Endless Fables 4: Shadow Within

Fun ;p

Fun !

[i]Oh boy, I was so mistaken.[/i] I reviewed the third installment of this series back in September of last year, and I thought that was the end of it. To me, it ended as a trilogy. It was a good ending to the trilogy, but boy, I was so wrong. I found Endless Fables 4: Shadow Within in my folder of HOGs. So, with this review, I hope to rectify that mistake of mine. The Endless Fables isn't a trilogy, it's a quartet/tetralogy. And this game is the true finale to that series. This game was released in 2019. Considering the year of 2026 in time of writing, it hasn't been that long compared to other games released in the 2015s. The increase of quality is noticeable. Voice overs are very characteristic, and there is distinction to each character you interact with. The portion of the areas themselves can rotate (e.g. front to back of a car), but also in some larger areas where one can move from left to right. This introduces a range of unique perspective and depth for the player as they continue to explore. By the technicality, there is indicator for collectibles. Just a small star on the lower side of the screen, not too invasive or distracting to the player. What is unlike other Artifex Mundi games is that the map in this game shows the picture of the area when you hover over them. This may provide an easier experience to casual seekers because a simple HOG game would take about 25 to 30 map areas to all go through. I found this a cool addition to the gameplay, subtle but helpful. I've spent about two and a half hours for the main story and just around an additional half hour maximum for the side story. The latter does feel quite short though but I would still rate this an [u]8/10[/u]. I enjoyed my time playing and would recommend to anyone interested to the main premise of it. A well-thought finale to the series of Endless Fables, one that I scored personally higher than its predecessor.