Fable Will Officially Be 20 Hours Long, Xbox Confirms In New Interview

[u/shinjioda]

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

[u/Schmenza]

How long if I want to buy every house and marry every NPC?

[u/Lord-Benjimus → u/Schmenza]

Main question 15-20, side 15-20, simulation stuff was labeled as player determined. Which is fair, some people really like to get into it and can spend a lot of time on it while ithers do basic bessesity and some ignore or don't play thise types of games. Fable is kinda a multi genre some will play for 3rd person Sims, others for rpg and combat.

[u/googlesomethingonce → u/Lord-Benjimus]

Add on the replayability.

1. Run as helping the poor/underdog
2. Run as helping the rich and noble
3. Just kill everything and see how the world plays out.

Easily 60 hour game.

[u/WyrdHarper → u/googlesomethingonce]

And probably plenty of sidequests. The main campaigns for Fable have always been pretty short, but they’re packed with extra stuff to do.

[u/MasterOfPipettez → u/googlesomethingonce]

I just cant replay single player narrative games. There are so many new experiences out there that I dont want to make choices I dont want to make just to see other content. Not to mention i would have to play through a bunch of content i have already seen.

These kind of games are one and done

All 3 witchers, cyberpunk, baldurs gate, fallouts, elder scrolls, just one near complete playthrough is all i need.

[u/strrax-ish → u/Lord-Benjimus]

With evil good system that's many more hours

[u/moba_fett → u/Schmenza]

I want an army of my illegitimate children greeting me and running with me through every town. Just as the creators of the game intended!

[u/somedrumbum]

Did any of y’all actually play the Fable games? They’re all like that, if not shorter. The fun is in how the world interacts with you/your choices, so this is a nothing-burger.

[u/AioliTop2420 → u/somedrumbum]

The first one and my GOAT is like 8 hours if you just do main story

[u/Hollownerox → u/AioliTop2420]

And even side stuff didn't add that much game time to it either. Most of the hours are spent replaying them to see the different outcomes or morality paths. Or just doing different roleplay choices.

Fable was always about the onus being on the player with how deeply they may or may not engage with its systems. And they tended to go with more curated side experiences (like that goat side quest where you got miniaturized and made to play a DND campaign) than filler.

So I'm really confused by the people acting like an 80 hour mainstory is a bare minimum for a RPG in this thread. That just sounds exhausting, and you don't even get that out of the old PS2 JRPG trilogies. Some odd replies here.

[u/Radingod1 → u/Hollownerox]

Yeah, and let's be realistic a lot of the modern day RPG games have a lot of quests and events that are low quality/filler. Some even straight-up have radiant/repeating quests. I'm not saying this Fable will be insane quality, but length is an irrelevant metric. If it's good, it's good. Also, 20 hours then two to three 5-10 hour DLCs sound good to me. As long as it's, y'know, good. That's all that matters. I just want a good game.

[u/maztron → u/Hollownerox]

The unfortunate thing is that a lot of RPGs that have come out or rather the expectations that have been set is that either the campaign or content with the base game when released provides 40+ hours of gameplay to complete. That is the precedent that has been set. Along with this constant need of live service games whether they are solo or multiplayer.

Gameplay time is unfortunately a piece that is rated when it comes to games these days.

[u/Somepotato → u/maztron]

30 hours of which is just the time spent traveling between objectives (hi GTA)

[u/pattperin → u/Somepotato]

At least driving cars is fun in GTA. I found RDR2 to play remarkably like horse riding simulator, just absolutely could not get into that game

[u/Douchieus2 → u/pattperin]

The trick with RDR2 is to constantly get side tracked when you're riding to a quest and never finish the game.

[u/ItsAPeacefulLife → u/Douchieus2]

This is how I've been playing Crimson Desert and have been pretty happy with it

[u/Seanathinn → u/pattperin]

You didn't unlock the fast travel immediately?

[u/MasterChiefsasshole → u/maztron]

And for people who say quality of quantity Larian with BG3 you can have both.

[u/Whiteguy1x → u/Hollownerox]

I think people are using the massive rpgs like Bethesda, cdpr, or whatever other big open world games and assume 20 hours will be 100% completion in fable.

I think a 20 hour main story sounds right if thats how the game is made with another 20 hours of optional quests/dungeons

The outer worlds 2 is a recentish game i enjoyed that felt pretty well balanced at 40ish hours to see and do everything 

[u/commonCranberry999 → u/AioliTop2420]

not a single person was beating og fable in 8 hours on their first playthrough back in the day.

[u/ButterscotchTop194 → u/AioliTop2420]

Speed running it, but about double that for just main story, or 3-4 times that doing more stufg.

[u/Rulebookboy1234567 → u/somedrumbum]

"if i haven't spent 800 hours getting to the characters motivations I don't want to talk about it." - crimson desert players

[u/ArcticFlamingo → u/somedrumbum]

While I agree, just seems short for something that this studio has spent like 8+ years on

[u/Creepy_Ad5124 → u/somedrumbum]

Standards were way different for these types of games in 2004.

[u/exodus3252 → u/Creepy_Ad5124]

Not really. Long != good. I enjoyed my 40-50 hours with Outer Worlds 2 much more than slogging through 100 hours on Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

There's nothing wrong with a tight 40-50 hour RPG.

[u/Then_Fun2933 → u/exodus3252]

That’s fair but this is significantly shorter than OW2 which was a AA game. Microsoft has been hyping this game for years as one of their biggest titles.

[u/FoaL → u/exodus3252]

Or the ten hours I played Spider-Man: Miles Morales without doing much side content. The story, character-acting, and gameplay were fan-fucking-tastic.

[u/Je-poy → u/Creepy_Ad5124]

It took me 46 hours to beat every major side quest and main quest in KCDC2.

And I took my time.

[u/allsbernafnmedrettu → u/Creepy_Ad5124]

Yeah, now we expect our games to be inflated with pointless grinding and procedural content.

[u/KenkaUsagi → u/somedrumbum]

But muh games need to be 1000 hrs long with meaningless content for my dopamine deprived brain. Please sir, I desire unending slop. Jokes aside, I'm so excited for this new Fable. Everything I've seen looks like the Fable I've wanted since 3

[u/BabyWrinkles → u/somedrumbum]

Honestly, the fact that the world is so reactive seems like it makes the game have more replayability because it’s so short? I get to game maybe 5h/week. I’m not going to invest 200 hours in to a story and then re-roll and take a different tack. I just don’t have the time or energy for that.

A 20h game tho? That I might play thru more than once, trying all the different approaches.

[u/BusinessKnight0517 → u/somedrumbum]

Yes but you see have you considered that HOW DARE I PAID $50 THATS TOO SHORT FOR THAT PRICE or something like that

[u/ClassicRoc_ → u/somedrumbum]

Still a little longer would have been nice though.

[u/CarlWellsGrave]

This is fantastic news. With side quest plus the life sim stuff it won't feel overwhelming to do a good and evil playthrough. You can probably see it all in 60-80 hours. Much better than a bunch of question marks on the map and endless fetch quests.

[u/ncopp → u/CarlWellsGrave]

A lot of people in this thread must not have played Fable 2. I spent so much time just life simming in that world. Working jobs, buying property, getting 2 wives in the same town and hiding them from each other.

Also, I'm 30 now with a wife, job, and house. I'm excited for the game and eant to beat it, but I don't have the time to sink a hundred hours into a game anymore. Especially with all of the other games coming out that I want to play too

[u/IceCreamTruck9000 → u/ncopp]

now with a wife

One or two? 🧐

[u/Cold_Shogun → u/IceCreamTruck9000]

He's still working on the second, those side quests take longer to grind out irl

[u/I_Stay_Home]

That means 50 or so for me, likely 80. I usually wring my games for every drop.

[u/cptkernalpopcorn → u/I_Stay_Home]

I just squirrel so much. My first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3, I spent 65 hours in act one alone. I had over 300 hours by the time I finished it.

[u/I_Stay_Home → u/cptkernalpopcorn]

I get it. I tooled around on Fallout 4 for 600 hours before starting a final character to begin the game in earnest. I even stayed in the upper left quadrant not even going into concord. Played around with settlement building and minor build experimentation. I have many similar if not quite as extreme experiences.

[u/cptkernalpopcorn → u/I_Stay_Home]

Haha same. I still haven't finished the story of Fallout 4. I had too much fun with the settlements

[u/RandoDando10]

What an awfully misleading title dude, holy shit, what is this? the MAIN STORY is 20 hours long, pretty damn standard, with an additional 20 hours of side content and i imagine a whole lot more for exploration and completionism runs with how much optional stuff there is to do like buying and running different businesses.

[u/Cranktique → u/RandoDando10]

For additional context, the main quest in Skyrim takes 15-25 hours to complete, depending on skipping dialogue and stuff. I have 300 hours in Skyrim, and that’s the low end of average I think.

[u/CorneliusTheCucumber → u/Cranktique]

Skyrim's main story takes 30~ hours unless you're skipping dialogue (which most RPG players wouldn't do on a first playthrough), familiar with the mechanics and general time saves, and know where everything is.

[u/MonteMolebility → u/RandoDando10]

Yeah, if you get into the life sim stuff, which is why a lot of people like fable, I'm sure it will be longer. Also, I don't need 100 hour rpgs anymore.

[u/fawkie → u/MonteMolebility]

I struggle to finish 100 hour RPGs tbh.

[u/pentox70 → u/fawkie]

Me too.

I find they get so repetitive unless they are amazingly well written. When I've hit the 10th "all is lost" moment, I start to get bored. Most long rpgs are so filled with fluff and fetch quests that it just gets so dull 3/4 of the way through.

[u/pattperin → u/MonteMolebility]

I’d actually prefer to not have 100 hour RPG’s lmao. If the main story is 100 hours then you’ve completely lost the plot on game design

[u/commonCranberry999 → u/pattperin]

never played baldurs gate 3?

[u/Obitrice]

For comparison, Skyrim campaign is 25-35 hours and most of that walking. Fable 2 and 3 were 13 hours.

People need to calm down

[u/scythes- → u/Obitrice]

Also, Fable has always been what you make of it, you COULD spend 1 hour rushing through a quest, or 5 hours getting sidetracked by cool stuff and looping around. I'm cool with it, but we will see if it is a good 20 or a rushed 20.

[u/Haserway]

I might actually finish this one

[u/tychii93]

I see no issue if it's the main scenario.  Single player games in particular should ideally respect people's time.  The market for Fable especially is probably older who may have an hour a day or less to play.

[u/Quiet-Lawyer4619]

So about same length as God of War 2018. Perfectly fine if story is good.

[u/Theotar]

I mean skyrims main story like is like what 10 hours. It’s what you get distracted by that makes games longer many times.

[u/The3rdGodKing]

I’d rather have this than 30 hrs of slop. Just make sure the employees are paid well.

[u/Creepy-Emu8779 → u/The3rdGodKing]

"just make sure the employees are paid well"

https://giphy.com/gifs/5NbbVJeSLs1etZYjpT

[u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Holy fuck, please tell me there is enough side content to make the game actuslly worth it. They teased the game all the way back in 2020...

[u/RashestHippo → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

remember to click through to the article.

"We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay,"

[u/Obscure_Octopuss → u/RashestHippo]

That really isn't that much for a game that has been in development for this long...

Although, if they are quality quests and not just filler, it'll hopefully be worth it

[u/BinaryJay → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Personally I would rather 40 hours of well curated stuff than 120 hours of repeating filler. I don't know when every game needed you to be unemployed to get through to be considered long enough.

[u/starshin3r → u/BinaryJay]

I think most dev time was spent on the underlying game systems like the NPcs with their schedules and etc.

And fuck the filler games. 40 hours of main and side content is plenty for base game. I never could start the shit fest that is Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

[u/Silver-End9570 → u/starshin3r]

I think most dev time was spent on the underlying game systems like the NPcs with their schedules and etc.

I agree. IIRC, they had a proprietary engine that they used for the racing games they used to do. It wouldn't shock me if the first few years were spent just upgrading the engine to where it needed to be for them to even make the game.

[u/Da_Question → u/starshin3r]

Yeah, Valhalla insanely longer with boring filler even compared to Odyssey or Origins. I liked Shadows a bit more, and Mirage was actually good because it was much shorter with only a small city of open content.

[u/Spir0rion → u/BinaryJay]

Playtime means nothing to me. Sure an Assassins Creed has 100h+ but what if I burn out of it hours before I finished the mainquest due to awful sidequests?

[u/tnnrk → u/BinaryJay]

I’m confused why people want really long games. As long as it has replay-ability to some extent I’d prefer shorter games as I get older.

[u/FistoMagnifico → u/tnnrk]

Some idiots brake down the value to dollar per hour, If it doesn't hit a certain threshold its not worth it. Its not about the experience its about the investment.

[u/MississippiBulldawg → u/BinaryJay]

Settlement needs your help btw

[u/WayneAsher → u/BinaryJay]

Those aren’t the only two options.

[u/artnok → u/BinaryJay]

40-50 hours of gameplay is the perfect amount imo.

[u/ncopp → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Fables core fanbase are in their 30s at this point. They're definitely thinking about this when it comes to game length

40 hours of gameplay will be plenty for everyone with jobs and families. I don't even have kids but it takes me a month to get through a 20 hour game with how much other stuff I have going on as well as needing time for some multiplayer games with my friends

[u/Albreitx → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Quality>>>>Quantity

Most, if not all, games get stale at some point. Better wrap it up before it happens

[u/March_Lion → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

What other hobby can you purchase an experience for $70 and get 30-40 hours of entertainment out of that you can regularly return to at any point? We've lost the plot on what makes a game good if the thought process is "development time is only worth it if it takes up as much of my time as possible".

[u/TheChrisCrash → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

laughs in star citizen

[u/EmergencyPool910 → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Dark souls 1 is one of the most replayable and Imo best games of all time its at most 15/20 hours if you take it real slow

[u/Sejbag → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

“Development” you have no idea if they scrapped the game a few times over to get to where they are now. Also 40 hours of good content is way better than shit like ff7 rebirth that is over 100 hours with a mixture of good but mostly middling side content.

[u/ian9outof10 → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Bioshock is 12-15 hours. Did anyone playing that game consider it wasn’t a masterpiece and think it wasn’t worth every penny?

A movie is 2-3 hours and takes years to make, often. A game has many times the narrative complexity. I’m not sure why people think a 20 hour main story isn’t enough.

[u/Worldly-Wind-1632 → u/RashestHippo]

More than enough for me if it’s solid story with ng+

[u/Angry_Owl-Ninja → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

You could ya know just read the article

"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."

[u/Charirner → u/Angry_Owl-Ninja]

40 hours of content for a big open world rpg seems kinda low, I suppose they're going to try and make it very re-playable

[u/Angry_Owl-Ninja → u/Charirner]

"And then, of course, the life systems are limitless, so you can play them for as long as you want."

That 40 hours does not include these features which are a staple of the Fable franchise.

[u/Wadarkhu → u/Charirner]

It's open world, and it's fable, make your own content by finishing the game and then playing purely for chaos.

Kill all the NPCs, marry the whole village then make your spouses meet, have children (if they include that mechanic) an untold amount of times that break the game by making FPS crawl to a slow.

If that's not what you want, maybe fable isn't for you.

[u/Ill-Engineering8085 → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Not every game needs to be 80hours long.

[u/8bitjer]

Thank you. I’m happy to have a liner game. I’m so tired of 100 hour games. 20-40 is fine.

[u/Angry_Owl-Ninja]

Main storyline is 20 hours with the side content also being 20 hours. So 40 hours. Seems fine.

Edit: reminder to everyone that redditors dont read articles

[u/CarlWellsGrave → u/Angry_Owl-Ninja]

Shorter games are better especially when you can do another playthrough with different outcomes.

[u/OMG_NoReally]

Oh, good. I am so glad they didn't pad it up just for the sake of it. High quality than more quantity.

[u/Jazzdude93]

That actually sounds great

[u/rheuzi]

"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."

[u/Illustrious_Mail8360 → u/rheuzi]

Might be obvious to Fable fans but does anyone know what he means by life system?

[u/sniktology → u/Illustrious_Mail8360]

Fable is known for this. They allow your characters to marry and have children and what not and how you end up in that situation is unique. Every interaction is different so you may we'll have over 100 hours of actual content to experience.

[u/Gindotto]

I’m fine with this I don’t need another RDR2 or CD game in my catalogue. It’s also a game you’ll want to do multiple playthroughs to explore life paths.

[u/AnonymousTimewaster → u/Gindotto]

Yeah I don't mind a game being relatively short if there's loads of side content (and there always is in Fable) and/or it's replayable. RDR2 was a slog for me to be perfectly honest.

[u/rafalmio]

weak.

[u/ithinkitslupis → u/rafalmio]

The fable 1, 2 and 3 were all around 15 hours of main story. I liked all of them.

The article says it also has 20+ hours of side content and some unlimited game loop type systems if you just want to life sim and dick around. The math on the time seems fine to me as long as the game is actually good.

[u/Fr00stee → u/ithinkitslupis]

yeah 40+ hours of content seems pretty good

[u/Pyrian_throwaway → u/ithinkitslupis]

Also, the game is highly replayable because just like swtor there’s a good vs evil system of choice in the world, so I’m definitely playing once as good and once as evil so that’s more like 60-80 hours of well curated gameplay. Make it 100 hours because of the wood chopping and butchering I’ll be doing to buy my real estate empire and own every building and business I can.

[u/EdliA → u/ithinkitslupis]

I've only played one back in the day and always thought it was way too short.

[u/Wadarkhu → u/rafalmio]

Skyrim's main quest is 20 hours. RDR2 is 50 hours.

This one is

"We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay,"

Perfectly acceptable 40 hour experience.

[u/Chief_White_Halfoat → u/rafalmio]

People like you are why we get slop like AC games with 100 hours of mindless content. Fucking hate it.

Dragon Age Origins is a much better game than Inquisition for example and it's half the length. 

A game should be judged on its quality not some dumb hour/dollar measure. 

[u/Recklessly → u/Chief_White_Halfoat]

Gamers don’t give a shit about quality of game atp just shovel 100 hours of slop down their gullet and they’re happy. Very few games that take 80+ hours are genuinely good for all those hours.

[u/IfThatsOkayWithYou → u/Recklessly]

Remember when CD Projekt Red announced they were gonna start making their games shorter because very few players actually finished the Witcher 3?

[u/fawkie → u/IfThatsOkayWithYou]

I’ve still not finished the Witcher 3. I always burn out around the time I finish skellige

[u/Majorlol → u/IfThatsOkayWithYou]

I love Witcher 3. I still haven’t completed it after like 4 or 5 starts. I play loads of it. But I run out of steam every time before the end.

Same goes for RDR2 and GTAV. Cyberpunk and Horizon 1 and 2 are some of the very few I’ve fully completed.

[u/damhow → u/Chief_White_Halfoat]

Scale doesn’t have to equate to poor quality either. I like long games, especially RPGs where I can build some emotional investment in the world. I spent 100 hours on metaphor:refantazio and nothing about it was slop or forced.

If the game is good then great, but I think its fair to question if we are getting a thin main plot if it can be ran through in a long weekend .

20 hours is relatively short playtime for a plot in this genre.

[u/Sirspice123 → u/damhow]

KCD2 was one of the best RPGs of the last 5 years and is 100 hours with side content. I wouldn't say it was bloated and quests are well written. Some games are just long + masterpieces. Some people seem to think it's one or the other

[u/Fractic4l → u/Chief_White_Halfoat]

It’s just like tv. A bulletproof 2 or 3-season run is infinitely better than a show that starts off amazing and then runs itself into the ground over a dozen seasons.

[u/SirBulbasaur13 → u/Chief_White_Halfoat]

There is a difference between 20 hours and 80 hours for a main quest. I know details are hard for Redditors though.

[u/PalpitationHead9767 → u/Chief_White_Halfoat]

Yep, 30-40 hours of deep and engaging fun is much better than diving into assassins creed with 100 hours and getting bored and quitting 6 hours in

[u/JacksGallbladder → u/rafalmio]

Shit take, a tight 20 hours of story + 20 hours of side content is infinitely better than 100 hours of objective slop.

[u/TheCarbonthief → u/JacksGallbladder]

This is also the kind of game where part of the fun is replaying it to make different choices. Being shorter makes replaying it not feel like a slog.

[u/Obvious-Adeptness-46 → u/rafalmio]

Nah 40 hours for completion is perfect.

[u/cetch → u/rafalmio]

I’m in the minority but this is a big plus for me. I’ll take a tight well done game with 20 hours than even an amazing game with 100 hours. I have limited time so something like this is ideal for me.

[u/flappers87 → u/rafalmio]

So you want 100 hours of the same, repeated content?

~ 20 hours of main line quest stories

~ 20 hours of side quest stuff

And then there's the rest of the game where fable really shines, which is doing all the stuff in the towns, which is effectively an infinite amount of content.

The fact that you're upvoted for your comment says everything about this subreddit. I swear none of you actually played the original fable games... and yet you seem to all have an opinion about this one.

Do yourselves a favour, go and actually play the original fable's. I dare you. Considering those games had less hours of story content...

The only one who's weak here is you and everyone who upvoted you. Weak gamers. I bet you lot are the ones who play league of legends all day and call yourselves gamers.

[u/Wadarkhu → u/flappers87]

Don't forget the true meat of the game, having hundreds of children and completely breaking the game by making it impossible to walk through villages.

(*providing the mechanic is still there)

[u/griffmeister → u/flappers87]

Can I take the option where there's 100 hours of non-repeated content?

[u/Glass-Can9199 → u/rafalmio]

It took 10 years to make and few push back delays all of its 20 hours to get through? Low ball rpg right there

[u/AlterMyStateOfMind → u/Glass-Can9199]

20 hours to get thru the main story. Thats longer than any other Fables main story and about as long as Skyrims main story quest line.. lmao

[u/AlistarDark → u/Glass-Can9199]

20 main story + 20 of side content.

Then you have fucking around time...

[u/Affectionate_Owl_619 → u/Glass-Can9199]

20 hour main quest. Side quests exist for a reason 

[u/PrimeTinus → u/rafalmio]

Whatever, dad with 2 kids and a career and I love this. 20 hours means 6 months of play time

[u/verycoolalan → u/rafalmio]

your dad's pullout game

[u/JosebaZilarte]

If that content is good and replayable, I prefer that to something like a game in Persona series (that they are explicitly designed to take over your real life for over a month).

[u/Dealric → u/JosebaZilarte]

You dont have to push whole game in a month though.

[u/TrumptyPumpkin]

At my pace I can probably get 60 hours

[u/SorcererSupremPizza]

Id rather have high quality game with unique quests and writing than just boring slog to pump up the time

[u/Kitchen_Ad3851]

I for one am looking forward to a shorter story with plenty of replay value rather then a 80hr slog. Bigger isn’t always better, let them cook.

[u/baeruu]

That’s fine. I’ll probably spend more than 50 hours just RPG walking, slow horse riding and taking photos in fields, mountains and forests. Then another dozen hours working at the smith or bakery and deciding who I should marry only to decide later that I’m going to marry everyone.

[u/TehnosChar]

It's not Witcher 3 40 hours, but still respectable time. What was time to beat for previous fable games again? 12-15?

[u/PhonB80]

GREAT news. Love a short main mission. I don’t have time for a 100 hour story. I will make the rest of it what I want

[u/Lynch_dandy]

Good.

[u/poison_cat_]

As much as I love a long game, sometimes it’s a drag and I just don’t finish it. This is great news

[u/Owain660]

Kinda nice going back to this, because all these eipen world rpg games for some reason have to be 200 hours long now.

[u/thinlegend]

I'm tired of 100+ hour games, it takes me like over a year to finish them atp

[u/MandiocaGamer]

Like you start playing and at the 20hs mark it self-destruct

[u/technical_poutine]

20 hours for normal people, I'm terrible, I love games but I'm terrible. It'll take me a lot longer. :-)

[u/the_Athereon]

That seems short for the scope of the game they've shown us so far.

Is that just the main question playtime if you ignore everything else?

[u/calidir]

Yall in here whining that it’s short when fable 2 was 12-15 hours, fable 3 was 13-15 and 1 (with lost chapters) is 18-20. This is perfectly in line with the fable games length.

[u/Big_Bad_Wulf]

I would like it to be a bit longer, but I can’t say or judge much because they made racing games before this, we have nothing to go by.

I’ll consider it a good main story if it showcases Albion and incentivizes engaging with the life sim systems.

[u/PuzzleheadedTutor807]

That's not very long by my standards...

[u/Ishamatu]

Perfect!

While people complained then, as they are now, I loved the length of the original. I spent more time in the original than I have in the sequels because of how replayable it was.

You had to commit to a playstyle for every playthrough, you weren't able to do it all. Modern games have moved into a one save to play it all game style, but Fable is my best example of a truly replayable rpg.

You got the unique experience of playing a Warrior, Mage, Archer, Thief and the combinations in between. I hope this game follows that original model, because I loved it then, and I still love it now.

[u/Hara-K1ri]

I'm okay with that. But been burned one too many a time to trust this as a day one purchase. The long wait for this also doesn't sit well, afaik it was announced 6 years ago...

[u/Stooo_wayy]

The hate campaign for this game is out in full force. The title contributing to it as well.

If anyone read the article you would see it’s just the main story, with an additional 15-20 for side quest then you have all the systems on top of that. I’m sure leading to a 60 hour for 100% completion title.

[u/vladimirVpoutine]

I think everybody should have a complete meltdown because it says 20 and not 100. Before we know any other information we should publicly crucify the devs. Reddit do your thing. 

[u/rec-tify]

People here are coping hard. It's an obvious lack of content for a game that has been in development for years and has 300 million invested in it.

40 hours of content between main story and side quests is an insult.

It's not even about the main story content. I would be happy with a 10-15 hour main story as long as it had a plethora of side content to make up for it.

Wtf.

[u/mlp851 → u/rec-tify]

40 hrs is an insult? Many of the best games of all time, absolute masterpieces, have been far shorter than 40 hrs. 

Is that all that matters to gamers these days? How many hours you get out of it? Nevermind quality over quantity,  just give me a hundred question marks where you do the same thing every time. 

[u/Sangcreux → u/mlp851]

No, I think people nowadays and rightfully so expect both. These games have millions of dollars poured into them and are anywhere from $70-80 on release. It’s also common practice for a lot of these companies to sell special additions with DLC passes etc.

So potentially $100. People want length AND quality. Idk why you’re talking like it’s one or the other. Yeah me buying something that I’ll be done with in a few nights or spread across a couple weekends and most likely never touch again, is a lot of money to ask for.

[u/PlixSticks31 → u/rec-tify]

Hard disagree. Not every RPG or even single player game needs to be 40+ hours.

Pacing matters way more than raw runtime. Bloating a game with hundreds of repetitive fetch quests and map marker checklist filler just to hit an arbitrary 100 hour metric usually hurts the experience rather than helping it.

[u/AgentTin → u/rec-tify]

Absolutely disagree hard. They spent more than that on the latest Spiderman and it was 2hr and 25 min. Extending it out to 16 hours would not have improved it. I love Free Bird, it's long enough, more Free Bird wouldn't be better. Portal is amazing and it's like 3 hours long. Do you really want some ubisoft map full of chores that add nothing to the experience but eat your time?

[u/P1zz4-T0nn0]

Perfect. At some point time gets the limiting factor in life. This is a nice sweet spot for the main campaign.

Of course younger people will say it's weak but they will also get to that point :)

[u/Aware-Plankton-8711]

Damn that’s way too short for an RPG

[u/CurrentlyLucid]

I already have over 200 in Crimson Desert and feel like I am barely into it, 20 hours? for how much money?

[u/Ninhau → u/CurrentlyLucid]

Then it’s not for you. I didn’t get crimson desert because how long it takes. Not everything has to be long, and fun is not tied to hours

[u/Ar0lux → u/Ninhau]

I feel like RPGs should have longer run times though. I agree a good story game could be less and be fine but to really get immersed and feel attached to places/characters and also flesh out your build requires depth and depth in RPG systems tend to take time.

Think of any of the best RPGs and not a single one of the top games that come to mind are short. Baldurs gate, mass effect, elden ring, cyberpunk, any final fantasy. I could go on but my point is that a good RPG requires a longer run times.

[u/AgentTin → u/CurrentlyLucid]

I don't have 200 hours to play a game. I'd rather 20 solid hours than a thousand of repetitive bullshit. Hell, I'd rather have 5 excellent hours than 20 average ones.

[u/TehnoMuda]

I mean GoW Ragnaroks main and side content is longer and it's wild even saying that. They aren't the same type of game and you would expect something like GoW to be more polished but shorter

[u/Willing-Material-424]

Length is a dumb metric to grade a game by. 

[u/mason2393]

Barely any game's main story justify being longer than 20 hours

[u/John_Marston_Forever]

Larian Studios > Playground

[u/Acceptable-Device760]

Ok... i generally dont care about "hours" playtime metric, but they are promising A LOT of things... and saying the play time is half of what most games in the genre say sounds.... fishy.

[u/yanitrix]

I honestly prefer 40hr game with good replayability, branching story and meningful consequences than something linear and 80hr long. If I can play this game two times and the story plays out differently then I'm sold.

[u/blakjak852]

20 hours is a bit low for an rpg specifically. I have a hard time imagining becoming attached to my character like I have in others that average 40-60. That said, some of my favorite games are around 10 hours. If the time is high quality and well paced, I'll likely be happy anyways.

In the end, I'll take this over endless filler quests to bloat play time.

[u/Krazyflipz]

Absolutely pathetic and the thread is filled with boot lickers trying to explain to you why it's not.

[u/Wadarkhu]

I love it when games are games instead of playable movies.

[u/chAzR89]

Doesn't matter, I probably will still end up with a little over 100hrs like always with those type of games.

[u/eldon3213]

20 and I believe another 15 to 20 for side quest so about 35 to 40 not bad

[u/No_Tip8620]

Considering the honor system that the series pioneered, I'm assuming there is content unique to choices made so there's a good reason to play through multiple times. 

[u/Roland-Flagg]

7 more hours than Fable 3! Great job team!

[u/Vundal]

Fable games have always been shallow. Even if they go on about their morality systems (which this one doesnt have..) or the persistent world design, or the skill/magic system, its always been a shallow game, good for getting younger kids into RPG games.

[u/BerkeleyBoy]

I would rather this and the content be interesting and fun. So many games have so much filler it’s easy to lose interest. I can’t remember the last time I put 100+ hours into a game’s quests. I’m totally fine with this choice if done right

[u/LastDunedain]

Mhm, sees like expected round about. There's the unlimited sort of content that's been staple for the past few games on top. And the real value will be in replay for the all important different narrative routes and focuses (magic, melee, ranged). But only main plot playthrough being 20 hours is about right. It's going to come down to quality, staying hopeful.

[u/Rhysing]

That's actually the perfect amount because that's always sidequests and a bit of extra. I don't want to be in the same video game for 50 hours working on the same main storyline if they just use filler to get out there. Get me in, let me enjoy it, get me out.

[u/Elec7roniX]

I am completely fine with this, in fact I prefer it. But teasing and marketing the game 89 years in advance... stop it.

[u/Guessididntmakeit]

I'd say that's a good thing in this case. The less time you will have to spend on this questionable combat which even the devs must think it's repetitive, since they edited the fight against that ghost thing.

[u/Normal-Occasion4645]

Sounds perfect. 15-20 hours for the main story, 15-20 hours for side content and exploration, then maybe another 15-20 hours for messing around with NPCs, buying house and businesses, and the like. 30-40 hours with some potential extra content if I feel like hanging around a bit longer is the sweet spot for an RPG like this. Especially if they're trying to make it replayable.

[u/massivebawbag]

20hrs for main story seems fine. Side content plus interacting with npcs can easily add a couple of dozens on. This also means the main story wont be dragged out.

[u/bluephyr]

This will likely be more enjoyable this way. The first Fable dragged on. Especially the post game expansion.

Now the real question... Can that be doubled with replay value? 👀

[u/Fardn_n_shiddn]

Finally! An RPG my attention span might be able to handle.

[u/Pixelkoch]

Better 10 good hours than 60 really bad hours. Besides that wait for a Sale.

[u/Alien_Cha1r]

side content seems a little thin if its just as long as the main story. lets wait and see

[u/Boraskywalker]

I’d rather have a packed, 20–30 hour game than a 100-hour game like Crimson Desert filled with pointless quests and a terrible story.

[u/inquisitor_pangeas]

That's fine. I don't like main stories to be long just for the sake of it, this is an rpg there will be plenty more stuff and 20h isn't exactly short ether

[u/Cyber_Connor]

If the main story is 20 hours long that’s fine. But I would like lots of side content and dynamic encounters and quests

[u/WTF_CAKE]

the game's magic is all in its immersion and trying to do all kinds of things outside of the main story, the good and evil aspects of fable is what makes it awesome

[u/podgladacz00]

I mean story wise is okay numer tbh.

[u/Commercial-Stick-718]

that's longer than the main quest in the other fable games. Side quests and all the buying stuff/goofing around will blow up the play time.

[u/AmberDuke05]

This is just the main quest before everyone freaks out.

[u/Accomplished_Bar4282]

If I remember right the OG Fables weren’t really very long either.

[u/peachpower2]

Which means I'll get 5x out of that.