Why Fable's Xbox Developer Direct Blew Us Away | Epic RPG Impressions
Fable returns to players for the first time in over a decade, coming to Xbox, PC, and PlayStation this autumn.
Today, during the Xbox Developer Direct, Playground Games concluded the event with the first real deep dive into the world of Albion - their new, fully realized open-world action RPG. This marks a departure from their traditional Forza Horizon racing genre.
Today, during the Xbox Developer Direct, Playground Games concluded the event with the first real deep dive into the world of Albion - their new, fully realized open-world action RPG. This marks a departure from their traditional Forza Horizon racing genre.
Ralph Fulton, General Manager and Game Director of Fable, posed the question:
“What does it mean to be a hero?”
This is the feeling the team wants players to experience throughout their journey, playing along the grey line. Nothing is a simple black-and-white reaction, as they remain true to the series and will present many decisions that affect the world around the player - more on that later.
Every player has their own tale to tell and will begin the game as a child, customizing their character from the ground up - from gender to hairstyle, and of course, fighting style. Whether you prefer ranged weapons, melee, or magic, the game offers each player a unique experience. Although the game starts with players as children, you will quickly advance to adulthood, where your arsenal of weapons marks the beginning of your journey.
In the starting village of Briar Hill, the true events begin to unfold. The villagers and your grandmother have been turned to stone by a mysterious stranger. This quickly becomes your motivation to leave the village, explore the open world of Albion, and bring back your grandmother and the villagers.
Fulton discusses on the Xbox site:
“There is one last thing that your grandmother says to you: she mentions Bowerstone, the Heroes’ Guild, and how it’s at the Heroes’ Guild that the great heroes live and, if you ever need help, they’re the people to go to. So, there’s a soft implication that you should head for the Heroes’ Guild, and maybe there’s help that they can give you.”
Once you leave the village, the world gives you complete freedom to explore the massive landscape - from the iconic returning city of Bowerstone to spooky swamps, sewers, the legendary Heroes’ Guild, and many others. Just because your grandmother mentions the guild doesn’t mean that’s where you must go first. Playground Games gives players the freedom to choose their own path, with progression focused on exploration rather than restriction.
Combat has always been a factor in previous titles, and with Playground Games calling their style “weaving combat,” fans will have the opportunity to play to their strengths while exploring. “Strength, Skill, and Will” is a mix of melee, ranged, and magic fighting styles. Striking with your sword and quickly hurling a fireball in a smooth attack will become a staple, but knowing what you’re up against allows players to plan their tactical approach - ranged, melee, or magic for crowd control.
Balancing between the black-and-white lines of grey morality will impact the player’s journey. The morality system of previous titles has been replaced with a different approach - a reaction-based system that moves away from the old good-or-bad slider and focuses more on your reputation, which will carry through your experience.
“There are a significant number of these reputations that you can get, and you can create completely different identities in all the different settlements,” says Fulton.
Becoming the ‘Chicken Chaser’ by kicking too many chickens is completely up to you.
“The same applies for being generous, or being a bigamist, or being a thief, and so on. There are a significant number of these reputations that you can get—you have a word cloud of reputations in every settlement, and they can be different from place to place. It means you can create completely different identities in all the different settlements by being a different person and behaving in different ways.”
The living, breathing population of over 1,000 NPCs is certainly one of the game’s shining stars. Each has a role to play, with daily lives, personalities, and routines. Every NPC is fully voice-acted and reacts to your current reputation. Fable appears to have one of the most complex NPC systems ever implemented, with full functionality - NPCs working among towns, reacting to the player, and even creating connections that could lead to parenthood if you choose.
Buy every house in the village, or better yet, buy every business in town and have the NPCs work for you, generating a steady income. NPCs are reactive to the player; in the Developer Direct, a store worker greeted the player as their ‘Boss’ during gameplay. The promise of Fable seems almost too good to be true.
Fable certainly looks stunning and rather ambitious for a team known for racing games, but the developers assure fans that they are creating Fable because they themselves are fans of the original games and want to bring the legendary title back for old and new fans alike. With full character customization now shown off - something many fans feared would be locked into the female character shown in previous trailers - Fable could finally put Xbox in the Game of the Year discussion. Let us know what you thought of Fable and the rest of the Developer Direct in the comments.
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