Noble Fates

About

Noble Fates is a single player survival city builder game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Xobermon, LLC and was released on December 14, 2021. It received positive reviews from players.

A 3D Fantasy Kingdom Sim driven by intelligent characters with a rich simulation of opinions and memories. Build, Craft, Farm, Mine, Hunt, Defend, and more! Command from the sky or take control in third person as your story goes where the people, your actions, and their reactions take it.

+10

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84%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,088 reviews

gameplay45 positive mentions

grinding64 negative mentions

Deep and engaging colony sim with rich character-driven mechanics and emergent storytelling.
Ability to control your ruler in third-person adds immersion and unique gameplay.
Active and responsive developers with frequent updates and strong mod support.
Great building system with 3D multi-level construction and customization.
Humorous and quirky character interactions add charm and personality to the game.
High replayability with varied kingdoms, races, alignment choices, and social systems.

AI pathfinding and task management can be frustrating and inefficient at times.
Micromanagement-heavy gameplay, especially managing clothing, morale, and detailed character needs, can become tedious.
Dialogue system for recruiting and relationships is slow, repetitive, and lacks depth.
Combat is clunky with limited tactics and can feel unbalanced in late game.
Some mechanics lack clarity or documentation, making the early game steep learning curve.
Performance issues can occur with larger settlements and late game complexity.
The art style is divisive; character models are often described as odd or unattractive.
Controversy and player dissatisfaction arose regarding inclusion of non-binary characters and related political elements.
Early Access state means some core features are missing, and UI/UX needs polish and improvement.

gameplay
192 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
70%
7%
The gameplay offers a unique and enjoyable blend of colony simulation, resource management, and personality-driven decision-making, with intricate mechanics like relationship dynamics, opinion systems, and complex building features. While many find it fun and innovative—especially fans of Rimworld and similar games—several reviewers cite issues with buggy mechanics, unnecessary micromanagement, pacing, and UI frustrations that hinder the overall experience. The game shows strong potential with ongoing development and active support but still requires refinement and balancing to fully deliver its ambitious gameplay vision.
- “It blends the familiar mechanics of city simulation and resource management with emergent storytelling, personality-driven decision-making, and direct player control in a living, dynamic world.”
- “Despite being in early access, Noble Fates has a surprising amount of polish and provides an engaging twist on the familiar colony-builder gameplay loop.”
- “The mechanics are excellent, well-planned, well-executed, and mostly logical.”
- “Buggy, pace too slow to progress, annoying micromanagement, UI and camera control lead to headaches, world map is just an accessory, weird crafting and trade mechanics, and no magic.”
- “Gameplay itself is an almost carbon copy of Going Medieval, though with a little more depth.”
- “The conversation mechanic can get a bit annoying, and the kingdom interactions feel like an excuse for visitors (still very early game).”
graphics
139 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
69%
2%
The game features a simple yet expressive 3D art style with charming, quirky, and somewhat cartoonish graphics that many find appealing and polished, especially in building and world design. However, character models receive mixed reactions, with some players finding them odd, bland, or off-putting, leading to calls for improved visuals or customization options. Overall, while the graphics may not be AAA quality, they effectively complement the gameplay and atmosphere, though optimization and more detailed graphic settings could enhance the experience.
- “Graphically, this game is incredibly pleasing to look at.”
- “- it is graphically quite polished and if you zoom in you see a lot of detail you otherwise would miss.”
- “The graphics are a lot easier on the eyes than Rimworld and it oozes personality.”
- “The idea of the game is great, but the thing I absolutely cannot get over is how ugly the character art style is.”
- “Graphics are not normally an issue for me, but if I'm going to be looking at my villagers/townsfolk/whatever you wanna call 'em in a colony sim on the regular, they have to at least be tolerable to look at and not want me to bleach my eyes.”
- “But I can't get past the aesthetics of the character models, they are ugly as hell, and communication is an utter chore.”
story
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
86%
5%
The story aspect is characterized by emergent, player-driven narratives blending city simulation and RPG elements, offering emotional investment through dynamic relationships and consequences. While quests and events contribute to an evolving story world with unique, replayable experiences, they are often seen as repetitive and lacking depth or clear context. Many reviewers appreciate the foundational storytelling potential and RPG integration but note the need for more diverse content, refined quest details, and stronger overarching narrative structure as the game is still in early access.
- “It blends the familiar mechanics of city simulation and resource management with emergent storytelling, personality-driven decision-making, and direct player control in a living, dynamic world.”
- “This dynamic web of relationships creates an organic storytelling loop where no two kingdoms unfold the same way.”
- “Its emergent storytelling keeps players emotionally invested, while the combination of colony management and direct control provides a rare sense of agency.”
- “Quests are currently a bit lackluster, needing more details in the quest description of 'why/what happened'.”
- “The names and storylines seem randomly computer generated; you can't even pick your own custom kingdom name.”
- “This is supposed to promote 'story telling', but when all the story amounts to is a checklist of things that will give your characters PTSD (i.e. their friend died, you butchered an invader for food, they had to wear gloves...), it soon becomes tiresome and you end up with your characters being in an irretrievable state of despair that no amount of fancy shelves, stone axes, and beds will allow them to recover from.”
grinding
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
8%
91%
Grinding in the game is widely considered tedious and time-consuming, with tasks like farming, crafting, managing relationships, and inventory requiring extensive micromanagement and repetitive actions. The farming system, in particular, is criticized for slow seed progression and lack of sustainability at low levels. While some players find the complexity rewarding, many feel the constant need to satisfy character preferences and repetitive dialogues detracts from the overall experience.
- “Character progression system that gives some choice but isn't tedious.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Also the farming to seed to farming mechanic is a bit too punishing in the sense that single digit percentage spawn of seeds when harvesting makes farming (especially at low levels) not sustainable.”
- “The whole "everyone has likes and dislikes and will only be happy when given the specific things they want" thing is just kind of tedious.”
optimization
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
67%
10%
Users consistently report that the game suffers from performance issues and requires significant optimization, especially as complexity and population grow, leading to stuttering and low FPS even on mid-range hardware. While recent developer efforts have improved performance somewhat, many still find it lacking compared to other demanding titles, though some users experience smoother gameplay. Overall, optimization remains a key area needing attention to enhance playability.
- “The optimization is great and the performance flawless for any length of play session.”
- “Performance is decent on an average rig after a recent performance sprint by the developer and it will improve more in the future I'm sure.”
- “It's got some hiccups, like the performance, but it seems to be something the devs work on consistently.”
- “In the game, it's hard to reach 60 FPS with a 3060 Ti... I have far more FPS in Cyberpunk and less GPU utilization... the developers have totally messed up the performance.”
- “Performance can suffer in later stages as the population grows and the world becomes more complex, with occasional stuttering or visual glitches.”
- “I can run Cyberpunk around 70-88 FPS at ultra settings, but this game is so badly optimized that even at low settings you will still get low FPS.”
humor
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally described as quirky, goofy, and charming, with witty and blunt dialogue that many find genuinely funny and endearing. While some users appreciate the depth and playful NPC interactions, a few criticized the inclusion of unnecessary crude humor. Overall, the humor enhances the unique atmosphere, making the game enjoyable and memorable for fans of comedic kingdom-building.
- “It has an odd yet charming sense of humor while having plenty of depth and complexity to scratch that Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress itch.”
- “The dialogues are blunt and use the vocabulary of a caveman, and it works so great. It's so charming; I absolutely love how the characters respond to each other in hilarious and innocent ways.”
- “I find the overall humor and NPC interactions funny; they are goofy as hell and that's what makes them so great.”
stability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game shows promise but is hampered by frequent bugs, glitches, and occasional crashes, especially as complexity increases. While some users find it stable for an early access title with active developer support, others report frustrating issues with AI, pathfinding, and core mechanics that impact overall stability and enjoyment.
- “Far too buggy, has potential but the constant crashes ruin the experience.”
- “Performance can also suffer in later stages as the population grows and the world becomes more complex, with occasional stuttering or visual glitches.”
- “Building, a core aspect of the game, is marred by buggy mechanics, particularly for those wanting to explore subterranean construction as dwarves.”
music
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
43%
19%
The game's music receives mixed reviews, with some praising its soothing and immersive ambiance that fits the atmosphere well, while others criticize the limited, repetitive soundtrack as generic and out of place in the medieval setting. Several users find the music enjoyable but note it can become monotonous over long play sessions, and some even choose to turn it off.
- “The audio design complements this atmosphere, with a soothing yet dynamic soundtrack that shifts between peaceful day-to-day moments and the tense chaos of battle.”
- “Music is soothing, great background ambiance.”
- “The sounds and music are good and it have depth in the overall character, making it feel immersive.”
- “The soundtrack is only about 5-6 songs and they are simply not good.”
- “All except one or two feel at odds with the medieval setting, and most of it I would describe as repetitive generic club music or elevator music for millennials.”
- “The music is the worst I've heard in any game in recent memory.”
replayability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
89%
11%
The game offers exceptional replayability through its deep morality and values system, diverse options like races and building styles, and varied gameplay elements such as combat and quests. Its unique colony progression mechanic, continuous feature updates, and a robust mod library further enhance the fresh, engaging experiences with each playthrough. Overall, players consistently praise its intricate details and dynamic world that keep the game enjoyable and replayable over time.
- “The morality and values system makes it stand out from games like RimWorld. There's near infinite replayability due to the wide range of options and combinations of races, values, morality, buildings, maps, and more. It also features fun combat in the form of castle defense, castle offense, and quests, a good 3D building system like in Going Medieval and Timberborn, and all the usual bells and whistles of a colony sim, like crafting weapons and gear, resource management, and levelable skills of characters.”
- “I really like that you spawn a world, create colonies within that world, then can "ascend" and create a new colony, leaving the old one behind. This creates great replayability.”
- “Not only do new features come online at a steady pace, the game is very replayable and the large mod library adds even more depth.”
emotional
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s emotional system deeply influences leadership success and player engagement through emergent storytelling and moral decision-making, creating surprising emotional depth. While this adds a unique sense of agency and investment, some players find managing the characters’ intense emotional needs challenging and occasionally overwhelming. Overall, the emotional complexity enhances immersion but may require careful balancing to avoid frustration.
- “Its emergent storytelling keeps players emotionally invested, while the combination of colony management and direct control provides a rare sense of agency.”
- “This focus on moral and social decision-making, rather than pure efficiency, gives the game surprising emotional depth.”
- “An unexpectedly addicting game where I somehow got emotionally invested in my characters.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
Character development in the game is noted for its depth and meaningful interactions, reminiscent of Rimeworld. However, some users feel the overly cartoony art style and unappealing character designs undermine the seriousness and believability of the characters. Overall, while personalities are well-crafted, the visual presentation may detract from the immersive experience.
- “It goes Rimeworld way, with deep character development and interactions.”
- “Lisa Ray (art & character development specialist) motto: The art style needs to fit the game and characters need to feel alive.”
- “It's too cartoony to take seriously with some of the ugliest character designs I have ever seen.”
- “The art style needs to fit the game and characters need to feel alive.”
- “I will also talk about the character development and personalities.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is praised for its light, engaging tone and distinctive graphic style, enhanced by a dynamic audio design that smoothly transitions between peaceful and intense moments. This combination creates an immersive and balanced experience.
- “The audio design complements this atmosphere, with a soothing yet dynamic soundtrack that shifts between peaceful day-to-day moments and the tense chaos of battle.”
- “I like the light attitude atmosphere and I like the graphic style.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users feel the game's monetization is frustrating, as progress is slowed by repetitive learning mechanics, and current systems feel like cash grabs lacking meaningful content or improvement to the gameplay experience.
- “Just another cash grab with no content really.”