Review: Fable II Knothole Island DLC

The original Fable had produced enough innovative attributes to gain a large enough fanbase to be able to lie down and give birth to Fable II last year. In turn, Fable II has touched our soft spots yet again, and Lionhead Studios has yet again decided to provide us with a bouncing baby pack of DLC content for Xbox 360′s Fable II, Knothole Island. It is a fully explorable new area and definitely worth the trip there, as well as a great reason to venture back into Albion.

Your hero will embark from the docks in Bowerstone to arrive at the start of your new quest. After your wintry welcome to Knothole Island, you are subsequently posed with the fact that the island is in peril and clearly in dire need of a hero. That’s where you come in. The island has been frozen in place in this winter wonderland and the locals are begging to be set free. The Chieftan sits put while he waves you off to unlock the dungeon and return their frigid isle back to a normal state.

The main quest will shovel you along a series of dungeons, which will each set the island into a new set of weather-related problems. These dungeons will weave you through slaying the enemies you are already familiar with, though these enemies that reside on Knothole Island have a bit of a different look to them than what you’re used to, which is nice, and also through a handful of puzzles. Don’t plan to be mystified or bamboozled by these puzzles, they are just your typical Fable II “orb puzzles” where you are required to slay the vicious orb in a set amount of time, or in other words use the correct type of attack (Will, Ranged, or Melee) on it to continue along your path. Nothing you haven’t already encountered, though some require you to be rather quick on your feet, so do not underestimate some of the latter ones.

If you have your dog with you still (if you don’t, how could you!), there are various dig spots all around and for some reason you will randomly unearth or come across various items such as some Weight Loss Potions (and Weight Gain!?) as well as a few new colored dyes. “What better way to put on some weight without tasting any delicious food?” I heard kids in the town crying out for people to buy their Weight Potions, too. When the main town is no longer frozen, your local shop will now carry new potions… A bombardment of weight gainers again! This brings me to a feature that is of great notice, new potions to alter yourself! I had maxed out my Skill, which in turn increases your height and makes you an Amazon. Towering over all my husbands and wives (the ones I allowed to live) always made me feel inadequate, and that I was being punished for my insurmountable skills. Now, in the shop on Knothole Island, you can buy some neat new potions that allow you to increase or decrease your height, weight, and beauty (questionable). Also, there is finally a way to get rid of those nasty battle scars! Not that I had any to worry about, my heroine’s beauty is everlasting, of course.

Now once you have beaten down the healthy horde of enemies from banshees to trolls, tweak some wonky weather issues, you will find that all you have done is restored the island right back to where you began, the frosty start of your quest. The villagers though now catch on to the Chieftan’s thirst for power to control the weather (and steal you glory… I am no “assistant”!) but the villagers cry foul when they see what he’s up to and want to just be able to live in peace already. So that’s when you make your big moral decision for the island, either to work with the Chieftan for 10,000 gold, or… run to one of the beautiful villagers who is desperate for your support and stick up for the people!

The main quest ends there, but you are free to then change the weather at will from the center of the humble little village to any of the weather patterns you have seen thus far, make a few purchases in the local shops (they’re quite nice), sport your new Knothole Island armor if you were able to find all the pieces during your quest, as well as venture into a little shop called the Box of Secrets. Here you can swap what may be thought to be petty, useless items for some rare and unusual valuables! And last but not least, if you are the treasure hunting type, scattered around the entire area, including the dungeons, are 10 different books that explore bits of information about Knothole Island. Collect all 10 to net an achievement. The hunt is on for all kind of treasure in this fun package of content!

A big thank you to Microsoft for providing a review code!