FABLE
The more we think about it, the grumpier we get. Halo aside, this should have been the big talking point at the end of Microsoft’s show, the kind of ‘one more thing’ reveal that sets Internet forums and social media platforms abuzz with excited chatter. It really wouldn’t have taken much. And somehow Microsoft delivered even less, with a teaser trailer that told us precisely nothing of any use about one of the worst-kept secrets in videogames.
We’ve known Playground Games has been making a next-gen Fable for a while, well before it started hiring for an unnamed “AAA Open-World Action RPG” last year – by which time, most people could take an educated guess as to which dormant franchise that might be referring. Surely we’d get something of substance, we thought: certainly more than a so-called ‘world premiere’ under a minute long that would give us a title and, well, not much else.
The name alone raised more questions than it answered. Is this a remake of the first game? A series reboot? Does it not have an official title yet? Does head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty have something against the number four? A brief glimpse of a distant city for its final shot was equally unrevealing. Is this Bowerstone? Maybe not. It would, at the very least, need to be scaled up significantly to become the kind of sandbox city to which we’ve grown accustomed in the ten years since the last numbered entry.
Is this a remake of the first game? A series reboot? Does Xbox have something against the number four?
Yes, it’s been, and since then Microsoft has already cancelled one project, effectively dooming its developer. Some ex-Lionhead staffers are working at Playground on the new game, we understand, but with that history in mind, the publisher is asking players to ignore the sour taste that left and put a lot of faith in very little. Besides, who knows how far off it is? Covid-19 has made everyone wary of putting dates on anything, but this could be years from completion. Blockbuster videogames already take a long time to make, and more powerful hardware is unlikely to speed things up.
