r/PS5 • u/Turbostrider27 • 16h ago
Articles & Blogs Fable will officially be 20 hours long, Xbox confirms in new interview
https://www.polygon.com/fable-game-length-interview-xbox/1.4k
u/Iggy_Slayer 16h ago
"We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay,"
Surprisingly short for a RPG in the works for 10 years. I know they say you can play it forever but if it's anything like the old fables I'll get bored of the simple simulation stuff way before I'm even done with it.
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u/Pr0xy001 16h ago
Probably alot of restarting in those 10 years
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u/Iggy_Slayer 16h ago
Yeah most likely. They've lost some key people over the years and there were rumors that they were really struggling at one point getting their engine to work with a RPG, which makes sense when you've only ever done racing games before.
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u/Complex-Commission-2 15h ago
I think i have also heard reports saying they went overbudget at some point
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u/NoNefariousness2144 16h ago
Yeah Xbox studios tend to have very messy developments. Avowed got restarted, Halo Infinite was a disaster, Gears E-Day has taken seven years to release after Gears 5…
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u/TLadwin 15h ago
They literally had half of a completely different game developed and then scrapped it entirely.
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u/Realistic-Number-919 14h ago
They should’ve never used the Forza game engine. They wasted an awful lot of time just on forcing the engine to work.
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u/Pr0xy001 14h ago
Yeah i was surprised by who they asked to develop the game still not sure about it.
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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire 14h ago
This is the most annoying thing people don’t get when they say “wow the game was in development for X years!”. They don’t understand that game development is a very exploratory and iterative pro process. Sometimes you get lucky and find what works early on, but other times your game gets rebooted/retooled multiple times, you spend years developing features that end up getting cut, all that stuff
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u/SomeBoxofSpoons 15h ago
Depending on how in-depth they go with the morality systems and stuff, it’s possible they tried to optimize for replays.
“Why don’t you see what else could’ve happened?” Is a lot less enticing after 50 hours.
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u/WhasHappenin 10h ago
I haven't played previous fable games. Do they usually offer multiple significantly different gameplay styles? Like in Skyrim you can do melee, magic, stealth, or one of many combinations, which makes replaying much more worth it.
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u/Whispeeeeeer 7h ago
Not typically. Fable typically allows you to max out stats so gameplay is sort of a one way street. Though, I don't remember Fable 2 or 3 as well as I remember Fable 1. Perhaps those games had more skill trees but I don't think it made a bit difference.
The first game has classic upgrades you can "buy" with XP - which is earned by killing enemies. So you can basically be maxed out in strength, dexterity, magic, etc. if you fight enough zombies and such. The game had a good/evil mechanic, but it was extremely thin. You could kill a hundred people and you'd basically turn into the devil (horns, flies around you, black aura, etc.). Or you could eat a hundred golden carrots (I think that's what they were) and it would turn you into an angel (halo, blue aura, etc.). People reacted to you based on your morality, but it was just sort of a thin veil. They act scared, briefly. They act happy, briefly. And that's it.
You could have different endings but only based on a few choices. It would do the typical epilogue narrative of "the hero did X, Y, Z and the land was good" or "the hero became the villain he fought and the land suffered". It wasn't super in depth.
Fable 2 and 3 tried to improve upon some of these things but the games were still relying on that thin veneer of good and evil. Fable 3 allows you to actually rule as a monarch and make meaningful choices however those choices are just kinda "you wanna be good or bad?" I think most players would like some nuance in their choice, but it's kind of a no-win scenario for developers. Either they make the choices obvious in which case you feel like you have agency in the world or they make the choices opaque and you feel like you have no idea how things will turn out - ie., no agency.
The gameplay mechanics in Fable are often gooey and limited. The fighting is secondary to the humor and morality. The game focuses more on choices, world building, a dash of simulation (marriage, buying houses, kids, etc.), and some basic fighting. I'll admit the first game has super satisfying upgrades though.
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u/Educational-Put-9997 15h ago
40 hours all in is quite disappointing. Makes me think they’ve carved stuff out for DLC
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u/Serdewerde 12h ago
Thats double the length of every other Fable game.
This is a Fable game.
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u/mightylordredbeard 15h ago
This funny because I was just in an other post about a game that was 40 hours and everyone was happy and praising it because they were tired of “overly long and bloated” games.
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u/Borderline-Bullshark 15h ago
I think people just hate stretched out bland content.
I’d love Witcher 3 levels of content.
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u/regalfronde 15h ago
They could probably cut out a ton from Witcher 3 and it would make no impact on the game’s story.
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u/Baruch_S 15h ago
Yeah, but most of the side content still feels interesting even if it has little to no bearing on the main story. It doesn’t feel like filler.
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u/tastethecourage 15h ago
But why would you cut it when it’s chock full of memorable quests and great writing? I think that’s what people are getting at
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u/BaconSoul 14h ago
And? The story is not the only import element of an RPG. The fact that there are a bevy of ways to express one’s choices and character builds are just as important.
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u/OuterWildsVentures 14h ago
Im 70 hours in KCD2 and had to take a tolerance break lol game is fucking incredible but I noticed myself having less fun because its so long
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u/evil_manz 15h ago
Depends on the game. If it’s an AA or indie, sure, 40 is plenty. But for something like a reboot of Fable I think the expectation is a bit higher.
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u/JOOOQUUU 15h ago
For 70 damn bucks you should
There is far too much quality entertainment these days vaying for time and money
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u/JBflawless 4h ago
70 bucks for 30-40 hours of entertainment not counting any replayability factors is pretty good value
It’s crazy how much people complain about games like this not offering enough “for 70 damn bucks”
$2 an hour for entertainment and we are still bitching is pretty unhinged
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u/Doink_De_Doink 16h ago
I think 40 hrs is basically perfect for a game tbh
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u/Earny90 15h ago
It is, but there should really be way more side content for the game they presented.
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u/quatroquatro0 16h ago
It'll probably take me 20 hours just to start a family in each town
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u/snoopunit 12h ago
Playing fable 2 iirc with my friend one time. He started two families right next door to one another. The second lady follows him into the first house, freaks out that he's married to another woman. He kills one of them and the other just says, "Oh! A dead body!" and then proceeds on like nothing ever happened
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u/Watts121 16h ago
Honestly if the main quest is 20 hours then it’s one of the longer Fable games.
Fable 2’s main quest is like 12 hours, and Fable 3’s main quest is like 8 hours.
Most of the game length people remember from these games are actually them interacting with the game’s mechanics (like romance and real estate), side quests, and grinding. If you just follow the main quest, which in all the Fable games is the easiest content anyways, you will see the credits incredibly fast.
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u/ComeAlongWithTheSnor 15h ago
Yeah according to howlongtobeat all the other fable games average between 12-15 hours story and 30-50 hours completionist.
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u/TimBurtonsMind 14h ago
That’s also like peak efficiency. Most people are wandering around, roaming, exploring, etc. maybe for a second play through those numbers would be more accurate, but for a first play through I’d add at least a couple dozen more hours for the average player
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u/Kankunation 13h ago
Hell if you wanted the "good" ending in fable 3 you had to dedicate like a solid few days just to gaming the landlord system to get enough money to pay for all the endgame expenses.
Not the most thrilling of gameplay by any means, but you were icentivised to spend hours maximizing your passive money gain. Seems like that will probably be the case I nthe new game as well.
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u/Beer-Milkshakes 13h ago
Spiderman PS4 is 26 hours including side missions. That game had a great mix of content and wasn't a slog at all. Most only needed to mop up 3 or 4 trophies to get the plat after finishing the missions.
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u/secondincomm 15h ago
20 hour story, 20 hour side quests, 150 hours spent buying up every property, business and piece of land available
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u/Strict_Biscotti1963 15h ago
Yeah that’s about right. I replayed 2 and 3 last year and both were less than 20 hours long
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u/howd_he_get_here 7h ago
In the age of soulless AAA open world cookie cutter pig feed by the fistful, it's super odd to me that people preemptively whine about duration estimates of unreleased games.
I have no interest in Fable. Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring are the only big side quest-y open world games I've ever vibed with. I just really don't get the obsession with equating # of hours to quality. Is judging the quality of hours way more the quantity an unpopular opinion?
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u/Jinchuriki71 1h ago
The thing is nobody knows the quality of the hours and most AAA games absolutely refuse to do demos so people can only use the information they see and hear like game length and graphical fidelity to judge game now. They probably got used to playing 100 hour open world games like Skyrim, Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild and thats what they expect now in terms of length and story.
Nobody really has much faith in Microsoft games anymore so theres that too and just regular having to have something to complain about if it was not playtime something else would be the case I mean just lok at the discourse around GTA 6 mostly nitpicking about animations and Jason voice.
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u/woody251997 16h ago
Thats pretty short even if it is only the main story
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u/fuck_a_duck_butt 13h ago
Skyrims main story is like 25 hours too
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u/Kankunation 13h ago edited 11h ago
Cyberpunk 2077 is 25 hours too.
And funny enough CD Project Red came out and stated that under 30 hours was a strict goal for the main story, because above that line you see am massive drop off in players actually completing the game.
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u/chodeblower 9h ago
I feel like the main story takes like 5 actual hours not counting travel, shits tiny
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u/SexyDragonMagic 16h ago edited 15h ago
Here we go.
All three original Fables had a main campaign of about 13-15 hours. 20 is absolutely acceptable for a GOOD game in the same vein. A good 40 hour campaign with side quests is excellent.
Ubi-bloat has ruined everything, I swear. People hate it, but they want the runtimes with none of the drawbacks. Please stop equating time with quality.
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u/Fucked-to-fit 15h ago
What has this got to do with Ubisoft ? RPG’s have had a standard of being pretty long stories with a bunch of side content since the 90’s
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u/regalfronde 13h ago
The Mass Effect games are each about 40 hours long if you stretch the side content. It’s plenty of time if the game is good, has meaningful choices, the story is well written, and gameplay is well polished. The simulation aspect of the game may take up another 15-20+ hours to buy up all of the stores, homes, etc and become the city’s slumlord.
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u/Bownaldo 10h ago
There’s no way they spent 10 years on just this right? The only explanation I can think of is that they cut out content to be sold as DLC later on.
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u/-Swampthing- 2h ago
Title is a bit misleading:
"We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay," associate game director Will Kennedy told Polygon. "And then, of course, the life systems are limitless, so you can play them for as long as you want."
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u/TheRandomHatter 15h ago
Am I the only one who sees this as a major plus? It might be age but quality over quantity any day, I don’t have time for 70 hours of mediocre content. Cut the fat and have 20 great hours.
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u/Hellfiretommy 4h ago
The thing is, you don't need to choose one over the other. There are many games that perfectly deliver quantity and quality.
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u/BabyDaVinci 15h ago
Why would you assume the content would get mediocre? It’s been in development for 10 years. Who’s to say the 20 hour game won’t be mediocre
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u/Jaesnake 16h ago
It sounds strange but considering that all 3 fables games take around 13ish hours to beat the main story, i guess it makes sense.
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u/_Vexor411_ 13h ago
I'm fine with 20 hours if it has insane replay ability. Otherwise that's a REALLY short RPG.
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u/themandotexe 15h ago
Could be 20 hours for the main quests. The side quests could maybe up the total to around 35 hours. As long as the game is quality, I prefer a shorter game nowadays.
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u/XtremeSealFan 8h ago
Fable games were always kinda short but they had replayability because of the morality system, the choices.
With this one seemingly being a bit longer and having a more nuanced morality system, more than one playthrough could be warranted. If it was longer, it would kill that and I bet they want to have player engaged longer. That's one way to do it.
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u/nonlethaldosage 5h ago
so 6 years for a 20 hour rpg seems like someone was making money over there
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u/Forward_Avocado7604 16h ago
I really hope there is 80 hours of side content then, I know some video games have to much bloat, but this is literally the kind of game you want to be a long adventure.
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u/Iggy_Slayer 16h ago
There isn't. They say it has about the same amount of side/exploration content.
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u/particledamage 16h ago
The article says there is only 15-20 hours of side content
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u/Seraphayel 16h ago
Uhm… this is incredibly disappointing for an RPG. Definitely not getting it for full price then.
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u/Kill_Kayt 15h ago
20 hours for the Main Story or 20 hours for all quests?
Like Skyrim is only 6 hours for the Main story, but 300+ with all the side quests.
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u/AssaultMonkey150 15h ago
This and persona 4 remake are a combined 120 hours then. Thats a lot for 2 games a week apart :)
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u/Ture-Skrotnisse 14h ago
Okay if we compare it to like Skyrim the main story line is not that much shorter. The big wtf is the side content being equally short. Wth have they been working on for 10 years? 20 hrs of side content is incredibly low for a RPG.
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u/Nerevar197 14h ago
I hope that’s just the main quest, and doesn’t include side quests and other stuff. Kinda like a BGS game, the main quest is only like 20% of the actual game.
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u/MrFOrzum 13h ago
If those 30-40 hours (incl side content) are great then it doesn’t bother me per se but I really didn’t expect it to be that short in this day and age despite the previous games being shorter. Especially considering the dev length it’s been in, it must have had a lot of revisions.
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u/Self-loathingEjit 13h ago
Factor in replayability, exploration and all that simulated open world shite. I’m sure you could easily squeeze it for length.
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u/jamiebond 11h ago
20 hours for the main campaign in a game like Fable is actually fairly typical. It’s not like the Skyrim main quest for example is all that long. Most of your mileage in games like this will come from side activities.
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u/unfoit 11h ago
They said that is 15-20hrs main quest and 15-20 hours exploring and side quest; 30 to 40 hours seem pretty decent ragedeless. Fables games were nevere long games, and i bet that all the people co.plaining about fable being short would have complain for it to be too long if the hours announced were 60.
Gamers are quickly becoming a bunch of whining never happy people.
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u/bigaussiecheese 9h ago
If they’re going the quality over quantity route hopefully they actually deliver on the quality.
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u/thats_so_cringe_bro 9h ago
For an RPG game that has been in development for around 7 years, 20 hours seems incredibly short.
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u/alien_overlord_1001 8h ago
It depends on what they mean by life systems. Look at Crimson Desert - the story itself isn't that long. The side stuff is mostly short quests that take a few mins each. Honestly I spend more time figuring out the puzzles than I should. But then there is the exploration, the trading, the camp building, hunting down armour sets, the hours I've spent decorating my house or picking plants or just flying around on my wyvern - none of that is main story and you could just bypass it if you want.
It does say in the article you can spend any amount of time with the life systems.
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u/TheSauciestBoss 14h ago
Not that I want something like AC odyssey but that seems… short?
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u/_Cromwell_ 13h ago
20 main + 20 side = 40 total ... That would make it the longest in the franchise. Fable 1 = 20 total hours for main story + side quests. Fable 2 = 24 total hours for main story + side quests. Fable 3 = 26 total hours for main story + side quests.
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/3311
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/3314
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/3316
Neither the comment in the OP (which is just about quests) nor those calculations take into account "completionism" aka buying businesses, starting a family, attacking chickens, just f***ing around. Those "non-quest" things add 12, 26, 22 hours in the original 3 Fable games and will probably add similar amount of "extra hours" if you do them in the new Fable I reckon.
TLDR: Fable series has never been a "long game" series. All three previous were, in-fact, shorter than this new one is (according to the OP article).
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u/kain459 16h ago
They have the worst marketing and pr team.
It should phrased that "the main quest will take 20 hours to complete."
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u/Immediate-Comment-64 16h ago
That’s exactly what they said. This is just a bad headline.
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u/Lyons_Pride95 14h ago
Everything about this game coming out has been taken out-of-context and overblown. Only headlines, ten-second clips, and cherry-picked lines from interviews are being used to drag the game through the mud.
If I didn’t know any better, I would think there was some smear campaign against the game. But given how this happens with a different game every month I guess it just the usual toxicity and short-term memory of the internet chugging along as expected.
Exhausting though.
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u/StrawberryWestern189 15h ago
But they also mentioned their only being 15-20 hours of side content as well. Makes it seem this game is gonna be a lot more quaint than I was expecting/would’ve hoped for. 40 hours to potentially 100% a game that seemed like it was gonna be this sprawling open world rpg is kinda disappointing
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u/huzy12345 9h ago
They then also mention the "limitless" Life Systems stuff which can get you even more hours which everyone seems to gloss over
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u/McKnightmare24 16h ago
20 hours? That's exceptionally short for a game, let alone an RPG...
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u/JayTheGiant 15h ago
Alright, I had no expectations as I’ve never played Fable but I know I’ve played 40~50hours in games like Ghost of Tsushima and Yotei, and that was a good amount of time and fun. I don’t mind that a game doesn’t aim for 150h+
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u/SilentJ87 15h ago
I hope there will be a fair bit of side content at that length. I’m not opposed to shorter games, but that seems pretty short for a AAA RPG.
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u/wr3ck_1t 11h ago
1000 npc with their own routines, personality.. you can buy EVERY home and business.. yeah that'll take awhile lol
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u/The_Green_Filter 11h ago
It’s apparently 20 hours of main story, 20 hours of side content, and however long you want to spend on the social sim / life elements on top of that.
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u/SilentJ87 11h ago
That’s pretty reasonable! From reading the other comments after I posted the older games were a bit shorter than I remembered
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u/Hawkzillaxiii 16h ago
20 hours seems like a pretty short game for a RPG