A few months back now the gaming world was shocked by the news that Microsoft had decided to close down the game studio behind the beloved Fable franchise, Lionhead Studios, and cancel the latest game in the series, Fable Legends.

But, as it turns out, Legends was not the only project that was being worked on by Lionhead. A much smaller unannounced game titled Fable Fortune was also being developed. But instead of just tossing it in the garbage, as appears to be the fate of Legends, Microsoft granted permission to those who were developing it to continue working on it under their own new studio, Flaming Fowl Studios. To gather the funds for what could be the last Fable game we see in a long time, they’re looking to fans on Kickstarter. Continue below for more info and to see their pitch video, as well as some gameplay videos.

Let’s bring back Fable!

Set in the whimsical world of Albion, Fable Fortune is a Fable themed free-to-play collectible card game (CCG) that combines the franchise’s most cherished gameplay systems with an array of pioneering game modes. We are planning to launch the game on PC (Steam & Windows Store) & Xbox One with the potential for Android and iOS versions to follow at a later date. Our initial target of £250k is to enable us to reach closed beta on PC.

And so our story begins…

WHAT IS FABLE FORTUNE

We asked ten random peasants on the streets of Bowerstone what they thought of a card game set in the world of Albion. They ALL heartily agreed that Fable Fortune takes the incredible lore and iconic systems from the series and fuses them with a deep, yet accessible card-game, whilst smothering everything in an unhealthy dollop of Fable humour!

They then went on to explain that Fable Fortune’s location, quest and alignment systems ensure you experience entirely new strategies every time you play.

In fact, they only stopped explaining how excited they were about the innovations contained within the game when we lowered our weapons and allowed them to leave.

And now we’d LOVE to tell you more about the game… we’re glad you asked!

LOCATIONS

Every match takes place within an iconic Albion location drawn directly from the Fable series.

Whether punching the smug faces of overconfident heroes in Fairfax Castle, or leading a band of pitchfork-wielding peasants into the dark shadows of Lychfield Cemetery, you’ll be taking on a set of quests unique to each of these locations.

QUESTS

Each hero can only reach their true potential by completing quests – unique tasks chosen by both players during a match. Construct decks and build strategies to fulfil the objectives of your chosen quests and reap the hard-won rewards!

Of course, for every quest a player completes, they must then make a choice between Good & Evil…

MORALITY

Core to all Fable games is the player’s choice to use their heroic powers for Good or Evil – and Fortune continues that legacy.

Over the course of each battle, the player’s hero will morph to reflect their alignment, changing the effects of their special abilities and also morphing many cards in their deck into more powerful variants.

Wise choices as to when to follow the path of Skorm or Avo, can turn even the closest of matches.

CO-OP

Make friends you’ll keep for a lifetime!

Fable Fortune will feature a co-op mode entirely unique to the CCG genre, allowing you to team-up with a friend against a host of Fable villains such as Nostro or Logan.

While each player builds their own deck, their units are shared in a fast-paced brawl that creates many epic dual deck combinations!

EVENTS

There’s something for everyone in Fortune because it has been designed with a strong event system at its core.

At any one time there will be the core PvP league, a co-op boss and at least one gameplay warping event available to play.

Whether you are ultra-competitive or prefer co-operative games, brand new to card games or a 20-year veteran, you’ll always find something to excite you within Fable Fortune.

See, this…this is the kind of free-to-play Fable game most fans would be fine with. Because they could make this and still be working on Fable IV like everyone wanted. We’ve seen developers like Bethesda put out free-to-play mobile games, such as Fallout Shelter and the similar upcoming card game The Elder Scrolls: Legends, while still making the big single-player games their fans expect and eagerly anticipate. Some people are into them; others give them a try and don’t like; some want nothing to do with them from the start. It doesn’t matter because that tasty main course is still on the way, this is just a little side dish for those who are hungry enough.

Fable Legends was much different from previous sing-player entries, a free-to-play 4v1 co-op game, and the problem with it was that it was the only game being made. It was decided by someone that making that game was a better idea than making Fable IV, and so there was nothing else to look forward to. The choice was either suck it up and play Legends or survive without the land of Albion you had grown so fond of over the years.

It was very clear early on that most fans wanted nothing to do with what was obviously an attempt at capitalizing on trends instead of focusing on what made the franchise so popular to begin with. But, strangely enough, the negative response isn’t why Microsoft canceled the game. They kept right on making it, announced it would be free-to-play, and even had a beta going, that’s how far along in development it was. That’s when they killed it. To do something like that when it seemed so close to being done, especially a free game you’d think they’d at least throw out there to make as much coin back as possible on, was very unexpected. And no matter how little interest you had in the game, it was impossible not to feel awful for everyone who had spent years trying to make it as good as it could be.

That’s why I’m writing this Kickstarter Spotlight now. It’d be a damn shame if we found out two Fable games were actually being worked on, a big one and a much smaller one in Fable Fortune (Fourtune?), and neither sees the light of day. With a little help from fans at least one more game bearing the title can find its way to a release.

And help is definitely needed. The goal set is £250k or $365,385, which, as mentioned above, gets them to closed beta on PC. As of the writing of this, they’re only at around $62,000 with 22 days left to raise the rest. Still quite the hill to climb. If only we could all make a room full of gold as easily as we did in Fable III.

You can check out the videos below and head to the Fable Fortune Kickstarter campaign page to see more info, what rewards are available, and throw a little coin their way if you like what you see.

Videos