One of last year's most celebrated games opens up a new world of adventure courtesy of Microsoft and Lionhead Studios' Knothole Island expansion pack for Fable® II.

After downloading the add-on, you'll discover a mysterious submarine captain standing on the docks in Bowerstone Market. His port of travel is Knothole Island, a little known sliver of humanity that's suffered under the cruel yoke of a never-ending winter.

It's up to Albion's finest (that's you) to brave the fierce elements and unlock the mysteries that power Knothole Island's extreme weather patterns, and in the end, decide whether to place the power of Mother Nature in the hands of the citizenry or the island's less than humble leader.

Make sure you visit the cemetery on Knothole Island.
You'll be quite pleased I think.

Weather Change
Knothole Island 's main quest will send you through a series of Hobbe, Hollow Men, Shadow, and Balverine-infested ruins so that you may find and use each dungeon's weather totem to literally change the island's landscape.

For example, when you ply the sun totem to eliminate the island's deep freeze, the whole of Knothole Island will undergo a desert metamorphosis, right down to evaporating the island's previously frozen lake. While the transformation is visually stunning—particularly the heat-wave shimmer effect—it also unlocks previously inaccessible areas, leading to new adventures and previously unavailable secrets and treasures.

Puzzle Dungeons
More so than most Fable II dungeons, the underground weather temples on Knothole Island will test your wits as much as your skill in combat. Indeed, you'll find a near one-to-one ratio of puzzles and combat, with most puzzles involving the familiar hovering orbs used throughout the game's main storyline.

What's more, when the orbs come into play here, you'll have only a scant few moments to decide whether to strike, shoot, or cast a spell to send the orb off to its next point. Fail to act in time and the orb will reset to its last position or the beginning of the puzzle depending on the challenge.

Knothole Gear
Beyond your quest to free Knothole Island from its weather woes, many players may find the vast quantity of unique items and equipment to be this downloadable expansion's greatest asset. In many ways, the items available to find and purchase act as fan service, putting into playable form many of the features for which fans have been clamoring.

This includes potions that increase or decrease your height, fatten you up or slim you down, and a magical elixir that removes scarring. Likewise, there's all manner of new weapons, including the Axe of Disharmony, a guitar-turned-blunt-instrument-of-pain (99 damage to be precise), as well as powerful new augments and, of course, a slew of new fashion and clothing options.

100 Gamerscore
Also worthy of note are the three new achievements made available after downloading the Knothole Island add-on. They are The Meteorologist (50 Gamerscore), earned for completing Knothole Island's main quest, The Bibliophile (25 Gamerscore), which is unlocked by finding all ten Knothole Island history books, and The Collector (25 Gamerscore), which requires you to successfully trade for every available item in the Box of Secrets shop.

The Collector achievement in particular is an interesting addition as it requires you to find a number of items available on Albion's mainland (such as a Diamond, a Pretty Necklace, Murgo's Big Book of Trading, a copy of Marriage and How to Survive It) and bring them to the Box of Secrets to trade for "mystery" items only available at the shop.

This is a great way to get you back to adventuring through Albion, completing side quests and hopefully finding a silver key or Gargoyle or two as you set out across country to track down the items you need.

Cemetery Surprise
Knothole Island also boasts an enormous surprise for a large percentage of Fable II players. To explain in detail would involve too many spoilers, but suffice it to say that if you chose Sacrifice at the end of the game's main storyline, make sure you visit the cemetery on Knothole Island. You'll be quite pleased I think.

From the game's trademark sense of humor to its quirky and vibrant visual style, Knothole Island retains and even embellishes every trait for which Fable II is loved. Whether you're looking for an excuse to dive back into Albion or you simply want more of one of last year's greatest games, Knothole Island is ready and waiting for you on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Xbox.com