Heroes-on-villains free-for-all in Fable Legends, now free-to-play

By Will Fulton February 26, 2015

fable legends free to play e3 004 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Microsoft and Lionhead Studios have announced that the upcoming dungeon crawler, Fable Legends, will be free-to-play on Windows 8 and Xbox One. Anyone can access all story content and a rotating selection of free heroes that can be purchased separately, for use anytime, with real money or earned in-game gold. It is currently scheduled for a 2015 release.

According to a FAQ on the game’s website, four heroes will be available for free at any given moment. After a limited time, those heroes will be replaced by a new set. Any upgrades earned for the heroes remain available once they cycle back in or are purchased for permanent use. Anything that can be purchased with real money can also be unlocked in-game, helping to mitigate any pay-to-win advantage.

The model of free, rotating heroes is very similar to how Riot Games’ League of Legends works. Full, free access to the game allows for a large community, while the changing availability of heroes encourages players to experiment with multiple types of characters. Diehard fans can double down on their favorite characters, keeping the whole system afloat with their investment.

The major twist that Fable Legends introduces to action role-playing games is the intentionally unbalanced competition between heroes and a villain who controls the traps and monsters of each scenario. All of the content associated with each quest will likewise be available to every villain for free. Traps and monsters that aren’t native to a given quest have to be purchased or unlocked in order to be imported.

Content bought or earned on one platform carry over to the other, following the recent announcement of cross-platform play for the game between Windows 10 and Xbox One. Because of its multiplayer focus, console gamers will still need to have a paid subscription to Xbox Live Gold. Windows play will not require a subscription.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Entertainment

Watch these 5 movies if you liked The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Link and Zelda under Hyrule Castle in "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

The Legend of Zelda franchise has left fans wanting to see Link and the titular princess go on an adventure on the big screen. This desire has only been intensified by the popular release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and debunked rumors that Illumination Entertainment was making an animated adaptation.

It may be a long time before Nintendo makes a Zelda film, but for those who enjoyed their latest gaming masterpiece, these five movies should give audiences a similar cinematic experience.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)

Gaming

Play this Zelda hidden gem for free with Switch Online before Tears of the Kingdom

Ahead of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it’s a great time to look back on the stalwart Nintendo’s series presence on Nintendo Switch. From Breath of the Wild to a plethora of classics on Switch Online, it’s probably the best console for any fan of this series to own. That said, there’s one Switch exclusive that may have flown under your radar and is worth checking out before Tears of the Kingdom. That game is Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda.
All About Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Ft. The Legend of Zelda - Nintendo Switch
Free for Nintendo Switch Online members until May 7 and available at a 50% discount on the eShop through the launch of Tears of the Kingdom, this game is a rare case of Nintendo collaborating with an indie studio for a project tied to one of its biggest franchises. The result is a Zelda game that expands on the rhythm-based action formula established in Brace Yourself Games’ 2016 hit Crypt of the NecroDancer.
Although this roguelite doesn’t play like any other Zelda game out there, it makes some design choices that call back to the series' most iconic titles. That, as well as its rhythmic nature, will feel refreshing ahead of Tears of the Kingdom’s ambitious and systems-heavy open-world adventure. If you haven’t played it, give Cadence of Hyrule a shot while it’s free.
A unique adventure
As a crossover between Crypt of the Necrodancer and The Legend of Zelda, the game begins with NecroDancer protagonist Cadence being whisked away to Hyrule. She quickly inspires Link or Zelda to explore the world and fight back against Octavo, who put Hyrule’s king to sleep with a magical Lute. Those who prefer the more minimalist stories of earlier games in the series will enjoy how quickly the game gets players to the rhythmic action. People begging Nintendo to make Zelda playable in Tears of the Kingdom will also appreciate that they can play most of the game as her if they want.

The act of playing Cadence of Hyrule is where things get really interesting, as it combines old and new ideas to create something that feels familiar yet refreshing. Starting with the new, this is a rhythm game where players must move and attack enemies on the beat. The Zelda franchise is known for its music, and Cadence of Hyrule takes full advantage of that by including versions of some of the series’ greatest hits. Until we get a Theatrhythm-like game for Zelda music, this is game fans of the franchise's iconic soundtracks can't ignore.
Hopping tile-to-tile on the beat is pretty simple to understand, but it can get quite difficult as players must also account for the fact that every enemy also moves and attacks on the beat. Recognizing that players will probably die a lot, the game is structured as a roguelite where some dungeons are procedurally generated (as is the world each time you start a new file). Items can be found or bought with Rupees to help players during an individual run, while Diamonds are collected in dungeons or by clearing a screen of enemies can be spent on more permanent upgrades.
This may sound daunting, but gameplay options like setting the controllers to vibrate on the beat or only letting enemies move when you do can make it easier. Most Zelda fans should also feel more at home with how other parts of Cadence of Hyrule are designed.
But still familiar-feeling

Rhythm-based movement and combat aside, this is a classic top-down Zelda action-adventure game with aesthetics, presentation, and iconography that the series was once known for. The familiarity in terms of the locations visited, enemies fought, and items obtained makes those more distinct elements easier to embrace. It’s also novel to see elements from post-2D Zelda games show up in this style, like Skull Kid via DLC.
It demonstrates just how malleable and well-designed the core Zelda formula is because it still feels faithful despite its rhythmic nature. While Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s massive open worlds and deep gameplay systems impress, they’ve also created a yearning for a more classically structured Zelda experience from some fans.

Gaming

The best Legend of Zelda characters of all time

Link with the Master Sword in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

From the mid-1980s up to now, gamers of all ages have been entertained, inspired, and emotionally connected to The Legend of Zelda franchise. From its humble beginnings on the NES as a simple top-down adventure about a little elf-boy to his biggest 3D open-world adventures, every entry in this series offers up a new world to explore that is filled with new and unique characters. Even the three most prominent characters, Link, Zelda, and Ganon, have major differences between entries. With decades' worth of titles released and no end in sight, we've decided to list the best characters to ever appear in The Legend of Zelda series, from his very first game all the way up to the upcoming Tears of the Kingdom.

Our only limitation is that we will only include one incarnation of Link, Zelda, and Ganon/Ganondorf. Each of those characters could fill a list like this alone, so we're only picking our favorite versions of each.
Link (Twilight Princess)