5) Faery: Legends of Avalon (2010)

Released in 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade (back when that was still a thing), Faery: Legends of Avalon is a game that always caught my attention, but never quite enough so for me to take the plunge. Coming back to it now, I can say that it is a fun, albeit short, turn-based RPG from the relatively small French studio, Spiders. It almost seems like a time capsule, in that a game such as this would either not be made today, or would be an enormously different experience.

The story, such as it is, begins with the player creating a winged faery that has just awoken from stasis. Humans have stopped believing in faeries, and thus magic, and by extension magical beings, are fading. The player is tasked by Oberon, the faery king, with traveling to different mythological worlds to prevent this. The player will recruit magical allies and traverse worlds including the ghost ship Flying Dutchman, Yggdrasil, and the city of Mirage, built upon the back of a giant beetle.

Gameplay consists of flying around each area, exploring and accomplishing various quests, turn-based combat, and dialogue choices that, ultimately, don't affect the story. The writing is serviceable, though I did find a lot of the dialogue options to be humorous in an over the top, what just happened kind of way. Each of your companions will respond to your dialogue choices differently, though I can't say that I ever really saw a difference in the individual approval ratings. It did endear Amareta the pirate to me as she responds well to the sarcastic/ mean option, which are some of the most ridiculous dialogue options the game has.

The biggest flaw I can really claim the game has is that it lacks voice acting. This isn't surprising given it's size and when it was released, though I admit to being disappointed, if only because I would have loved to hear the over the top deliveries that the game would surely have had. Outside of that small complaint, everything else in the game is either good or above average for what it is. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the game held up visually and mechanically, and the music was a surprising delight.

Ultimately, the game comes off today as a proof of concept or extended tech demo. You can beat the game in an extended afternoon, and there's little reason to revisit it outside of its unique charm. Considering the studio behind this would go on to make Greedfall, a game that fans and critics liken to Bioware's efforts, it's no surprise that I found myself having a thoroughly good time. Taken as it is, and if you can snag it on sale, I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys the genre or has their own Tinkerbell style OC.