Fable: The many adventures ranked from worst to best

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Beloved, wonderful Fable. An eternal love that persists and refuses to let go despite what can best be described as a long and damn cold winter. Despite shattered dreams, broken promises and, not least, a handful of serious blunders, it now finally seems that we will get the Fable we have all been waiting for so eagerly. So please, Playground Games, don't fail us. Broken promises are something that has haunted Fable since the very beginning. Who doesn't remember Peter Molyneux excitedly talking about how you could plant trees and watch them grow in real time? The series has always been full of his distinctive ideas, half-fulfilled visions and a kind of naïve belief in being able to create the ultimate game world. Complex, deep, fun and smart. Hand on heart, it didn't go that well, but every now and then, magic happened. Here are all the Fable adventures ranked from worst to best.

5. Fable Heroes (2012)

Honestly, how many of you even remember this blunder? It's difficult to even call Fable Heroes a real Fable game; instead, it's more reminiscent of a rushed side project. Something that was supposed to be something completely different but was given the brand name to boost sales. Instead of a role-playing game, we got a sloppy arcade story in the form of an isometric action game where charming characters from Albion were reduced to soulless pieces. Sure, there's colour, humour and a bit of that typical Molyneux absurdity left in the margins. But heart and soul are something that Fable Heroes completely lacks. It's a game that exists for no reason and is completely forgotten for good reason. By far the worst in the franchise.

4. Fable: The Journey (2012)

Kinect was a dark period for Xbox. At least for all of us core fans who had been following the brand since its inception, and the decision to sully Fable with motion controls was just sad. The alarm bells rang from the moment the game was announced, and it never felt like a project Lionhead had chosen themselves, but rather one that had been forced upon them after Fable III failed to reach the heights they had hoped for. Instead, we were forced to stand in front of the telly in the living room and wave our hands around like restless monkeys in a tree. However, it should be said that Lionhead made the best of a bad situation, and The Journey is not without its ambitions. The story is unexpectedly dark and more serious in tone than the rest of the series. But the technology and controls get in the way of the experience, and it's as if someone took a container of sand and dumped it into the machinery. Nothing works as it should, and the world never lets you in. All the waving becomes a barrier and something that creates far too much awareness that you are playing a game. No, Fable: The Journey is like most other Kinect games - an experience that should have stayed in the concept stage.

3. Fable III (2010)

I am probably one of the few who actually seemed to appreciate and, yes, at times even genuinely love the third adventure in the series. Which is also, in many ways, the most frustrating in the entire franchise, precisely because it is so fragmented. At times absolutely fantastic, but at other times also wildly frustrating. The idea of letting the player go from revolutionary to ruler is spot on, and the journey is filled with moral choices that actually have long-term consequences - which is exactly what Fable has always been about. But many of the ideas are also extremely simplified in their implementation, and it often feels like playing a role-playing game on autopilot. The menu system has been replaced by the drug-fuelled "The Sanctuary", all equipment is extremely trivialised, and many of the moral choices lack weight and land like a wet pancake on the floor. The ambitions are sky-high, but the execution is strangely flat.

2. Fable II (2008)

If the third adventure in the series is the most ambitious, then the second was the most comfortable. Fable II was easy to play, polished and consistent in its tone - almost to the extreme. Albion feels alive, moral choices are clearer than ever, and the world is full of little details that make you actually care about it. At the same time, this is also where the franchise unfortunately loses some of its mystique. Everything is a little too streamlined, a little too nice. Fable II may be a fantastic gaming experience, but it also lacks that little extra, the odd and uncomfortable that often made the first game so unique. On paper, Fable II is the best Fable game - except when it isn't.

1. Fable (2004)

Was there ever really any doubt? The first adventure is still the most enchanting and magical, precisely because it dared, tried and stumbled. Many of the promises were never fulfilled - but what did that matter? At that moment, Fable felt completely magical, and I remember how one of my closest friends and I queued up for the midnight launch, got our own copies and played side by side on our respective TVs and Xboxes. Albion was a fairy-tale world full of strange characters, moral lessons, demonic portals and villagers who reacted to how you looked and behaved. It was technically limited, quite simplistic, sometimes quite naive, but also absolutely wonderful. The very first Fable has something that was lost in subsequent games and disappeared completely as the series continued. It was a feeling of real adventure, like stumbling straight into an interactive storybook written by a madman with far too much imagination and far too little self-control. Fable isn't perfect, it's full of flaws and shortcomings, but it's also completely irreplaceable and magical.

Do you agree with the list? What is your favourite game from the series, and what are your fondest memories from the many adventures in Albion that you have had the chance to experience?