Fabledom is a fairytale city builder that lets you get freaky while your people starve

Storybook city builder Fabledom might have a claim to being the cutest medieval hamlet creator around, with its pastel fairytale world and abundance of, er, flying pigs. But its latest update has given it a touch of hard-nosed—though still very much soft-bellied—edge.

Developer Grenaa Games released The Art of Soldiery update at the tail end of May, introducing military buildings and soldiers to the Fabledom fray. You can now recruit soldiers and archers to defend your burgeoning homestead. Heroes—powerful, often bushy-bearded fighters that can protect your town from neighboring realms—can also now be upgraded through a new leveling system.

Grenaa Games says those fighters will use a “simple combat system,” although the upcoming Gallantry & Bartering update will “add a much clearer game loop and purpose for your hero and army.” Also, expect more trading buildings, diplomacy missions, resources, and another nearby lordly chum. The game only launched in early access back in April, so it's still expanding some of these key systems.

Fabledom has already expanded its focus beyond your village walls. As well as plonking down quarries, farms, and anything else your people need to survive, you’ll also have to manage your feuds and relations with nearby realms. You can romance foreign kings and queens, and neighboring rulers - like the newly introduced Warrior Princess - will offer unique questlines that can result in alliances or something much worse.

These aren’t small choices; wooing a royal partner can be pricey as they’ll often demand gifts. Arranging your supply chain to suit your romance can mean choosing between a bountiful harvest to feed your village or letting them go hungry while you grow several bouquets of tulips to impress a date. So, you know, classic feudal stuff.

Grenaa Games has already released a short roadmap for the year, with the Elixir of Love and A Wedding in a Chateau updates set to introduce more fairytale encounters, a fuller marriage system, and castles. After all, as welcome as the sudden appearance of an ancient talking mustachioed tree may be (just one of Fabledom’s encounters), no medieval city builder is complete without a big keep.