Microsoft ended their Xbox Series X showcase with one doozy of a tease. The final announcement trailer revealed that Playground Games were in fact working on a brand new installment of the beloved Fable series. A fantasy RPG series known for crass humor - particularly slapstick towards chickens - quirky characters, and the ability to play the game as a warrior, wizard, rogue, or something between the three.
The series came into popularity by creative auteur Peter Molyneux. Furthermore, he became infamous for his grand promises of eccentric in-depth features that the Fable games would tout. Claims that plants and trees would grow in real time or that villagers and peasants would have children and they would grow up as you progressed through the story were some of his more dubious claims.
It's a sad case since the overall quality of the Fable games always get overshadowed by it's eccentric director's habit of making too many promises he can't keep.
They've always been well-made experiences that continue to push unconventional means of design such as the landlord mechanic where you can buy property and rent it out for extra cash. It also reveled in one of the bigger trends of big RPGs of the 2000s: the Good/Evil binary morality system. The player could be a paragon of virtue meant to save the world or a horrendous murdering psycho that casually kills two people every morning at breakfast.
This continued across all three major installments.
Molyneux doesn't appear to be attached to this installment and aside from a polished looking teaser trailer and title, not much else is known at this time. This could mean that the new Fable can stand on its own merits without the specter of disproportionate expectations hanging over it. The distinctly British tone will also be retained thanks to the UK origins of Playground games.
The newest Fable has no official release date at this time. (Update: We now have a release date after the Xbox Showcase on June 9, 2024)
