DLC Impressions: Fable 2’s ‘See The Future’

By: Chris Vass | May 26th, 2009
Feature | Xbox 360

The world of Albion exists in Fable 2 as a place which is constantly changing and full of life. The latest DLC ‘See The Future‘ for Fable 2 takes the world of Albion and implements some new landscapes and scenarios that take place far far away from your heroes homeland, making for some new quests,items, maps and perhaps an allusion to Fable 3?

Upon downloading ‘See The Future’‘ I was immediately put off by the peculiar price of 560 Microsoft points. Knothole island being 800 points packed in quite a bit of content and seeing that this pack was just over half the price, I could hear the echoes of horse armour in the distance. Thankfully upon completing the main quest line for See The Future I was left feeling satisfied as Lionhead have successfully delivered the same Fable 2 experience, just on a smaller scale.

See The Future begins with your hero meeting up with an old friend Murgo, the creepy salesman from your childhood. Murgo sells to you (for the insane price of 5 gold) a cursed snow globe. Its from activating this globe that your hero is launched into a black and white world which to those who have played the original Fable will touch on some fond memories.

It was from entering this world that I knew that this DLC was going to be very combat focused. Hacking your way through this lifeless town is essentially all there is to do. No townspeople to talk to, no stores and no pubs make investigating these places (after slaughtering countless enemies) mundane as hell. When color is returned to this small snow globe by the beach the colour palette of Fable 2 really shines. Getting used to the browns and greys of other current gen games has deprived us of grassy greens, sky blues and sunny yellows, both of the areas look fantastic after you have ‘’saved” them.

That’s right, you heard me ‘both areas’. Which brings me to the main downfall of this DLC. See The Future is short. Taking me only 2 hours to get through including a run through the Coliseum which is essentially an endless crucible on steroids. For such a low price we cant expect too much out of See The Future but the world of Albion is so full of life and detailed it would only make sense for Lionhead to continue this trend through this DLC pack. Simple things like putting in townspeople, collectibles or side quests would make See the future a much more enjoyable experience.

There are a few new game play twists that come with See The Future including disguising yourself as a Hobbe and leading ghosts of hobbes through solid walls, blowing up boulders or helping your hero across a toxic river. The inclusion of new achievements, expressions and new dog breeds do provide a small amount of replay for those who are looking for it. Although there aren’t enough new features that would make anyone who wasn’t a fan of Fable 2 suddenly make a new hero and begin again it provides those who thoroughly enjoyed Fable 2 such as myself with more of the same formula that made Fable 2 such a joy to play.

We give Fable 2 ‘See The Future’  8/10