Fable has always been a franchise with a lot of personality, regardless of any of a game's strengths or flaws. That is perhaps what makes it a ripe choice for the increasingly popular sub-genre of collectible card game spin-offs of RPGs. While the gameplay in Fable Fortune has more than a few similarities to Blizzard's Hearthstone, it has enough Fable flavor to make fans quite happy.

The core gameplay will feel familiar to Hearthstone players. At the start of the game, you pick a hero, who has a specialized power. For my demo, I played as the Prophet, who specializes in healing and defensive spells. You have a deck where you can create from cards, both exclusive to that character and shared between all characters. At the start of a match, you draw several cards, and a randomly determined player is chosen to go first. Both players spend gold to use cards, with each player starting with three gold and gaining an additional gold-per-round until both players have 10. The goal is to use your cards to attack the enemy hero's health, and the hero who hits zero first loses.

There are some subtle differences from Hearthstone, though. For example, the bonus for second players is different. Rather than getting a second coin to use as you'd like, you can choose from a variety of character-specific zero-cost cards, one of which is given to you automatically if you go second. This adds some customization to character choices. The Prophet in my deck had a card that replenished 5 HP, which is much more useful in an emergency than a single extra gold would've been. Likewise, every character now has a Guard ability, which lets them spend gold to grant any character the Wall mechanic, which forces enemy monsters to target them instead of the vulnerable hero.

The biggest difference from Hearthstone is the morality system. As a trademark of the Fable franchise, characters begin neutral but can become good or evil. In-game, this is done via quests, and you can choose  from three quests at the start of the game. Options can include things like "deploy a monster with more strength than health" or "Gain a certain amount of gold." Depending on your card lineup, you may want to pick one or the other. Regardless, completing this quest not only earns you a bonus reward card but also gives you the chance to choose a good or evil outcome to the quest, which changes your morality. Once you've completed a quest, you pick another, including the chance to change from good or evil to the alternate morality at the end.

Going good and evil isn't just for flavor. Your character's power transforms depending on what you are. The Prophet gains additional healing power from his skill if he becomes good. If he becomes evil, however, he gains the ability to add an extra point of combat strength. In addition, there are spells and monsters that have what is called Morality. They begin neutral, but once your character morality changes, their morality does, too. This is when they are played, rather than when you change, but it means you can drastically alter your playstyle mid-match. The Prophet could change from heal-tank to a higher-damage output with monsters who focused on taking damage to improve their strength.

The other big feature of Fable Fortune is cooperative play. While it will have the usual tutorials and PvP gameplay you'd expect from any modern CCG, it also will have boss battles in the form of two players facing off against a single opponent, something more akin to Sentinels of the Multiverse or similar cooperative games. Both players will be able to assist and support each other but must use their own cards to defeat the souped-up raid boss. Said boss rotates weekly and offers a variety of rewards. Beating them as different characters or on different difficulties will earn seals that can be traded in for crafting materials. There will also be weekly Crucible challenges with special conditions (such as "all cards with mustaches gain +2/+2"), which also can be competed in for bonus cards.

Fable Fortune is a familiar but fun take on the Hearthstone formula, and it keeps the familiar Fable flavor. The core gameplay is a lot fun, and the cooperative PvE elements seem like they'd have a lot of potential. Fable Fortune will launch on early access on July 11 with a "Founder Pack," which starts you with a selection of cards and will be free-to-play upon full release.