If you know the classic series of gamebooks, then you generally know what this is: four of the OG six books in one package. Have no fears that this makes sweeping changes to the world or the lore: it is basically just UI tweaks and some gameplay alterations (stashboxes share inventory, for example). The biggest change is the addition of saves (even quick saves) and the ability to set the difficulty. I approve of both of these. Let people play the game they want. Besides, who didn't "quick save" a few rolls back in the day? If you do not know the Fabled Lands series from the 90s, it is a set of gamebooks where quests and events were handled in a "If you open the door, go to 607" format, across multiple books with ways to travel between them (!). The bulk of play being exploring and trying out things with several innovations to have backtracking and to go beyond a "One True Path." "What happens if I get the 'Voice in the night' encounter? What happens if I explore the coast without the medallion?" "How much can I make transporting metal cargo?") The OG experience was a solo RPG that went on about as long as you wanted it to go on until you finally were done. Perhaps the biggest turn off for people more used to other fantasy games is there is no real end-goal. Just explore until you are done clicking on the screen, basically. Which is where my one-star-gone gripe comes from. The original gamebooks had codewords that you checked off (the pen-and-paper equivalent of quest triggers/flags). Each book had its own set (with the same starting letter). This meant if you were looking for "Crag" you knew it was the third book. Here, that element is hidden, so you can spend a lot longer trying to figure it out. And one of the books tied referenced and used in some of the quests is not in this core set (or currently DLC). Might have been nice to have "future DLC" quests/references highlighted in red or with some other indicator.
