Whatever happened to Fable? Despite being one of the highest profile, exclusive franchises on the Xbox, after the release of Fable 3, Microsoft didn't seem to know what to do with the franchise. With a nearly-forgotten experiment with the Kinect, Fable: Journeys, and some Xbox Live Arcade games based on the minigames in the franchise, there hasn't been a commitment to a mainline Fable game in nearly a decade. With the recent closure of Fable developer Lionhead Games, one of the dearly departed studios from the late-period PC market of the 90s and made up of many castoffs from Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper Bullfrog, and the even more recent cancellation of the multiplayer-focused Fable: Legends, there seemed to be no hope for a new in🦂stallment in what was o♎nce the most exciting RPG franchise ever.
However, in the last few months, rumors have been swirling about a long-awaited return to form for the oddball, extremely British franchise. While no official announcement has been made, there are rumblings all over the internet about a new Fable being in development. Whether this will officially be Fable 4, a reboot, a remake, or some kind of spin-off, is all unclear. What I've put together is a list of the wishes that have been flying around over the last half year. Since the cancellation of Fable: Legends, a lot of these rumors have gone into overdrive.
A warning: None of these rum𝓀o😼rs have been confirmed, so take them all with a big grain of salt, but many of them, like #25 and #19, are no-brainers.
25 ꦗ It's Definitely Going To B⛎e At E3
The Electroni𝄹c Entertainment Expo, or E3, was at one time the only major video game trade show that mattered. While its importance and proꦓfile has decreased in recent years, mostly due to the rise of company-specific shows like BlizzCon and QuakeCon, as well as the bleeding of video game interests into the wider pop culture conventions like Comic Con, E3 is still a major focal point for video game marketing.
It is all but assured that Microsoft will have something to announce at E3.
With all the buzz surrounding Fable 4 online, it is all but assured that Microsoft will have something to announce at E3 in June. Microsoft is expected to have a big showing this year as, saleswise, theyand this is partly due to their lack of exclusive titles. A big, impressive showing of new games exclusive to Microsoft would make a big impact and such a lineup would have to include Fable 4.
24 ❀ 𒀰 Fable 4 Might Already Have A Title
The mainline Fable games have never had subtitles. The major releases were just numerically ordered, Fable, Fable II, Fable III. However, which so much time having passed since the release of Fable 3, it's possible Microsoft will change things up and ditch the numerical system, similar to many recent titles in long-running franchises like Tomb Raider and DOOM.
According to an last year, an unnamed UK-based studio was working on an action RPG with the codename of "Wisdom." While internal titles are rarely used upon release, Wisdom is interesting in that it seems to be a reference to the magic system in Fable. Since the Fable games have always been about the passage of time as well, most famously the in prison sequence of Fable 2, a story that spans a character's entire life could fittingly be titled Fable: Wisdom.
23 🌞🐲 It Will Be MASSIVE
This is more of a conjectural statement based on current market trends and the history of the franchise than anything I've specifically read, but it's safe to say that a new, full-blown Fable game will have an enormous scope. Even the original Fable, released way back in 2004, had an enormous gameworld by the standards of the time, rivaling even the Elder Scrolls games, maybe not in land🎉mass, but in how much stuff there𓂃 was to do.
We have to assume the new Fable will be quite large.
While Zelda: Breath of the Wild may have (finally, thankfully) killed the idea that gameworlds have to be stuffed with boring, repetitive tasks for the player to complete, we have to assume the new Fable will be quite large, to say the least. Even if the landmass isn't enormous, some density to the environment, like the new Shadow of the Colossus, would be very welcome.
22 We May Kn🍌ow Who's Making I🍸t
The developer of Fable 4 was originally suspected to be the Brighton, UK-based Studio Gobo developer Electric Square, who are definitely making something ꦫfor Microsoft, though no one is saying exactly what just yet. Former Lionhead🎃 developer Don Williamson was asked, indirectly, if Electric Square was the developer, : "there's nobody here in Brighton that could take on a task of that magnitude."
That leads us to one big candidate: Playground Games, makers of the recently released and well-received Xbox-exclusive Forza Horizon, who have been known to be working on an open-world RPG for Microsoft for some time. Job postings by Playground indicate they are looking for artists and programmers with experience in these fields and Horizons𓄧 was itself an open world game, just with cars instead ౠof swords and horses.
21 🦹 No More Simple Good/Evil Morality
When Fable was released in 2004, good/evil, black/white, morality was all the rage. Developer Lionhead had even previously released two games literally called Black & White in which the player was a God who cou🌠ld protect or torment both their people🦄, and a giant animal avatar.
The concept of a simple morality system has gone out of style.
Fifteen years later, after being integrated into basically every kind of video game, the concept of a simple morality system has gone out of style. While some games have been experimenting with a more complex system, such as The Witcher 3's Geralt being an influential but neutral force in the world, it would be a benefit to Fable 4 to have a similarly deep and complex morality sy꧋stem that goes beyond angel wings and ho🌺rns.
20 ꦐ A Whole New World
Every Fable game has taken place, in one way or another, on the continent of Albion, a sort-of fairytale re-imagining of the United Kingdom, the place where original Fable developer Lionhead Games was based. Albion is also likely a reference to "," a mythical island from British l𒁃egend where, among other ꦍthings, the sword Excalibur was forged.
A totally new type of game environment.
While it would be great to see Albion rendered in 4k, a change of scenery from the European-inspired biomes of so many traditional fantasy RPGs would be welcome. The Coral Forest from the recent Monster Hunter: World is a terrific example of a totally new type of game environment that still feels real and plausible within the confines of the world. Given Fables storybook aesthetic, sꦇomething similarly creative would be𝐆 awesome to see.
19 It Will Finally Live Up To The "Acorn" Promise ♏ 🗹
Way, way back in the early 2000s, while promoting the original Fable, designer Peter Molyneux famously proclaimed that the world of Fable would respond to player input like no other game before. He famously promised that players could knock acorns off of trees and that those acorns would eventually grow into acorns themselves.🦩 Nꩵow, Molyneux is famous for over-promising and has even for doing so.
Fable 4 could feasibly deliver on "the acorn promise."
Thing is, Fable 4 could feasibly deliver on "the acorn promise." While the idea of every acorn you knock off every tree growing into a new tree is maybe a bit much, farming simulators have exploded in recent years thanks to games like Stardew Valley and many RPGs now have some kind of "homestead" or base building mechanic. The idea of player housing and farming in Fable 4 isn't so far fetched.
18 You Won't ﷽Just Be On Foot 🅘
One big omission from the Fable games of yore was the implementation of player-ridden mounts like horses. While there is a certain appeal to being forced to travel through the game world on foot, personally I find that I miss a lot of detail and off-the-beaten-path stuff when I'm racing past everything at 100 km/h, the thought that Fable 4 won't have some kind of mounted beasts is nuts.
It's not unthinkable we wouldn't see cars or other vehicles make an appearance.
While every game has rideable horses, Fable's bestiary is diverse enough to include some exciting options for rideable animals. Wolves have always had a prominent place in Fable'ಞs world, not to mention bears, deer, and other traditionally British fauna. With the letter entries pushing further into the future, it's not unthinkable we would🥀n't see cars or other vehicles make an appearance.
17 Story First🅺
After years of games with a multiplayer focus, 2017 saw some very high-profile releases that put a strong emphasis on story-driven, single payer games that garnered a lot of critical acclaim and, crucially, also sold very well. Big, high-risk games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Assassin's Creed: Origins didn't have a multiplayer component at all. Even a huge first-person shooter like Wolfenstein: The New Colossus was single-player only.
Microsoft is willing to go for a big single-player-focused campaign for Fable 4.
If the recent cancellation of multiplayer-only Fable: Legends is any indication, Microsoft is willing to go for a big single-player-focused campaign for Fable 4. While there's a possibility of having some kind of co-op or drop-in component similar to Destiny, for this to b൩e a true ꦍreturn to the franchise, there would have to be a fully featured single-player story anchoring the whole project.
16 ♔ This Time, It's Personal (Again) 🧸
Speaking of the single-player story, the biggest strength of those heralded stories in previous Fable titles have always been the personal stakes involved in the player character. Fable 2's journey of revenജge across your character's entire lifetime has one of the best moments in video game storytelling: when you're shown your character through four stages of his or her life, including not just how your armor changed but how your body did too. Imagine the emotional impact of a similar sequence with the graphical fidelity of the current generation systems.
Think of all the new tech they could pour into your dog!
A new story with personal stakes similar to the sibling revenge plot of Fable 2 or the deposed prince tale of Fable 3 but greatly expanded with a larger number of supporting characters would be huge. Plus, thi🅘nk of all the new tech they could pour into your dog!