One question that has been on the lips of many Xbox fans for a while now is: “Is Fable 4 being made?” But the answer to that is not a simple yes or no. Rather, it is much more complicated and riddled with speculation.
Fable’s last suitable game was Fable 3 released on Xbox 360 in 2010, after the success of Fable 2 in 2008 on the same console. The third game in the Fable series was reasonably well received, but it did not win critical acclaim from its predecessor or the original Fable.
The departure of legendary game developer Peter Molyneux and other key developers from Lionhead Studios resulted in a change of direction for the Fable studio and its final demise in 2016, despite being owned by Microsoft. This left Fable in a semi-limbo state.
There were games derived from Fable in the form of Fable Heroes, a beat ’em up game for Xbox 360, exploration focused on Kinect and the spell-casting game Fable: The Journey, and Fable Fortune, a free digital card game that is it launched in 2018 for Xbox One, but was later discontinued in March 2020. None of these Fable games garnered much acclaim, possibly sinking the series.
In 2013, hope was kindled with a trailer for Fable Legends. It featured a five-player Xbox One game that had four people playing as hero characters and one player was a form of dungeon master villain that sent enemies to attack heroes. But Lionhead’s closure meant Fable Legends was canceled.
That brings us to E3 2018, where Xbox boss Phil Spencer hinted that what could be Fable 4 could be in the works. Spencer didn’t leave fans much to go on, so we’ve done a little research to bring you what we know about Fable 4 so far, including a large dose of speculation. But come with us on that trip for more information.
Fable 4 release date
Before rushing to the comments to complain: no, we don’t know when Fable 4 will be released. And we don’t even know if it’s actually in development, although a leak on Reddit a year ago claimed to reveal an avalanche of information about the configuration of Fable 4, game mechanics and main themes. Anyway, take this as a placeholder for future updates.
If we had to guess, we’d say Fable 4 is still a couple of years away. As far as we understand it is being developed by Playground Games, the developer behind Forza Horizon 4, but there has been some valuable little news from the studio on where it might be with Fable 4. We suspect Fable 4 was more advanced in development with some More tidbits of information may have escaped the study.
All that said, Xbox Game Studios could keep a tight grip on its developers to ensure that the game they’re working on is only revealed when Microsoft wants them to show up. We’d love for Fable 4 to be teased at the Xbox Series X Exclusive Games event on July 23, but we’re not going to hold our breath.
Fable 4 leaks, news and rumors
There have been many small hints about the existence of Fable 4, the latter being a placeholder on @Fable’s Twitter account followed by a Microsoft employee. But then Aaron Greenberg, Xbox general manager, dismissed speculation that this could be a clue that a Fable 4 announcement was coming.
“I know everyone is hungry for news, but I am sorry to have high hopes. These accounts have been dormant for years, it is standard practice to secure social identifiers for our IP, “said Greenberg.
I know everyone is hungry for news, but I am sorry to have high hopes. These accounts have been inactive for years, it is standard practice to secure social identifiers for our IP. June 28, 2020
This poured cold water on the recent fires of speculation. But in recent years, other clues about Fable 4 have appeared. Phil Spencer has hinted at Fable 4 before E3 2018, with a cheep back in 2017, noting that there was nothing that Xbox Game Studios had to announce, but Fable IP has “many places you could go.”
However, while that was happening, IGN discovered that Microsoft has requested a renewal of the Fable trademark On June 26, Microsoft also submitted an intention to use the application. Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny its plans for the Fable trademark.
In 2018 Don Williamson, the former Lionhead main engine programmer, tweeted He knew of a studio working on Fable 4, though he has since removed the tweet. That studio appears to be Playground Games.
Then in 2019, a massive Fable 4 leak appeared on Reddit around E3 2019, though the game was never shown. The leak details how Albion, the land of Fable, has been completely destroyed by an asteroid named after a mad king who took control of The Spire, which Fable 2 fans will remember was something you needed to wrest control from Tyran Lucien. Fairfax.
Fable 4 setup and gameplay
The asteroid’s impact results in “a land reduced to fables” and leaked information indicates that Fable 4 will take place on another continent. Oh, and there will be other planets as well, as the Guild of Heroes and the enigmatic character Theresa have to take refuge on a different planet that can be accessed through the Demon Gate, think of the portal to another world or area.
Oddly enough, the leak implies that Fable 4 will have a medieval configuration similar to the first game, with Fable 2 muskets and pistols replaced by more swords and sorcery. Multiplayer is also expected, probably in the form of cooperative exploration, though how it will be implemented is unknown.
New possibly leaked fable of r / xboxone
More interesting is the suggestion that Fable 4 will be fully open, suggesting a larger open-world game than previous Fable games. Players can supposedly ignore the main quest to become a hero and instead build cities.
But if they pursue the quest, it will seemingly involve time travel and see the return of antagonist Jack of Blades from the first game. Since this is a fable game, there will be in-depth character creation and probably many moral choices to influence the way people perceive the player character. It should look pretty good too, as it’s designed to use the Unreal engine (possibly the new Unreal Engine 5 we’ve already seen in action on PS5).
What we want from Fable 4
Unlike Skryim or the recent Grand Theft Auto games, Fable games have always been about bringing you a reasonably restricted open world filled with things to do rather than places to explore and stories to discover. While we don’t want to lose some of the charm and silliness Fable games offered us, like buying entire cities or marrying multiple people and seeing how they had street plots about you, we’d like to see a little more depth with Fable 4.
A larger open world with more room to run and the ability to go further in places where your character may be ill-equipped to deal with is something we’d like to have the option to do. And some deeper side missions with results and consequences that leave their mark on the world will also be appreciated.
We didn’t expect the same level of plot depth as The Witcher 3 as that would not be suitable for Fable. But a little more meat in the story and side quests would be great.
It would also be great to be able to manipulate the world the way Peter Molyneux promised he would have the original fable, like being able to cut down a tree and watch it grow if you come back years later. The power of Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PCs should have no problem making this a reality.
Combat in Fable could also be improved, making it feel more kinetic and strategic rather than a slightly buoyant mix of hammering a couple of buttons and cycling enemies until they hit the deck. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild demonstrated that depth could be added to combat with various dodge, dodge, and weapon moves without making the game complex or too similar to Dark Souls.
Finally, we would like to see the dog return. He was a central and excellent part of Fable 2, but his role was somewhat diminished in Fable 3.
Thus, Fable 4 could give the dog more of the game, perhaps allowing you to attack enemies in the D-Dog line in Metal Gear Solid V.
Fable 4 might not happen
Despite saying all of the above, there is still a chance that Fable 4 is not in development and the leaks and rumors are simply residual fragments of a canceled project. We believe that Microsoft has not yet finished with the Fable series, but we would not put a lot of money in it.
Fable 3 also came out at a time before Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Breath of the Wild set benchmarks on how open-world fantasy games could be offered. Arguably, in a world with such games, a new fable game may seem a bit archaic.
Playground Games could alter the formula, but there is a risk that it doesn’t feel like a fable game. Sure, some fans would be happy for more of the same. However, for Fable 4 to be worth the investment of Xbox Game Studios, it would be necessary to cross the line between being faithful to the series and having something new and fresh to make it convincing and prevent people from returning to another new version of Skyrim console. . .
We are quietly optimistic that Fable 4 will be made to help give the Xbox Series X an ace in the hole. Time will tell, probably another year or so, unless Microsoft has a surprise at its upcoming Xbox 20/20 events.
