Summary
After lying dormant for over a decade,Fablewill finally have a new title in its main series, with the latest entry aiming for a 2025 release. Back in its heyday, theFableseries was a mainstay of the Xbox’s extensive games library, known for its dry humor and charm as well as its morality system. The games always had a stylized cartoon aesthetic and were never massively praised for their graphical fidelity, but the latest title looks like an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo.
The difference in graphical fidelity can, of course, be attributed to the progression of hardware.Fable 3was launched in the middle of the Xbox 360’s tenure, while this newFablewill be released in the middle of the console generation, two generations ahead.Fable 3is fourteen years old, and a graphical improvement is expected for a modern title, but the newest game is pushing the boundaries with its graphics as well as changing the artstyle in favor of a more realistic one.
New Fable Trailer Is Gorgeous & Includes A Release Window
A new trailer for Fable premiered at the Xbox Games Showcase, introducing more characters and confirming its release window.
The Reason Why The New Fable Looks So Different
Why Forza Horizon Is Important
When Xbox was looking at its catalog of games to bring back,Fablewould have been a no-brainer,but the original studio behind the series (Lionhead) has been shut down for some time. This meant that a new studio had to take the reins if the franchise was to make a comeback, and with Microsoft’s acquisition of so many, it had a wealth of options at its disposal. It may have come across as odd that Playground Games was chosen as the developer behind theForza Horizonseries, a far cry from fantasy RPGs.
Although Playground Games had very little experience with making RPGs, there was a reason that they were chosen for the task. In aninterview with the Guardian, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, mentioned that he had a look"at what Playground has done with the Horizon series – that attention to detail, the ability to represent these naturalistic landscapes.“It was Playground Games' work with open worlds and their passion for the IPthat made them stand out as the right studio forFable.
Playground Games was founded in 2010 and until it was givenFable, it had only worked onForzagames.
Playground’s attention to detail means that the newFable’s world will be more rich than ever if itsgorgeous new traileris anything to go by, but it also means that it will be more realistic. The charming cartoon graphics of Lionhead are lost in favor of almost photo-real characters. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since the game does look amazing from a visual standpoint,but Playground’s experience with realism with environments and cars meant that the art direction was likely to have leaned in this direction.
Fable Official Trailer
The official Xbox trailer for Fable the game releasing in 2025. Fable is a re-imagining of the classic franchise.
Why Xbox Needed To Search For A New Studio
Playground is known for realistic graphics and high attention to detail,but Lionhead never madeFablea realistic-looking game. It was stylized and unique. More importantly for Xbox, it was well-loved by fans, making Lionhead’s closure confounding. There’s no single reason the studio was closed, but it wasworking onFable Legendsbefore it was shut down, which was fraught with development issues and delays.
Microsoft acquired Lionhead Studios in April 2006, but had a working relationship with them beforehand while working onFable 1.
Not a lot went right forFable Legends.There was controversy about it being free-to-play since many thought of other titles stuffed to the gills with microtransactions,and the disappointing sales of the Xbox One might not have produced the numbers needed for the game to thrive. It didn’t help that the game before this wasFable: The Journey,a Kinect-only title. Players wantedFable 4, but Xbox had Lionhead make struggling spin-off titles that eventually may have had a hand in its closure.
In the documentaryPower On: The Story of Xbox,it was admitted that there was regret over how Lionhead Studios was handled.Its closure would always make the nextFablea project rife with difficulty, and it could mean that the original aesthetic is lost to the franchise forever. There was worry thatFablewould die like the studio behind it, but with Playground Games at the helm, there is new life in the game, as well as an entirely new art style behind it, which makes sense for a reboot.
Can Playground Games Deliver?
Will The Different Look Help Fable?
Fableis a departure from what Playground Games usually does.The realistic cars ofForzaare quite different to the wondrous creatures ofFableand an entirely different team means that the vision behind the game could be quite different, too. This is seen most in the art direction and the photo-realism of the characters and environments. It is certainly impressive, but questions remain whether it can capture the essence of the original games.
One of the benefits of choosing Playground Games is that it is a British studio, just like Lionhead was.Fableis known for incorporating British culture in places, with the accents of characters, the dry wit, and humor, as well as the world being called Albion, an old alternate name for Great Britain. This is most clearly seen inFable 3’s Industrial Revolution setting, and the hope is that Playground Games can bring that distinct, British charm that is intrinsic to the franchise.
What The New Fable Needs To Be Better Than The Original Trilogy
The original Fable games were flawed masterpieces. How can the new Fable game keep the best parts of its prequels while avoiding the same issues?
A New Studio For Fable
A New Look To Boot
Playground Games has an immense task on its hands.Making a reboot to a game franchise as beloved and well-regarded asFableis not going to be easy, but it seems like the studio is going in its own direction. Realism is not traditionally associated with theFablefranchise, but if the newest game can keep the charm of the series alive and well, then the change in art direction could work to show how far Xbox has come.
It is clear that the change in studio and aesthetic will mean that the gamewill not be theFableplayers remember from their childhood. It will be bigger (and hopefully better) than ever, leveraging the experience from theForzaseries as well as the technology of the Xbox Series X|S. With some luck, Playground Games could deliver a grand, fantasy adventure filled with charm and wit while scoring a big win for Xbox.
