It may not be the true Fable game many of us have been begging for, but for those itching for something to do in the same universe – there’s good news. Fable Fortune, after a very troubled Kickstarter period, is finally leaving Early Access this month for  Xbox One and PC players. The best part? It’s free-to-play.

The card game comes from Flaming Fowl Studios, which is made up of several ex-Lionhead studio devs. For those new to the Fable-verse, Lionhead was the studio that brought us those epic adventures of chasing chickens before the company itself closed their doors forever.

So why are we impressed/excited that this is actually happening? Well, given that with a week remaining on its kickstarter they had only raised $86,000 of the asked $365,900, Flaming Fowl shut down their crowdfunding campaign. After the failed attempt, they sought out Mediatonic to fund the project and got right back on track with top of the line promotional freedom and a fully funded means to make the game they wanted to make.

Interested in learning more? This is what you need to know, as per the game’s Steam page:

Fable Fortune is a game of Choice and Consequence. Play as one of six unique Heroes in a card game with fast-paced and thrilling tactical gameplay. Join our Early Access to receive Exclusive rewards including the Fabled Card – Giant Egg, Exclusive Trophy Card – Chicken Vengeant, and 20 Card Packs (Plus an extra 10 as a bonus when you start playing)

At the start of a match, you must choose your quest. Completing quests earns unique rewards which can help turn the tide of battle. On completing a Quest, you must choose, Good or Evil?

Turning to Good or Evil changes the abilities your hero can use, but also the powers and properties of your cards. This means you can react to your opponent, changing your strategy and the cards in your hand based on the choices you make. 

Fable Fortune has been designed from the ground up around 2 player co-op. Team up with a friend or stranger to learn the game, working together to take down challenging Raid Bosses. In Co-op mode, you take turns to fight, but you share each others units. For the hardest challenges, you’ll need to work closely with an ally, designing decks and picking heroes which synergize with each other. Beat bosses to earn exclusive prizes and rewards.

Different Arenas have different Quests and Rewards, changing the battlefield. Every week, you’ll see special events with entirely different rules.  Only moustaches allowed? Max power mode? Hatch an Egg each time you use your hero power? We aim to have an ever changing, evolving meta which rewards experimentation and puts a focus on strategy and skill.

Fable Fortune allows you to defend any unit on the battlefield with the ‘Guard’ feature. Because any unit can protect your Hero, this open up a huge range of deck-building strategy and possibilities. Choose to protect yourself, or your most powerful units. Some units have special abilities which will trigger when they’re placed into Guard. We’ve focused on minimizing randomness in the game; emphasizing skill and strategy.

Interested in checking out the game for yourself, the full version will be available on both the Xbox Marketplace and Steam on February 22nd. What are your thoughts on Fable Fortune so far? Would you want to see a new Fable RPG experience in the future, especially with a revamp rumored to be in the works? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below, and don’t forget to check out DFTG on Twitter for gaming and entertainment news live 24/7!