Fable: The Lost Chapterswas a groundbreaking RPG that revolutionized the genre when it launched in 2005. Despite a rocky start due to some unfulfilled promises in its initial release, the game ultimately delivered a living, breathing world where player choices shaped everything from character appearance to the fate of entire towns.
In 2023,Fable’sco-creator Dene Carter quietly releasedMoonringon Steam.TheUltima-inspired RPG delivers an open-world, turn-based roguelike experience with more depth than some big-budget giants. It’s another hit from a creator who’shad his hand in the creation of classics likeFableandDungeon Keeper—and it’s completely free for the most wholesome reasons.
Moonring Is A Love Letter To Classic RPGs
Explore The Game To Uncover Its Secrets
Moonringis a retro-style RPG with an intricatehand-designed world and dungeons that shiftevery time you journey into them. The game has over 100 enemies, ship warfare, special skills whose effects change based on the phases of the moon, and even a hidden magic system.
The dungeons inMoonringare generated based on the character’s name.
you may learn more about the world by typing certain words and phrases during conversations. Or, just venture out into the vibrant overworld, where you’ll encounter monsters and gods, and everything in between.
Moonringhas a lot of moving parts, and it can take some time and effort to make sense of it all—and that’s before you dive into thehidden features and lore.This encourages players to explore, which is entirely by design.
According to a letter from Carter on the game’sSteampage, the game is his"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."
For those who grew up playing games likeUltimain theinfancy of video gamesas an art form,Carter hopes that his game “recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you.“If you didn’t, he adds, “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.”
Moonring Is Free For A Wholesome Reason
A Polished, Complete Game With Hours Of Content
Moonringhas a complex battle system, an intricate world to explore, andaround 20-40 hours of playtime. And yet, it’s completely free. As Steam useragavranwrites, “What a tremendously generous thing this developer has done for us.”
The game wasn’t always going to be free, but then the pandemic happened. In a comment onSplattercatgamingYouTube playthrough of the game (as reported byEurogamer), Carter writes the simple and wholesome reason why he decided to makeMoonringfree:
“Life is hard, Covid sucked, everyone’s poor and stressed, I don’t need the $300 this would make me: I’d rather take the goodwill.”
Revisit a simpler time in gaming, when players could let their imaginations run wild based on some pixels on the screen.
Moonringis a must-play for fans of old-school, retro RPGs likeUltima, from someone whohelped bring classicslikeFableinto the video game industry. It is and always will be free on Steam: Carter promises that “The game’s only going to get better, and still remain just as free.”
