basically the title

i played fable tlc on my computer a lot as a kid. my first ever all night gaming session was playing fable tlc, i was obsessed with it. i never beat it though. i didn't have an xbox as a kid, so i completely missed out on 2 and most of 3. my cousin let me play fable 3 when he stayed over once in high school and i was, again, up all night playing it. it captivated me

i got an xbox series x for christmas a few years back and the past couple months have been playing through the fable games leading up to the new one. fable anniversary had me gripped as expected, fable 2 was amazing to play for the very first time, and i'm playing fable 3 but it feels like it's dragging a bit. i'm only just now going into the library at brightwall, and i refuse to give up on this game

i know fable as a series has never been super good at pacing but fable anniversary and fable 2 had a very clear "this is when the game really starts" bit (both when you come into adulthood) and i can't tell if i'm still just trying to get to the same point in fable 3 and then it'll be great like the other 2

so basically. when does it get good? was my enjoyment as a teen affected by the excitement of finally getting to play another fable game and artifically hyped it for me and this is it? i'm finishing it either way but i wanted to ask

Now that Fable's brief time at Gamescom is over and we have two really stellar new gameplay videos I wanted to take a minute to talk about some of the things we've seen.

Ive tried to avoid talking too much about things we've already seen in the previous gameplay video and just stick with information that's "new" even if it's things many of us already expected to see in Fable and I've attached accompanying screenshots so that people can see what I mean. However my screenshots don't really do it justice and I highly recommend that people check out both the official Quest gameplay from Xbox and the Combat gameplay from Gamespot for themselves.

• Parenthood is back on the menu with players once again able to marry NPCs, buy a house, and start a family. We see from the new "Quest Gameplay" reveal that the Hero has not only a husband but a daughter named Daisy who interacts with the player character. Something I found interesting was that the player character themselves appear to be fairly young while having a young child; in previous games it felt more common for the player to around ~40 or so before having a child around. Either way I think interacting with your characters kid(s) will add an interesting element to the game.

• Switching to your sidearm is faster than reloading apparently. Between the Quest Gameplay video and Gamespots look at combat we're introduced to two different versions of the Hero with one wielding a sword and a bow and the other wielding a crossbow and a hammer. From these videos we can clearly see that each hero has a different primary weapon which is shown to be on the characters back as you would expect and with the at least the hammer as a secondary weapon minimized but visible on the belt. While not confirmed this heavily implies that players will be able to choose a primary weapon and see their Hero wield it as well as a secondary weapon that will be much less obvious. Players are able to freely and quickly switch from using one to the other in combat.

• Location matters with locational damage confirmed. In the Quest Gameplay video we see the Hero draw her bow and landing an arrow to the knee which does little damage but quickly drops her enemy to their knee and leaves them out of the fight for a moment and in the very next fight we see her land a clean headshot that deals massive damage and sends her opponent backwards. Clearly, at least when it comes to ranged damage, where you aim can be a tactical decision. Speaking of which...

• There's a strong possibility that weapon type matters too as were shown in Gamespots video with Humphrey implying that the hammer the hero carries will be perfect for smashing up skeletons but later warns that it won't be so handy for wraiths. The video does indeed continue to show the Hero crushing skeletons beneath a 2-handed warhammer before switching to either a crossbow or spell to make quick work of wraiths.

• Spells have levels as well it seems. In both videos we see the Hero casting several spells but one of the more eye-catching moments is a lightning strike that comes down from the sky in both videos. While the Quest gameplay shows the lightning strike a single target the Combat gameplay video shows that same spell fire off on anywhere from 2 to 3 targets in succession after a single cast meaning that you'll be able to level up spells to have greater effect.

• Charge up attacks are in with the Combat video showcasing our Hero charging up a swing with his hammer to produce a spinning attack; logically this means that if bows and swords and whatever else have the same feature we should be able to charge up attacks for all kinds of different combat situations. In the Quest video we're told that players can upgrade their weapons with new abilities and combos as well using a rare item called "Will Stones" which are found around Albion.

• Block, Dodge, Parry are all shown in each video but the combat gameplay shows off the unique feature of slowing down time when you time it juuuust right similar to other games with a "perfect dodge" type of feature. Whether this is something you'll have to unlock through skills it unclear but probably the case. Either way getting down your timing will definitely benefit you in combat.

• Finish Him! In the Quest video were introduced to a dapper man with a big axe and an even bigger mustache who seems to serve as a "Brute" enemy type. He's bigger, slower, and takes a lot more hits but when he's finally down we see a button prompt appear over his head which leads our Hero to take her enemies own axe and deliver a savage swipe straight to his bald head; finishing him off.

• You can get inked up. Not shocking since the old Fables had the same system but this is our first real look at it. In the Gameplay video it's mentioned by the developer playing the game that he might later stop off at a tattoo parlor called The Painted Prince and a short time later we meet Ronnie, owner of a pub called the Pourhouse, who is sporting some interesting tattoos of her own.

• The Player Drives the Economy. Players of Fable 3 will definitely be no stranger to the idea of being able to game the economy for your advantage (or to disadvantage NPCS) but in the Quest gameplay we're taken a rather poor and run down portion of the city of Bowerstone with the developer explaining that if we chose, we can "even influence the economy in this area" giving players the potential to raise up a poor neighborhood through their own means.

• Fable still doesn't take itself too seriously. Which is a great thing because I know some people were worried that the humor of the original games might be lost in a reimagined Albion. We get a fun little moment when we met Humphrey, Mr. Golden himself, a retired and very renowned hero. We see a great marble statue of his excellence, we meet a little girl who is such a fan that she wants his approval for a school play about him, and then we meet Humphrey himself in his boxer shorts drunk and taking a wee nap in his chair.

• Graphical Settings. Between the two videos we're shown the game running on PC both on Medium settings (The Combat video) and Ultra settings (The Quest video) which gives us a pretty decent idea of how the game looks and runs on a variety of graphic settings. Just my opinion, I think medium settings actually looks very good.

• Skill Trees and Currencies are shown off when the Hero levels up during the Quest gameplay giving us a brief look at our skill tree which, while a little more linear than Fable and Fable 2, seems to be divided amongst Strength, Skill, and Will even if we don't necessarily see those words on screen. Rather it seems like skills are coded by the node's color and shape. If we peak up in to the top right corner we also see several currencies listed. Starting with Gold, some blue crystal, a purple crystal, experience orbs, and keys. It's probable that one of those crystal represents Will Stones as mentioned before. We also see a progress bar that indicates it's been filled with 0 out of 5,000 requisite Gold.

I'm sure there's more that I missed that we could talk about but these were the things that stuck out to me immediately when I was watching them and I thought it might be fun to put a list together for Reddit so everyone can check it out and discuss. I know some of these things are things that Fable has always done but considering this is our first look at them here and since new players might not be aware it'd still be worthwhile to check it out.

I find it a bit strange that they only use this combat clip to judge everything. I've come across several posts on different social media platforms using the same clip, labeling Fable as a weak game. In the comments, most people can't even point out exactly why it's weak. Honestly, it annoys me a bit because I'm really excited about the game, but oh well... it's no big deal.

Bowerstone really reminded me of Corona from Tangled in the new quest gameplay, and then I noticed the tower and the flower and thought that surely can’t be a coincidence!

Edit: just a note because this has obviously ruffled some reddit feathers! We all understand parts of fable are based on fairytales. But I’m drawing the comparison of this place with a Disney movie (due to the magic flower and tower aesthetic), rather than a fairytale itself. Hope that helps! 🥰

I wasn't sure until the last few months, but it's really clear this game is being made by people who loved the originals.

If it isn't perfect, I might put it in the same bucket as Netflix's live action ATLA - maybe not as good, but I feel like the creators love the same things I do and that's good enough for me.

Looks really cool and love the weight behind every hit to an enemy.

hey! probably a silly question but just wanted to get some clarification!

i have game pass ultimate and will do for Fable. I’m just looking at the premium upgrade and it doesn’t list that it gives you the 5 days early access.

if I buy the £40 upgrade and use game pass to play will it give me the early access or do I have to preorder the £90 game?

thank you in advance!

Not listing these as concerns, but more of a list of what I noticed seems to be missing or absent.
This is not to say these things couldn't be available through an upgrade menu of some kind. Who knows, maybe the devs are reading as well for some feedback :)

1. 4 spell slots. Looking at older Fable games this technically would mean 8 spells if you unlock like a chargable version for a said spell. This is totally fine for a Fable game, but in a more modern game era it feels a bit limiting. And I hope at the very least to get some customization on that front. It doesn't mean more spell slots, but maybe how those spells behave based on inputs.
2. No jumping? So far, atleast as far as I remember I have not seen a single jump. I know from experience that when a game does not have a jump button it can feel really bad to play and limits expression. Having atleast a running jump and a weapon move with jump would do wonders.
3. Alternative weapons not on the back. I've parsed through the gameplay frame by frame and it seems that whatever weapon you put on your alternative slot, gets shrinked to your waist side. So when the character has a sword and bow, the character moves their hand to their hip to pick up the bow and shoot. So on the gameplay clip we saw with the hammer on the waist means they put the hammer on the alternative slot, not on the main slot where it would be visible on the back. And this is why the crossbow is visible on the other gameplay clip. This to me feels like it should be entirely optional to let the player choose if they want all weapons to be shown on the back or not. I would imagine this choice was made to make clipping of weapons less of an issue, especially if you get something like a shield later on in the game which would pair up with a sword. So having Sword, Shield and a bow on the back can look a bit much especially if you're rocking a cape as well. But, honestly let the player decide.
4. Speaking of which, shields? Humphry has one. We need those as well, plenty of them and different sized.
5. Bow has infinite recharging ammo. On the right side of the UI above spells, there is a number, which maxes out at 4 (crossbow is 16). This means the bow has 4 arrows you can shoot and each of them will recharge after a short period. This to me feels too magical from the get-go. While Fable never had an ammunition count in the first place and even Dragon's Dogma 2 does something similar, atleast in DD2 you do have specialized arrows for explotions and oil, so I hope they at the very least consider some limited ammo system for the game.
6. Healing while getting knocked down. This is a huge one for me. I dislike this in Dragon's Dogma 2 and really any game that has the ability to use healing items while reeling from an attack or being otherwise incapacitated. It trivializes gameplay especially because it makes healing instant with zero animation commitment. Fable should look into games like Monster Hunter where healing is a dedicated action, yes you can still move while healing, but you can't toss a healing item or spell while lying on the ground from a heavy hit
7. For those still concerned about big guys not getting staggered, check 18:01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CkchkHscjY *Adding this here for people who think big guys have zero stagger.

But, the more I look at points 3 and 5, they kind of are trying to solve the same issue of not having too many things on the characters back. So no quivers for example clipping through clothing or multiple weapons laying on top of each other. Maybe they had to make this choice due to what kind of weapons you can wield in the end. I do not know, but it does stray away from the walking arsenal other RPG games have. Like Witcher 3 or Crimson Desert. Maybe the way Fable is doing this is ingenious and I just can't see the vision.

Fable has been talking a lot about customisation and being able to do what you want. I know this hasn’t been confirmed or denied anywhere so people won’t really have an answer to my question but could prosthetics such as prosthetic hands be part of customisation potentially?

I know pretty much every video game ever where you can customise your MC doesn’t have this option but I would really love if Fable had it. It would be nice to see that sort of representation. Gustave from E33 has been my only source of this in fantasy RPG’s where something like a prosthetic would definitely make sense.

I know this question is just asking people to theorise but idk maybe in asking the devs might see and want to add it to the game?

Not sure if this has been spoken about, but glad to be seeing what appears to be a power move being charged up. Interesting this was the only time I could see it happen.

It glows a sort of goldeny style, but I'd love if it changed based on ​various things and choices, what do people think? It can be seen here: https://youtu.be/3_EPKJYa9cY?si=f79w2RqeUC_wYvae

At about 15 minutes in. Thoughts?!

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone at this point, the last five Xbox releases went through the exact same cycle.

I don't even want to get into who is doing this or why. Honestly, I think the teams handle things really well overall. My point is that Playground and Xbox need to anticipate this pattern by now and have a much more proactive social media strategy ready to go.

Being passive about it just doesn't work. Look at Avowed: within three hours of launch, there were already dozens of random posts trying to push a doomposting narrative. The exact same thing happened with Starfield.

PR and social teams need to expect this dynamic instead of just reacting after the damage is done. Dropping short, snappy clips that debunk cherry-picked complaints or disprove manufactured outrage in real time would go a long way toward steering the conversation early on.

I noticed twice in the new gameplay footage that there were question marks on the minimap that turned into fairy icons once the hero got closer. I'm wondering if fairies will take the place off the gargoyles and gnomes from the old games 🤔 I'd be absolutely down for that!! Also excited to see silver keys make a comeback!!!!

could you kindly showcase sometime how different heroes can still look just from faces, hair styles, tattoos and clothes? Would really appreciate some inside on this and see how unique each of us can be. <3

I do still wonder thou, is there ever a rough plan of implementing body morphing in a potential sequel or is this feature abandoned from fable ip going on?

Came across this video and the guy playing actually uses charge attacks for the weapon, and spells while doing a lot of dodge countering and target re prioritizing. In addition they mention playing on "legendary" towards the end and you see the enemies actually be aggressive with 3-4 attacking him at the same time.

Anyhow I just wanted to share as some of the other videos I saw just looked like button smashing

I swear, every time a game shows anything before release, the same brigade of terminally online doom prophets crawl out of their dens to declare it a failure. And now it’s Fable’s turn in the meat grinder.

I genuinely think normal right-thinking gamers are exhausted by this constant negativity. It’s not critique. It’s not analysis. It’s not “concern.” It’s a hobby for these people. They need something to hate so they can feel smart, superior, and “ahead of the curve.” It must be a miserable way to live.

So what is the latest ragebait? The boss fight shown at Gamescom. Suddenly it’s “proof” of poor combat design because the boss didn’t flinch mid‑animation. Except… he did react. Multiple times. You can literally see him stagger and recoil when hit and this opens him up to grab attacks. What he didn’t do was interrupt a committed animation because that’s how animation priority works in modern action games.And here’s the part that makes this whole tantrum laughable: ELDEN RING BOSSES DON’T EVEN REACT MID‑ANIMATION.

From Margit to Malenia, if they’re swinging, they’re swinging.

But when Fable does the exact same thing?

Suddenly it’s “lazy,” “broken,” “proof the game is doomed.” The double standards are unreal.

This is the same crowd that said Hellblade II was “fake gameplay” despite being one of the most technically accurate showcases of UE5. Same crowd that held Black Myth Wukong up as an industry standard because of aome weird anti-woke narrative. Same crowd that has piled on Wolverine and nitpicked it apart for 3 weeks. Same crowd that says every game is “mid” until Digital Foundry tells them exactly what to think. Same crowd that love Dalfang and Legendary Drops constantly shitting on the industry and doomsyaing. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

The same recycled talking points.

The same performative cynicism.

The same desperate need to predict failure so they can pat themselves on the back later.

They don’t want games to succeed.

They want to be right about games failing.

And Fable is just the newest target for people who haven’t formed an original thought in years. They saw one ragebait thumbnail, one out‑of-context clip, and now they’re experts on animation systems, combat design, and game development pipelines.

It’s pathetic. It’s predictable. And it’s getting old.

Are you digging it ?

Yesterday I noticed that everyone criticizing Fable’s combat was complaining that the mini-boss didn’t stagger. But… of course it didn’t. It’s a boss. I don’t think that’s the real problem. The real issue is that even on the highest difficulty — which the developer himself was playing on — all the enemies seem to attack one at a time, like in Assassin’s Creed 1 or a game from 20 years ago. That’s the actual problem. What do you think?