat it, and “New Game+” has been a thing in most modern RPGs for a while now.

What Rogue Fable III does differently is give the players the necessary tools to make each playthrough feel like a wholly new experience. The sheer amount of possibilities you get when combining different classes and races is astounding, and that’s without mentioning the more than sixty unique abilities that each class can develop.

Classes are the star of the show in Rogue Fable III. Unlike Rogue Legacy, where classes determined only minor attributes of your character, they change everything about the way your character plays here. Along with the ten classes, players must also choose from the eight different races to create their character, each with a distinct set of strengths and weaknesses.

Branching Paths

If you thought that the class variety was everything Rogue Fable III had going for it, wait until you hear about its impressively eclectic dungeons. Each playthrough of the game can take you through a myriad of locations, thirteen in total, to be precise.

Each location comes with a unique selection of monsters and creatures to defeat. Of course, your class will determine which enemies will give you the most trouble, but the game manages to achieve an excellent sweet spot between challenge and satisfying combat. The fact that you customize your character so much at the beginning of each run also makes you feel like the RNG isn’t as severe as it is in other rogue-lites.

Unfortunately, where the game falls a bit short is its plot. While it’s great to be able to replay the game over and over and experiment with unique combinations each time, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed when we have games like Hades doing something similar while having a gripping plot to boot.

All in all, Rogue Fable III is a great game that serves as the perfect introduction to what rogue-lites are all about. The apparent simplicity hides an excellent title that rewards both exploration and experimentation and proves that not every game has to be overly long to be enjoyable.

Pros

• Amazing level of complexity thanks to its robust class system
• Fun to play and discover which class/race combination works best
• Complex dungeons to explore and challenging enemies to beat

Cons

• Might be a bit too short for some players
• Can feel a little unfair at times
• Grinding for loot can be tiresome