One of the key creatives behind the original Fable, Dene Carter, has just released a free retro, turn-based RPG on Steam, called Moonring.
Carter was credited on the original Fable as a designer and was later present for the development of Fable II and Fable III, before leaving Lionhead in 2011 to form his own studio with his brother Simon. Over the last 10 years, he's turned his hand to independent development, with his latest game Moonring releasing late last month on September 28th.
Moonring is described as an "Ultima + Roguelike" mashup and sees players take control of a Dreamless warrior let loose across a large hand-crafted world, filled with secrets, enemies, and an infinite number of dungeons generated using your character name.
Here's a description of the story taken from Steam:
"Five hundred years ago, the land of Caldera was plunged into endless darkness. Decades later, five moons rose in the sky, bringing light to the world and strange Gods with it. With them came the Dreams: calls to Devotion promising supernatural Gifts.
Thus, the new Calderan civilisation was born; a world of Devotion and Dreamers, Gods and Gifts, with a Dreamless Archon acting as the Gods' mortal representative. But Archons are not eternal, and a successor must be found.
You are Dreamless: free to choose your own destiny, to ask questions others dare not, or even become Archon yourself.
What will you do, Dreamless one?"
Carter also posted a personal message to players alongside the release, thanking anyone for playing:
"Hi folks. I've loved RPGs since the early 1980s, and grew up playing games like Lord British's 'Ultima' series and early Roguelikes. This is my love-letter to a style of gaming that has largely fallen out of fashion: with its vivid, bright sprites overlaid on stark black backgrounds, true open-world gameplay, and lack of handholding. The days I spent playing these games were spent in joyful exploration and discovery, venturing into the dark unknown, a co-author of the experience, filling in the gaps left by the primitive art with my imagination. For those of you who did the same, I hope Moonring recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you. For those who did not, I hope that the more modern conveniences you find in this game allow you to catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years ago.
My heartfelt thanks to all who spared even a moment to play this. Please be kind to my mistakes. I will fix them. - Dene"
If you want to try it out, as we mentioned, you can grab it now for absolutely nothing. Here are some more screenshots of the title to help sway you further.