The Fabled Woods

Alright. The Fabled Woods is done and dusted. This is a walking simulator with a fairly unique "remember" mechanic that I'll talk about later. I think my quick synopsis is that it was an interesting game and is pretty good as a walking sim. The story itself was good enough to keep the game moving forward but wasn't particularly noteworthy.
Right. So, the story is told through the eyes of three different characters. Sort of. Or maybe what you thought you were seeing throughout the game was more the way in which one person was interpreting everything and justifying why things happened the way they did by more or less guessing as to how the other characters thought and what brought them to this point in time. You'd have to be the judge of that. However, it's also a bit heavy-handed from a writing perspective and as a result, you really never have any sort of connection with the characters, whether it's love and appreciation or disgust and disdain. The story never develops things to the point where a player is going to really care. It's all just stuff you're witnessing, and when it's over, you'll probably forget all about it fairly quickly.
Which is a shame because handled a bit different, this could have been a memorable and horrific story that stays with you, but it just never gets there. And the voice acting, while also okay, does nothing to enhance the story at all. You never really get the sense that the voice actors felt any sort of connection with their characters either. It's not wooden voice acting, but it's just not compelling. Todd's VA was probably the most invested, but even still, it's just okay. Not bad. Completely serviceable. But meh.
Now the graphics on the other hand were pretty nice. Much of it is standard walking sim fare, but there are moments in the game where the graphics just hit right and can be truly stunning. And I would say the graphics more than anything else in the game, carry this experience. Especially when you compare the real-world visuals with the "remember" world visuals. The contrast is pretty compelling. Similarly, while you are in Remember mode, there are also interesting and creepy sounds playing. Kind of like people speaking in an almost inaudible whisper that sounds like a chant of some sort a cacophony of lost souls trying to reach out to the living. And that seems to rise in intensity as you look around.
As you explore, you will find points of interest and at certain points, you will be prompted to trigger "remember" mode, which is like a horror version of an investigation mode. Where all the colors in the world withdraw except deep red hues where blood pooled or splattered, and some general red haziness. Along with highlighted words and glyphs that offer some sort of message. The whole thing almost looks like the world is on fire. Which was kinda awesome. Following the bloodstains will unlock parts of the story in some areas and advance the story in others. One thing the game doesn't tell you to do is use this mode in every area whether prompted to or not. Do that.
And I'd say that's really the game in its entirety. Outside of the "remember" mode stuff, you just walk around examining objects and unlocking the story until you reach a crossroads at the end, which offer two endings. Really just one, since one of the endings forces you back to the other anyway.
I saw where this game originally released for $20. That's crazy. The retail price dropped to $9.99, and that's still too much. It's on sale at the time of this review going live for 99 cents. That is the proper price in my opinion. This game is okay, and it has some special moments, but it's only an hour long and isn't really a memorable experience. It's okay, but one you'll quickly move on from. So, worth a look, but only when it's heavily discounted.
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Interesting ...
The graphics, music and SFX create an atmospheric environment.
I had to take a few breaks as the movement caused some motion sickness which I don't normally get.
There are some missable achievements. I recommend looking at a guide before starting if wanting to get 100% on a single playthrough.

A nice, short walking-simulator with an interesting story. The narrators are really well casted!
I am a bit startled though that - regarding the short play time - only about 38% of all players reached the ending. This is like agreeing to a romantic evening and falling asleep in the first ten minutes ...

The run time is a little short for the price, but it has lovely scenery, good atmosphere, and some interesting storytelling. Definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

This game was clearly made to take advantage of the Epic Mega Grant, not to deliver a whole game.
I paid $0.99 for the game, and was able to 'beat' the entire thing in 56 minutes (9/12 achievements- I missed 3 but could go back after reviewing steam community guide).
Was the game worth it? Um... barely. I guess.
Neat concept. It feels like a pitch deck, not a whole game. If they worked on a full version they could really have something here.

I probably wouldn't spend $10 on it, I waited for it to go on sale after reading reviews and I am glad I did, but it was kind of fun so $1 was fine. I did not expect the game to turn out the way it did. The beginning was interesting, the twist was surprising and the ending was... anti-climatic. And then surprising again cuz spoiler alert Larry, Sara, the husband and the wife, William... that's like, five people I KNOW of. plus all the vats? And there were a LOT of vats. What the heck Todd.
Graphics were ok, but a little buggy. Birds spawning out of the air, invisible walls, etc. Navigation was not great, I kept getting stuck on terrain, and there were quite a few times I got lost while exploring. there was not a real tutorial or controls layout but its a walking sim so it was fairly simple. I played on my steamdeck, and I used a controller layout and added the space button to my R4 button. it killed a couple hours. to that end protip: you do not need to wander around (and get lost) as much I did. there is not much "hidden" stuff unless you are trying to get all the achievements. its a pretty linear story. oh, also there was a bug where after a flashback the screen stayed white, but my menu still worked so I saved and exited to the main menu and loaded my save which made the screen super blurry so I exited to the desktop to close the game and relaunched the game and it was fine.

For a ultra short game its decent and has some good visuals however I bought the steam game key for $2 and feel I slightly overpaid for it after completing it. Game should be sold for $1 to 1.50.