Developer Playground Games, which is primarily known for the Forza Horizon series, finally lifted the curtain today in a big way for its upcoming Fable – a game that was originally officially teased back in 2017. Playground Games has been working on the game for a long time, but we will finally be able to play it this Fall.
The game’s director, Ralph Fulton, was on hand during today’s Xbox Developer Direct to share details for the game and finally show extensive gameplay. Fulton paid his respects to the work of the original Fable trilogy’s creators, Lionhead Games, saying the team is eager to carry on its legacy, and referred to the game as an open-world action RPG and that it represents a new beginning for the franchise. We, of course, assumed the game would be an open-world action RPG, especially considering Playground Games’ history and the genre of the original trilogy, but it was nice to get proper confirmation.
As was the case with the other Fable games, you start the adventure as a child before learning you are a rare hero, the first in a long time. A calamity affects your home village of Briar Hill, turning everyone into stone, including the protagonist’s grandmother. And then you’re off on your adventure of being a hero. Apparently, the open world will be available to the player pretty early in the game, and you will find yourself stuck between two rival gangs fighting for power.
Footage for the game showed off imposing castles, inviting fields, gardens of oversized vegetables, and magical mushroom forests. The protagonist was also seen riding on horseback as they explored, but I didn’t see a pet dog, however, which was a big element of Fable II and III.
Fulton says the ethos of the game is “What does it mean, to you, to be a hero?” You will be able to create your hero, dictating their look and clothing. Combat seems familiar to the first three games, with a split between melee action, long-range action, and magic. The player can use light and heavy combos, execute finishers, use magic like electricity, as well as attacks like the one that turned enemies into chickens. The player character got into plenty of battles in the gameplay footage against familiar Fable enemies like Hobs, but we also saw them fighting a giant fire-breathing chicken.
The bigger question mark for Fable, however, came later in the presentation, where Fulton and other members of the team talked about how the population will react to the player and what the player can do outside of combat. You can buy property and business, get married and have kids, and there are more than 1,000 named NPCs who will have individual reactions to you as well as their own lives. You can apparently follow any of the denizens of Albion and watch them wake up, go to work, relax, and go to bed.
Among the examples Playground mentioned in terms of how NPCs will react to you is that you can own property that NPCs will live in. They will react to you as their landlord, or you can kick them out of your house, effectively making them homeless. Expectedly, they will not be your biggest fans if you do this. Characters will praise or insult you depending on your reputation as you walk around and explore. This was an element in the original games, but it seems much more in-depth and specific to your choices here.
And speaking of choices, Playground highlighted the idea of “Your choices change the world,” where some of the decisions you make will make radical changes to the environment of the game. An early example offered is related to the giant seen in previous trailers played by British comedian Richard Ayoade. You can choose to spare or kill Ayoade’s character, and if you choose the latter, his massive corpse will remain in the environment for the rest of the game, serving as an undeniable landmark that will affect property prices nearby.
The big element missing from Playground’s presentation, which is admittedly hard to get across in a developer diary like this, is Fable’s humor. It remains to be seen if the new Fable will effectively borrow the tone of the original trilogy. The inclusion of comedians like Richard Ayoade certainly inspires comedic confidence, but we will have to wait and see in the Autumn of 2026.
