omgRPG reviews Knothole Island - OMG RPG - You've won initiative, now roll for damage

On January 13^th Lionhead Studios released their first expansion pack for the acclaimed Fable 2 via Xbox Live Marketplace download. Thousands of Fable fans eagerly dove back into their beloved world to once more, this time to explore mysterious Knothole Island. While definitely on the short side, Knothole Island delivers a meaningful questing experience and plenty of goodies for those players who wanted a little more customization in the original Fable 2. After the jump we explore the island, and let you know if this really is worth your hard-earned Marketplace points.

Phenomical Cosmic Power, Teeny Weeny Living Space

Everything about this expansion is small, which is something you might expect – after all this is an island. There are definitely places to explore and treasures to find, but they are limited in number and only accessible when the weather changes. The quests themselves are also sparse, but I never got the feeling I didn’t have something to do, only that I wished it didn't end so soon once the story was done. It’s a small story arc to be sure, one that is just as small as the island itself.

The dungeon crawls are, on the other hand, a complete delight for puzzle lovers. While the puzzle are fairly basic, there is still that familiar thrill of joy in the pit of your stomach when the puzzle slides into place and the door unlocks. In the dungeon puzzles you see a heavy use of the floating targeting orb, but I wouldn’t call it overly so. I see it as clever use of an already existing mechanic, and one that is largely ignored in Fable 2.

Eternal Youth and Beauty, for a Price

More than anything, Knothole Island is essentially a customization pack for your character with a couple cool quests tacked on the end as a bonus. With this expansion, you are easily able to change your character’s height, weight, and even erase the nasty scars you’ve accumulated in your adventures through Albion. This is where the real beauty of this expansion is seen. On Knothole Island you can buy all the expression books you weren’t able to find in Fable 2, buy potions to make you taller or fatter, and collect a set of armor unique to the expansion. Finally your epic character will look just as heroic as you imagined them when you started playing.

Some could call this a weakness in the expansion, since the innovation of the Fable series is to show the consequences of your actions as physical attributes on your character, and therefore changing these attributes is tantamount to changing the story. Consider how easily your character gains weight, however, when attempting to heal from an arduous battle, or how many scars you received fighting your way through troll-infested dungeons, and you will agree that in the end it simply isn’t fun to run around the world short, fat, and scarred.

Time is Limited, Use it Wisely

Ultimately, this is a short expansion to an already short game. Knothole Island is successful as a DLC pack, mostly for its character customization component, but don’t purchase this if you are expecting to double your gameplay in Fable 2. The original campaign took about 12 hours, and the expansion is a little over 4 if like me you run around searching for a resurrection shrine that was right in front of your face the entire time. In terms of overall value for your dollar the story is very limited, but it’s a delightful one. We’ve been told that Knothole is only the first in a series of expansions that will expand this story. If that is the case, even the completionists out there might hold off purchasing this until more expansions come out. That is, of course, unless you’ve been dying to be seven feet tall and get your beloved pooch back.