Fable

Story and setting

Fable is an upcoming open-world action RPG developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. It will introduce a new version of Albion rather than continue the original trilogy’s timeline. Playground’s approach retains the series’ British humor, fairytale influences and emphasis on personal choices, while establishing its own story and interpretations of familiar locations and characters.

Players will control the customizable Hero of Briar Hill, with Lily Nichol and Ukweli Roach providing the protagonist’s voices. The story will begin during childhood, when the Hero’s powers emerge, before moving forward to adulthood. A mysterious stranger will turn the inhabitants of Briar Hill, including the Hero’s grandmother, to stone. Finding that stranger and discovering how to reverse the transformation will provide the starting motivation for the journey into Albion.

The grandmother’s advice will point toward the Heroes’ Guild in Bowerstone, but players will be free to explore elsewhere after leaving Briar Hill. Among the major characters will be Humphry, the former celebrated Hero played by Matt King, and Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh played by Hayley Atwell. Isabel’s determination to correct a tragic injustice will put her in conflict with the protagonist and Humphry. Jack of Blades will also appear in this reimagined Albion.

Gameplay and confirmed features

Combat will combine melee weapons, ranged attacks and magic through Playground’s style-weaving system. Players will be able to move between these options during an encounter rather than commit to just one fighting style. Official gamescom demonstrations have shown the Bower Hammer, Deepwood Bow and Repeater Crossbow, alongside dodges, parries and finishing attacks. Revealed spells include Fireball, Lightning, Lift, Rush and Befowl, which transforms enemies into chickens. Returning creatures will include Hobbes, Balverines and Trolls, while demonstrated undead opponents include Hollow Folk, Wraiths and the Lantern Keeper.

Character creation will offer choices including heads, hairstyles and skin tones. Beyond the main adventure, players will be able to work, own property, operate businesses, pursue romances, marry and have children. Bowerstone’s demonstrated exploration will allow entry into every building and the purchase of every house. Demon Doors will return as talking gatekeepers protecting areas and rewards, and Playground has confirmed a chicken-kicking minigame behind one of them.

The Living Population system will contain more than 1,000 handcrafted, fully voiced NPCs. Individual residents will have personalities, homes, occupations and schedules, with opinions shaped by the Hero’s behavior. Buying a business or house will create further connections: players will be able to become an NPC’s employer or landlord and influence their wages or rent. These relationships will interact with residents’ existing feelings about the Hero.

Morality will operate through people’s judgments rather than a universal good-versus-evil meter. Witnessed actions will establish reputations, and different residents will interpret the same behavior differently. Reputations will vary between settlements and affect interactions, romantic prospects and shop prices. The system will therefore connect choices to everyday encounters as well as larger quest consequences. Fable will be a single-player game and will not include multiplayer.

Release and platforms

Fable will launch on February 23, 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and PlayStation 5. Premium Edition and Collector’s Edition players will receive up to five days of early access beginning February 18, 2027. The PC release will include Steam, and the Xbox version will support Xbox Play Anywhere, allowing an eligible digital purchase to cover Xbox console and Windows PC. The game will also join Game Pass at launch.

United States pricing is $69.99 for Standard Edition and $99.99 for Premium Edition. Premium will include early access, the Premium Edition Content Pack, a digital artbook and soundtrack, and the post-launch Order of the Hero expansion. The $199.99 Collector’s Edition will add physical collectibles to the Premium package, including a Jack of Blades statuette, hardcover art book, SteelBook case and Guild Seal pin. The official store currently lists the Collector’s Edition as sold out.

A $39.99 Premium Upgrade will provide the additional Premium benefits for eligible Standard Edition owners and Game Pass players without including the base game. Published Steam requirements specify 135 GB of available SSD storage, with 12 GB of RAM minimum and 16 GB recommended. Those storage requirements describe the PC specification rather than a confirmed download size.

Development and announcements so far

Xbox announced Playground’s Fable on July 23, 2020. A new showcase trailer followed on June 11, 2023, introducing Richard Ayoade’s Dave the Giant. The June 9, 2024 trailer introduced Humphry and announced a 2025 release window. Xbox also confirmed development support from Eidos-Montréal. On February 25, 2025, Xbox Game Studios announced that the game would instead ship in 2026.

The January 22, 2026 Developer_Direct supplied the first extended explanation of the opening story, character customization, combat and Living Population. It also confirmed PlayStation 5 alongside the Xbox and PC versions and specified an autumn 2026 window. On May 29, 2026, Xbox moved the release to February 2027. The June 7, 2026 showcase then confirmed February 23, revealed Isabel and opened pre-orders.

At gamescom 2026, Playground presented a combat-focused hands-on demonstration and a separate quest presentation. Xbox published the latter on August 28 as an 18-minute walkthrough through Bowerstone, showing exploration, dialogue choices, Humphry and combat. A September 9 official podcast discussed those demonstrations further. Official Albion history articles published on August 10 and September 21 expanded the reboot’s background lore ahead of launch.