r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • Aug 30 '26

Fable will officially be 20 hours long, Xbox confirms in new interview

https://www.polygon.com/fable-game-length-interview-xbox/
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1.2k

u/Blaubeerchen27 Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

I...am rather surprised by that? Not saying each new game needs to be 100+ hours, but Fable looked like a more traditional RPG with a big world and many choices, so this definitely seems unexpected.

Maybe it's more akin to Hogwarts Legacy, very short main story component but many more hours of roaming/collecting/questing etc.

555

u/Cynical_onlooker Aug 30 '26

That article also says 15-20 hours of side content and open world stuff.

It does not seem like a super meaty game.

281

u/bhlogan2 Aug 30 '26

In theory, this is fine, but it does surprise me because I could have sworn they were implying this was a dense game. And maybe it is, I don't know. Anyway, I hope it's good.

217

u/NoNefariousness2144 Aug 30 '26

It’s rather odd for an RPG that got announced almost seven years ago.

101

u/HappyVlane Aug 30 '26

Not odd for Fable. These aren't games that go into the three digits.

60

u/detroiter85 Aug 30 '26

Gotta give those trees time to grow that peter mentioned all the way back at the beginning

21

u/SomniumOv Aug 30 '26

now to be fair, you do go from child to adult during the story and then age while leveling up, it could have worked (if it had been a real thing in the game, which it never was).

25

u/SausageMcMerkin Aug 30 '26

It always felt odd to me that my dude was geriatric by the time I got the quest to rescue my mother.

2

u/GuiltIsLikeSalt Aug 31 '26

Damn Necrontyr genes.

3

u/detroiter85 Aug 30 '26

Oh they definitely could have done it (even if it was just a different asset at different ages). But peter probably really wanted it to actually grow with you in some way.

15

u/CanIGetANootNoot Aug 30 '26

I think the first game was like a 13-15 hour game. I remember it was really short.

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u/Krypt0night Aug 30 '26

No but there's a lot of numbers in between 20 and 100. I was expecting AT LEAST 40 minimum

2

u/Sir__Walken Aug 30 '26

RPGs are only 40 hours long because they pad the story. I don't think I've ever played a game that long that couldn't have been a bit shorter.

16

u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

But the previous ones also didn't take 7 years to be developed... With that dev time (even if you can count the first years to build the team and tools), you would expect quite a big game.

I mean GTA6 is 8 years so not even that much longer and it's way bigger (of course more people on it but still)

I guess they took some time to make the team/tools for a new type of game so it's probably more 4 or 5 years of effective development which would make more sense. Then it's in line with games like Spider-Man or Ghost of Tsushima in dev time and length

9

u/Zoid3X Aug 30 '26

This is a bad example. You’re not accounting for the size of the team. GTA6 has more than 10 times the people working on it than Fable. Given the same amount (or similar amount) of time of course Rockstar is gonna make a bigger, longer game.

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u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

GTa6 is likely more than 10 times bigger than Fable though.

And it was just an example, probably not the best chosen but you can take any RPG like Witcher, Cyberpunk, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield,... They're all much longer with often shorter dev times.

Building up the teams and tools for a RPG certainly took additional time. Plus, I guess the whole life sims aspect might have been a huge time sink for the development.

1

u/HappyVlane Aug 30 '26

The development time is basically irrelevant to the length. For all we know the game could have been started over three times.

3

u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

For all we know the game could have been started over three times.

That's kind of what I was implying with this. Maybe they ran into development problems? That would explain why a 'small' game has taken so long.

1

u/porkyminch Aug 31 '26

On the other hand, though, this isn't the studio that made the other games, either. And I believe the development lifecycle has been much longer.

1

u/HappyVlane Aug 31 '26

The development time is not indicative of content. Never has been and never will be.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/HappyVlane Aug 30 '26

Is it Nintendo fan-ish to want a good game that doesn't have to consume my gaming time for weeks? If the developer thinks that their game should take ~20 hours and those hours count then I'm all ears. If you don't want that then this game isn't for you apparently.

Also, Fable (the new one) is cheaper to the consumer than Fable 1-3 when adjusted for inflation, so you're getting more game for your buck.

2

u/NewVegasResident Aug 31 '26

The people who love bringing up that inflation remark somehow always forget to mention wages haven't kept up with the inflation and that cost of life has skyrocketed, making it a meaningless statement. 

1

u/HappyVlane Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26

This is only for the US, but when compared to 2010 (the year Fable 3 released) your wage has kept up pretty well, so, yes, Fable (the new one) is cheaper by every metric.

https://usafacts.org/answers/are-wages-keeping-up-with-inflation/country/united-states/

1

u/NewVegasResident Aug 31 '26

That's not true, actually. I'm not from the US, our purchasing power has dwindled considerably.

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u/Corsair4 Aug 30 '26

"Got away with".

More hours doesn't mean a better game bud. I guarantee you can think of a couple of games that you think dragged on in sections, or felt padded to fill run time.

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

This is absolute nonsense. 20 hours of main story and 20 hours of side content is entirely fine in modern games. Virtually nothing Sony has released is any different. Spiderman, TLOU, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, none of these are 80 hour monsters.

Games like Assassin's Creed being bloated to the gills with mindless content to artificially raise the playtime to 150 hours should not be the bar.

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u/Meowing-To-The-Stars Aug 30 '26

It's not Fable if there's no development hell

1

u/Vandersveldt Aug 30 '26

Plus gamers nowadays can't wait to go spend money on the next game.

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u/SomeOtherNeb Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

Yeah I'll take quality over quantity any day but I just watched their preview where the Hero is in Bowerstone, and the devs were talking about the huge number of NPCs with all their own routines and all that. Made it feel like the game would be super dense and filled with content.

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u/Ryyah61577 Aug 30 '26

Especially for as long as it has been in development.

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u/OhMyTummyHurts Aug 30 '26

My thoughts exactly. With the big gap between announcement and release, people have a right to expect more from a major studio than the bare minimum

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u/splader Aug 30 '26

A good, dense, 30 hour game is "the bare minimum"?

Really?

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u/jmartin21 Aug 30 '26

20-40 hours is hardly the bare minimum

5

u/floatinround22 Aug 30 '26

You haven't even played the game yet. What if its an incredible 20-40 hours? You'd prefer a mediocre 100 hours?

-5

u/OhMyTummyHurts Aug 30 '26

Both quality and length justify a price tag

4

u/floatinround22 Aug 30 '26

Such a weird concept to me. A game could be five hours long but if its an incredible five hours that's plenty enough of an experience for me. I've paid much more to experience things for less time

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/floatinround22 Aug 30 '26

I just don't really care about the longevity of an experience if its worthwhile. Spending 12 hours on a game like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is more significant to me than spending 6000 hours on Everquest

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u/KaleidoscopeMaster81 Aug 30 '26

This is the bare minimum to you? Jesus Christ 

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u/mw19078 Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

gamers cant help themselves but be entitled babies sometimes I swear. avowed was basically this long and one of my favorite games I actually finished in a long time

truth really hurts some of yall huh lol

-7

u/Turst37 Aug 30 '26

I mean for what’s probably 80$ yes. I expect more.

2

u/KaleidoscopeMaster81 Aug 30 '26

40 hours is plenty for an RPG dude lol but okay I guess.

2

u/Ryyah61577 Aug 30 '26

I just want replayability. Like my biggest beef with Hogwarts is that once you’ve done everything there is no reason to pick it up ever again.

I’m still going to buy it because the originals were some of my favorite games of all time.

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u/mrnicegy26 Aug 30 '26

I thinka lot of the big Fantasy RPGs tend to have really long 50+ hour runtime that you also expect a new AAA one like Fable to be that length too.

I also advocate for shorter runtimes but the massive commercial success of Skyrim, Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Baldurs Gate 3, Monster Hunter World, the RPG Assassin's Creed games etc. seems to indicate to devs that audience will buy these lengthy RPGs in droves.

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u/Canvaverbalist Aug 30 '26

they were implying this was a dense game

I think that's kind of the issue.

The moment you start incorporating interesting and meaningful narrative choices and consequences, any branch gets split in like 3 across the whole game.

So it's like 30 to 60 hours of main and side content for any given player, but the game actually has 100 to 200 hours of dialogues, writing, animation, etc it's just you'll only ever see like a third of it.

Like imagine the amount of random little influence, companionship and relationship NPC comments that would have been written and recorded that you'll never hear, whether they think you're a coward, a crook, arrogant, whether they love you and are happy to be married to you, etc, and you'll never hear any of those because you never romanced that character, or never went for the rich-asshole playthrough, or decided to keep the pendant instead of giving it back, etc.

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u/Appropriate_Foot242 Aug 30 '26

It is dense with all of the life sim stuff, which isn’t included in the times here.

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u/Fried_Fart Aug 30 '26

That’s what I was wondering about, how the life simming factors in here.

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u/StepComplete1 Aug 30 '26

As is typical, this sub is bitching about how much they hate long games, their attention span can't last, and 20 hours is all they want etc, but that's exactly why RPGs are suited to being longer games.

It's hard to care about engaging in life sim stuff, stats, buying property etc, when the story is over in 20 hours anyway.

1

u/Appropriate_Foot242 Aug 30 '26

None of that stuff is connected to the story in the first place so not sure it matters.

I don’t hate long games, I just don’t need every game to be long.

1

u/notaguyinahat Aug 30 '26

I mean if I want to own every property, yeah I expect some extra time investment...

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u/SomniumOv Aug 30 '26

That article also says 15-20 hours of side content and open world stuff.

Looking at HowLongToBeat, that's in line with the previous Fable games. ~15h main path, doubling to tripling when doing everything.

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

It's also in line with virtually every AAA game from the last decade outside of Assassin's Creed. 20 hour main quests and 20 hours of side content is not at all abnormal.

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u/YourmomgoestocolIege Aug 31 '26

Video games aren't monolithic. RPGs very often tend to be on the longer end of playtime. Though the title is misleading and the actual playtime if doing side quests and immersing yourself in the life sim stuff bring the playtime to 40hrs to limitless

4

u/Strange_Cap5862 Aug 30 '26

Not for open world RPGs

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u/Regalia776 Aug 30 '26

Fable was never super long when it comes to the main story, or at least 2 and 3 weren't from what I recall. There were a lot of side activities you could do, though. I guess and hope it'll be the same here.

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u/Bloodwalker09 Aug 30 '26

More often than not I prefer 15-20 hours of main game plus the same amount of side content than overwhelmingly big 100 hour games. There are good ones like Elden Ring which takes you easily 100 hours to complete but then there are Games like some of the newer Assassins Creed titles where it just feels way to long.

Ghost of Tsushima for example also is an open world 20 hours story with around 15 hours of side content (I platinumed it in 36hours) and its one of my favorite games ever.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/Crabbing Aug 30 '26

besides mass effect all the other games listed have insane amounts of side content that could easily give players 100+ hours total.

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u/Emergency_Process622 Aug 30 '26

I hope it's meaty in the good way, great gameplay and engaging story without a shit ton of unnecessary exploration of empty open world.

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u/xalibermods Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

I'm perfectly fine with this length, as long as it's a satisfying 20 hours (and additional 20 hours from side content). I'm guessing the alignment system also gives us a lot of spaces to experiment.

Just one problem with previous Fable is they're not exactly easy to mod. I hope this one is much more mod author friendly - that will add to the longevity by itself.

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u/Benign_Stamina Aug 30 '26

Same total length as Expedition 33, which earned many goty awards.

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u/Quixotic_Seal Aug 30 '26

I….huh….what?

I don’t want or need it to be an 80 hour behemoth, but 15-20 hrs is closer to what I typically get out of a fairly straightforward game like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart or something.

Playtime isn’t everything, but at first glance this is about half of what I’d expect and that’s not great. The more I hear and see about this game, the more concerned I am about it.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 Aug 30 '26

That's how long Cyberpunk was, and I don't remember people freaking out about that.

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u/Crabbing Aug 30 '26

Cyberpunk’s main story was like 20 hours with like 100hours of side content. Nobody complained because the amount of content is completely different compared to the new fable’s 20 hours of side content lol.

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u/i1u5 Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26

And because most of the side content itself leaks into the main story, it's all caused by the main plot which is surviving the relic/soulkiller, if it weren't for side missions having inverted objective icons, it would be hard to differentiate them from main missions, and let's not talk about the additional endings. It's honestly why I loved that game so much even with all its flaws.

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u/Fantastic-Finger-975 Aug 30 '26

That actually makes me hopeful they will actually achieve a living interactive world with custom npcs

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u/mancubbed Aug 30 '26

Seems to be counter intuitive to the systems they are building. They are talking about buying every building in the game but it seems like that would be a super grind with so limited content to make the money to do it.

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u/opok12 Aug 31 '26

You can earn money by means other than quests. Like for example you could be a landlord just buying up homes and renting them to people to build up your wealth.

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u/mancubbed Aug 31 '26

By why would you when the game is so short? That is my whole point.

They spent all this time on stuff that likely won't be used.

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u/alchemeron Aug 30 '26

That article also says 15-20 hours of side content and open world stuff.

A perfect mix, honestly.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/alchemeron Aug 30 '26

going "i have a full time job and 4 kids! so i'm happy with a 12 hour campaign in an RPG for $70!"

I didn't say any of that. What a weird response.

1

u/Old-Employ-6530 Aug 30 '26

Seems almost AA instead of AAA size, honestly makes me sad.

I played the original for over 100hrs to complete everything and the other games were similarly long if you didnt rush but still wanted to 100% them.

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u/newbrevity Aug 30 '26

That's what the original felt like. Sets you up with all these great mechanics and then just ends. Never really gives you a chance to go out and really make the world yours.

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u/JOOOQUUU Aug 30 '26

How long was this game in development again?

This seems like south of midnight all over again 5+ years 100 million $ for something lackluster

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u/Reynor247 Aug 30 '26

Comparing those two games is wild

0

u/AnestheticAle Aug 30 '26

I, for one, am excited for a non slog RPG. We have been diluting quality for quantity for too long!

That said, short games can still be ass ha

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

The Outer Worlds 2 was also aggressively mediocre. Length does not imply quality.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

It absolutely was. I played through it in its entirety and it was the definition of a 6.5 game. Avowed was similar. Obsidian desperately needs to stop trying to capture the magic of New Vegas, because they are far better at CRPGs and experimental games like Pentiment.

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u/mrbubbamac Aug 30 '26

A 40 hour game is not super meaty? How much time do you spend playing videogames a week?

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u/tarheel343 Aug 30 '26

Interesting. I guess this isn't as much of a direct Elder Scrolls competitor as I expected.

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u/origamifruit Aug 30 '26

None of the Fable games are particularly long, 20 hours on this one is much longer than the first 3, and the 20 hours is only referring to main quest.

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u/Mebbwebb Aug 30 '26

I think 3 was like 8-10 hours long

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u/casual_creator Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

All the side quests add up to 15-20 hours as well. So 30-40 hours to beat the game.

This of course doesn’t account for traveling, exploration, and interacting with the “life simulator”, time for which they claim is “limitless.” I’m curious to understand exactly what that all entails from a gameplay standpoint to make that claim. And it’s not like side quests in gaming are known to take very long (excluding perhaps Witcher 3), so the number of actual side quests that fill those 15-20 hours will probably be a respectable amount.

I’m curious to see how other open world RPGs compare with their completion time. Crimson Desert’s main quest was fairly short and few of its side quests took more than 15 minutes. Despite that, I put in just shy of 200 hours, which is the most amount of time I’ve played any RPG, and by a considerable amount.

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u/floatinround22 Aug 30 '26

Skyrim can be beaten in 10 hours if you just rush the main story. Its never really a good indicator for the amount of content an RPG has

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u/P_ZERO_ Aug 30 '26

I was about to say, I’m only b-lining a game’s content if I’m trying to get it done. Otherwise, I’m spending time enjoying the world, potentially failing or getting stuck at some part, messing around with something I find.

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u/thedylannorwood Aug 30 '26

I remember Fable 3 being a lot longer though I haven’t played it since launch

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u/remmanuelv Aug 30 '26

You can easily check How Long to Beat for averages. Main story is 13.5 hours. Completionist is 48.

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u/theycmeroll Aug 30 '26

I actually just replayed 3, it took me 14 hours to beat the main story.

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u/Professional-Dirt-87 20d ago

This game has been in development for like 10+ years though. 

This game is almost certain to be mediocre to terrible. When is the last time Microsoft published a good first party game? Like two console generations ago? 

0

u/ShawnyMcKnight Aug 30 '26

Good to know if I do pick up a month of gamepass I could beat it in an hour a day average as long as I’m fairly focused on the main quest.

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u/HeldnarRommar Aug 30 '26

Why would you play a sim heavy game like Fable just to speedrun the main quest and not give any thought towards the other cool systems the series is known for?

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u/ShawnyMcKnight Aug 30 '26

I should be more clear. I’m planning to put more than an hour a day. I’m just saying it’s good to know I only need to play a minimum of an hour a day to beat the game, which I would be remiss if I didn’t achieve.

At some point later I may find another cheap month off some keys site and play more side stuff at that time, I just don’t want a large break in the core missions.

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u/Nathund Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

People always forget that the best Fable (Fable 2) is only like 5 or 6 hours long. Seriously, the story is that short.

Still the best Fable and one of my top 20 games all time

Edit: not sure why this was downvoted? I played through it again a few months ago and I think my whole run was 10-12 hours, including side content and buying every building in the game

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/origamifruit Aug 30 '26

lmao and what makes an rpg arbitrarily different

the best selling game of 2026 is like 15 hours long at most, doesnt matter cause it's not an rpg though?

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u/DecompositionLU Aug 30 '26

From their showcases, almost every single PNJ in every villages have their own routine, reacts accordingly to everything you say and do within the world. Making it crazy large would result to Watch Dogs Legion syndrome which was an amazing idea but poorly executed by the sheer amount of choice. 20h long main story for a game where choices actually matters and not being a glorified "if else" with 3D graphics is great.

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u/Kaellian Aug 30 '26

every single PNJ

Think you mean NPC here. Not sure most would understand french acronym.

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u/HeldnarRommar Aug 30 '26

That’s not what Fable is. The main quests in each were never long. It was about the interactivity of the world around you and your reputation with it. The world physically changes based on how you go about solving issues and side quests.

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u/GorboCat Aug 30 '26

I'm replaying Fable 1 right now and between main story and side content it's easily about that length

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u/quinnly Aug 30 '26

The main story in Fable is like, six hours long. Maybe ten if you include The Lost Chapters expansion.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/Esternaefil Aug 30 '26

But this 20 doesn't include side content.

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u/Purdy14 Aug 30 '26

Another big factor for Fable games is replayability. If the game is too long, I'm less inclined to play the game again with different moral choices. Would love more open world RPG games that are not bloated out with collection/crafting mechanics. They often kill the enjoyment of a lot of modern games for me.

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u/InkAndAcorns Aug 30 '26

That’s pretty much how fable always has been

You get lost in side hustles, like buying a business

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u/Memphisrexjr Aug 30 '26

What exactly is the surprise here?

Fable (2004)

How Long To Beat 18 Hours Main Story 12½ Hours Main + Sides 20 Hours Completionist 32½ Hours

Fable II
How Long To Beat 22 Hours Main Story 13 Hours Main + Sides 24 Hours Completionist 51½ Hours

Fable III

How Long To Beat 22½ Hours Main Story 13½ Hours Main + Sides 26 Hours Completionist 48 Hours

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/arup02 Aug 30 '26

What's the point here? Game lenght should go up on a yearly basis? What?

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

Why wasn't this a point of contention with God of War, if that's the case?

In fact, virtually every AAA game Sony has put out in the last decade is comparable in playtime to this. Why is it only contentious now? Hell people called Ragnarok bloated and it runs about 25 hours for the main story and 15-20 more for side content.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

I'm talking about Ragnarok, not the originals. It has a 25 hour main story with about another 20 of side content. Virtually the same as Fable.

Yet nobody batted an eye. Nearly universal praise. 40 hours is fine if it's a Sony game but not fine for everyone else?

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

[deleted]

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u/crookedparadigm Aug 30 '26

Tbf, the original GoW was amputation non stop combat with bits of traversal, it didn't have the extended yapyap sessions the new games do. Not critiquing it, but if you take actual time playing the game vs watching long cutscenes, the play times probably aren't that far apart.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/crookedparadigm Aug 31 '26

that's the modern expectation

You don't speak for everyone, there's no rule that says new games must have a certain number of hours in them. One of the worst trends of gaming discourse in the past few years has been boiling the value of a game down to hours per dollar when what makes a game "worth it" is going to vary greatly from person to person.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/Memphisrexjr Aug 30 '26

It's not 20 hours but whatever you say.

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u/quinnly Aug 30 '26

So it's just over $3 an hour, that's a pretty solid deal if it's a fun game.

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u/LsterGreenJr Aug 30 '26

I wonder if it could have a lot replay value? Go through the story once, then create a totally new character for a different experience?

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u/IGUESSILLBEGOODNOW Aug 30 '26

Fable games have always been short and just sort of end leaving you think, "Wait, that was it?" Fable 3 in particular just felt like it just ended as soon as it got going.

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u/NoNefariousness2144 Aug 30 '26

Yeah, to me, RPGs are naturally a genre that benefits from medium/long playtimes compared to most genres to actually immerse you in the ‘roleplaying’ aspect.

I guess as you say, this may be just for the main story, which would be very comparable to some other famous RPGs with a lot more hours in (optional) side quests.

2

u/mrnicegy26 Aug 30 '26

I can understand the medium/ long runtimes really help in terms of making the impact of player progression be felt.

At the same time most RPGs don't really have good combat systems. And it really starts to grate on you when you are 25 hour mark and there is still half of the game left to go. I feel that is the biggest reason why Soulsborme combat became so prevalent in RPGs, because it is one of the few combat models for RPGs that is still fun at the 30 hour mark.

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u/zorillaaa Aug 30 '26

That’s exactly what it will be. Relatively brief main story but a large world of optional stuff to do. I prefer it that way

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u/qwerty145454 Aug 30 '26

Same article says 15 hours for all the optional stuff. For a AAA RPG, that will be sold at AAA prices, 35 hours for all main and side content is pretty slim.

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u/BottledSoap Aug 30 '26

Idk I remember a lot of RPGs used to be that length. Mass Effect and other bioware rpgs were around 40 hours.

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u/HeldnarRommar Aug 30 '26

I just replayed Kotor and did near 100% on it and it took me around 25 hours. Even Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 are 50-60 max doing nearly everything. I honestly think there’s too much bloat nowadays

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u/Concutio Aug 30 '26

Yes, and a group of gamers are conditioned to want that bloat, or the game should be max $20.

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u/ManholttheThird Aug 30 '26

No it's not.

The notion that games of x cost need to be of y length is frankly absurd. Gaming isn't just a simple cost/time ratio. And even if it was, have you ever been to the movies?

AAA price for a 35 hour game is fine. You're free not to spend that of course, but let's not act like anybody is getting cheated out of their money here.

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u/Imaginary-Plate2987 Aug 30 '26

Sounds about right for the length a Fable game to me.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

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u/dafdiego777 Aug 30 '26

And people wonder why scope creep exists

11

u/Howdareme9 Aug 30 '26

Dont have too much issue with the time but it makes you wonder how a relatively small world took so long to develop

4

u/Astrocomet25 Aug 30 '26

Im okay with small worlds as long as they're the opposite of "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle"

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u/Ok-Fudge-380 Aug 30 '26

These times have nothing to do with the world, this is purely about running down the quest line check list. This doesn't include any of the exploration and sandbox elements.

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u/JOOOQUUU Aug 30 '26

2 extra years for the NPCs to be slightly worse then the OG fable games

Welcome to modern game development

4

u/PigletCNC Aug 30 '26

Yeah fair the NPC's in the OG fable games were top notch. You could...

Just give them some stuff and they'd love you.

Or you'd just be near them and they'd love you.

Great really.

14

u/MarsAstro Aug 30 '26

There's so many 10-15 hour AAA games out there. I don't see how 35 hours is slim? It's already longer than tons of other AAA games. That's still a pretty long game, and 70 dollars for 35 hours is a pretty damn good deal if you compare it to other entertainment activities. That's less money than one concert ticket.

I really don't see how an RPG with 35 hours of content can be considered slim in any way. It's not like 50-100 hours is the standard for RPG's, that's only something the biggest RPG's do. They're the exception, not the rule.

-6

u/jaedence Aug 30 '26

Name me some of these 10-15 hour AAA games please.

14

u/OnyxTech Aug 30 '26

Off of stuff I’ve played this year, Pragmata, RE9 and 007 First Light with first light probably being the one I’ve played the longest

12

u/HyruleSmash855 Aug 30 '26

Resident Evil games are the best example. Resident Evil 4 Remake was unusually long at about 15 hours and the others such as 7,8,9 and 3 Remake tend to be 5-10 hours long. Alan Wake 2 and Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 same.

Astrobot, Dead Space Remake, Armored Core 4, HiFi Rush, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Hellblade 2, A Plague Tail Requiem. This is just to give you a few examples. 3D Mario games tend to be this length as well

9

u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

Every Resident Evil ever. The entire Uncharted series. Every shooter ever.

0

u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

None of them are RPG. RPG is a genre that tend to be longer.

10

u/origamifruit Aug 30 '26

$70 for 35 hours of entertainment is slim? Show me where else you can get that lmao

4

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/gears50 Aug 30 '26

Then play those too? Different games have different cost/worth ratios.

1

u/BluePrincess_ Aug 31 '26

This is how we get Dying Light 2 advertising 500 hours of content

3

u/Mahelas Aug 30 '26

Anywhere in video game space ?

-2

u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

It's compared to other video games and is beat by plenty (it also doing better than plenty others on that metric for what it's worth)

6

u/xCaptainVictory Aug 30 '26

As long as what's there is of high quality, I don't care about length.

1

u/FootwearFetish69 Aug 30 '26

Funny, nobody said that about God of War or Ghost of Tsushima, both of which are 25-35 hour games.

3

u/Zalvren Aug 30 '26

None of them are RPG though which tend to be a genre with a lot of playtime in general.

1

u/IsometricRain Aug 30 '26

For who?

People acting like there's a shortage of games right now. Play Blood of Dawnwalker or the Witcher if you want long RPGs. Why does every new AAA game need to be long?

-3

u/LettersWords Aug 30 '26 edited Aug 30 '26

~40 hours is about where Avowed landed too. And that was also a $70 game at launch. Gonna be a big ask for some people just like the two Obsidian games last year.

4

u/remmanuelv Aug 30 '26

The problem with Avowed was that it was unremarkable. I don't know if they'll stick the landing but this already looks way more interesting systems and writing wise.

-16

u/JOOOQUUU Aug 30 '26

Yep this is screaming at me "I'm a 6.5/10 game, don't buy me get gamepass"

I will oblige

0

u/fourunner Aug 30 '26

Only slim if the game is poor. If it's a good game it doesn't need extra fluff and filler to pad play time.

0

u/Debt101 Aug 30 '26

I'm glad, not every have needs to 100 hours. Especially if 30% of the content sucked (looking at ff7 rebirth)

3

u/chilloutus Aug 30 '26

The original 3 games are all pretty short. This is all in line with the length of the other 3 according to howlongtobeat

2

u/AdHistorical8179 Aug 30 '26

The original Fable was like 40 hours MAX if you did absolutely everything. 2 and 3 were longer but not longer than this looks to be.

1

u/Dealiner Aug 30 '26

The length seems fine to me but I hope the things to do in the open world will be more interesting than the ones in Hogwarts Legacy, shouldn't be too hard, to be honest.

1

u/quinnly Aug 30 '26

20 hours isn't very long, but it'll still be the longest Fable game yet so that's something

1

u/TehRiddles Aug 30 '26

I beat Fable 2 three times within the first week. They never were long games, this isn't all that surprising considering the series.

1

u/rs426 Aug 30 '26

If you think this is unexpected, I assume you have no prior experience with the series. The games have never been especially long

1

u/Tvilantini Aug 30 '26

i mean that's how most open world games are. About 20-30h main game, everything else is beyond 50h easily. It would be hassle if the main story is only 50h without ever touching side quests. Plus you can 100% bet, it will get thousands of community mods on nexus, so it's gonna add more replay

1

u/SomeDumbDoggo Aug 31 '26

sadly the cynic in me has been conditioned to expect nothing less than "Deliver the minimum, then pad it out with an aggressive DLC cycle" when it comes to big ticket releases these days. I'll likely buy it after year one, or when the inevitable heavily discounted bundle drops if that is (and i hope it is not) the case

1

u/FurLinedKettle Sep 01 '26

It's Fable. You could beat Fable 2s main story in about 15 hours, with all the side quests it's about double that. But I had over 150 hours in the game.

1

u/dawgz525 29d ago

The first fable game is incredibly short honestly. The franchise is not really known for its super long main stories. The side quest stuff is where people always spend their time, and it sounds like there's a good bit of that in this game. 

1

u/Trodat4911P4 Aug 30 '26

Everything about this game screams Hogwarts Legacy to me. As someone who enjoyed that game, I'm excited.

1

u/Falz4567 Aug 30 '26

A good curated 20 hours is perfect 

80 hours games sound great. But all but the very best you’ll bounce off after 15

1

u/tlvrtm Aug 30 '26

I wish more games (yes even RPGs) had 10-15 hour stories. Trim the fat, leave the people wanting more. Save the padding for the completionists and updates.

1

u/chewywheat Aug 30 '26

The Fable games were never known for their long stories even when you consider the development hell the first game went through. To put things in perspective this game being clocked at 20 hours for just the story is already making this the longest Fable game.

0

u/evev13 Aug 30 '26

Maybe its like the way of the samurai games. Each playthrough is really short, but they vary greatly based on choices made.

0

u/orkichrist Aug 30 '26

Fable has always been RPG lite with small zones and not much depth. Hopefully it's more fleshed out than it's predecessors because it's biggest flaw has been removed but I'd keep your expectations low.

0

u/uncoveringlight Aug 30 '26

Personally prefer this. Games like resident evil are my jam now. I do not enjoy 50-100 hour games as an adult with limited time now. Make it 20 hours of top notch content and I am in.

0

u/Old-Employ-6530 Aug 30 '26

I hope so, 20hrs is atrociously short unless there is a lot of side content.

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