Games with Fairy Tale Elements.

Fairy Tales are something which everyone can relate to as we were all told them when we were younger. We all understand the rules and conventions of a fairy tale because we are so used to them so it's a good way to create a coherent world and draw someone in immediately.

Because we all understand how fairy tales work we, as the viewer/player, immediately know what's going on and what to expect. This can be useful for story telling in two ways. The first would be what I have already explained in that the viewer or player understands and knows what to expect from the created world without too much explanation and the second would be that you could then use that to turn the expected into the unexpected by using fairy tales as a base and making a few changes to the rules, as people would be expecting the story to unfold in a certain way if you were to change the rules it would make the world exciting or comedic in many instances.

This is known as a 'fractured' fairy tale. A fractured fairy tale takes the common elements and rules of a traditional fairy tale and changes them. An example of this could be that the princess saves the prince in the end instead of the other way round which is a very common element in a fairy tale. Or perhaps the story is the same as in the traditional fairy tale but told from a different perspective, for example 'The Three Billy Goat's Gruff' could be retold from the perspective of the troll living under the bridge and show what happened to him before and after the story.

Examples of Games which use Fairy Tale Elements

Super Mario Bros. 
Super Mario has classic fairy tale elements. The story takes place in a far away kingdom and there is a princess who gets captured while the hero of the game (Mario) has to fight to rescue her. There are elements that are changed in that the hero isn't a prince like in many fairy tales traditionally instead he is a plumber.

American Mcgee's Alice
Although Alice in Wonderland is not a traditional fairy tale it has the elements and conventions of a fairy tale. American Mcgee's Alice is an example of a fractured fairy tale, key elements are changed to make the tale darker, the game begins with Alice's parents being killed in a fire and her being put into a mental hospital. 
Fable
Fable is a game which has a real fairy tale feel to it but because of the moralistic choices you can make in the game it changes the outcome of the fairy tale. You can choose to be the villain or the hero and your choices can effect whether everyone lives happily ever after or not.