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Fable 4: Everything We Know So Far

Fable 4 was revealed back in 2020, alongside a very brief teaser trailer. Not much info was given back then, aside from the fact that the game is being worked on by Playground Games.

Since its reveal, Fable 4 hasn't really received any updates. There have been a few Xbox events in the meantime, but we've not heard a peep. Currently, the status of the game is unknown, given that there's been no news, and no real credible reporting or leaks on the subject.

While we wait for more on Fable 4, here's what we know about the game so far. As new info is revealed, this page will be updated. Read on for a look at the teaser trailer, as well as some comments on Fable 4 from Head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty.

Fable 4: cut to the chase

What is it? The fourth installment in the mainline Fable franchise

When can I play it? There's no release date yet but don't expect it soon

What can I play it on? TBC, but it's an Xbox exclusive

Fable 4 release date and platforms

(Image credit: Microsoft)

No release date or release window has been set for Fable 4 yet. The earliest we'd expect it is late 2023, though 2024 is more likely.

At the very least, Phil Spencer hinted during an IGN podcast that we'll get it before The Elder Scrolls 6, though that game doesn't have a release date yet either and isn't expected to land until sometime after Starfield's release (which has since been delayed to 2023). That's backed up by the June 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase focusing on games launching "in the next twelve months," and Fable wasn't present. 

We do, however, know the platforms we can expect Fable 4 to land on. As an Xbox exclusive, Fable 4 will release for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC, where it'll be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. It's unknown if it'll arrive on Xbox One consoles, but we're not holding out hope as Microsoft hasn't confirmed anything.

Fable 4 trailer Latest trailer

Right now, only one Fable trailer has been released: the world premiere announcement trailer. 

The trailer doesn't reveal a whole lot, but does suggest that the game could be set well before the later entries in the series as we don't get as much of a sense of a Victorian-style industrial revolution as we did in Fable 3's setting. Instead, it appears that Fable 4 will have a medieval fantasy setting perhaps more like the original game, with the trailer showing a sword, fairies, overgrown toadstools and greedy toads. Check it out below:

Fable 4 news

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Xbox boss explains lack of newsDevelopment is still underway on Fable 4 but after the game didn't make any appearances during the Xbox showcases at both Summer Game Fest and Gamescom 2022 fans have been wondering when they'll hear more.  

Head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, acknowledged the lack of news during an interview at PAX West 2022 but explained that the game will only be shown when developer Playground Games is ready to show it. 

"Every time I see something, I say 'We should show this'… because there's a lot of cool stuff," said Booty. "The team has made it very clear that I'm not going to be able to show anything until it's ready." 

Booty went on to express support for Playground Games, saying that while choosing the studio predominantly known for Forza Horizon to work on Fable 4 might seem like "a little bit of a head scratcher", they "get it" and he's "excited for when the time comes to be able to show more."

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Can You Even Make Fable 4 These Days?

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I can still feel the scars left on my heart by Fable Legends. The game was Dead By Daylight, but with Fable lore instead of horror characters, and it was conceived four years before Behaviour Interactive's asymmetrical adventure breathed its first gasp. Legends would have seen four players cooperate as heroes and one villain attempt to take them down, and would have been a showpiece game for Xbox, utilising the then-new SmartGlass features and would have been an exclusive killer app. It was free-to-play, yet would have cost $75 million to create, in the aims of a ten year lifecycle. I played the ill-fated beta in 2016 and was thoroughly confused as to what it was trying to do and what it was meant to be, and shortly after similar feedback from players the world over, it was cancelled for good. Now the new Fable seems to have the same problem.

Fable 4 does not use gimmicky SmartGlass technology, won't be free-to-play, hasn't mentioned anything about cumbersome currencies, and there's no whispers that Microsoft want this to be a ten year, constantly evolving game. You might say then that it sounds completely different to Legends, that I'm foolish for holding onto the pain of the past. But I don't think Legends' main problem was any of those things, although they were definitely red flags considering the ginormous red canvas of 75 million smackeroonies being funnelled into it. Legends' major flaw was that it didn't understand what Fable was or why people liked it. Neither, it seems, does Fable 4.

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The latest news we have out of Microsoft is that Fable 4 is trying to be "Witcher-like", which doesn't feel like all that definitive an ambition when The Witcher 3 borrows from so many other RPGs itself, nor is it one that fills me (or many of the Fable fans) with much confidence. Fable has always been built on British humour, a playful tone, fantastical steampunk, dark characters mixed with an almost-pantomime level of villainy, and a feeling of tragedy that is always, in some way, surrounded by silliness.

Legends was set hundreds of years before the Heroes Guild was formed, and there was not only a lack of this incredibly iconic presence in the game, but there was no sense of community (baffling, for a co-op game) and no magic melding with technology to allow for typical Fable tropes like blacksmiths and blunderbusses.

As for what it means to be Witcher-like, we just don't know. Obviously, The Witcher 3 is very popular and successful, so I can understand wanting to build off it. For any studio making a new RPG, looking at what made The Witcher 3 such a phenomenon and figuring out a way to use that in a way unique to your own fresh IP is a decent start. But if you're making Fable 4, there's a different popular magical RPG series you should be using as your foundation - it's Fable.

If you don't think Fable's formula works in the modern day, if you think its tropes and tones are dated, if you think its humour isn't cool enough anymore, then why make a Fable game at all? Legends felt like it was a completely different game just using the name 'Fable' for its prestige, and actively resented the label. At its budget, it might never have sailed anyway, but you wonder whether using Fable's name then quite clearly not being Fable hurt more than it helped.

We haven't seen what Fable 4's 'Witcher-like' influence is, and it's possible that it can merge what CDPR did with Fable's own foundations, but it does feel as if that fear has been around for a while - is Fable a product of its time, and can its essence survive being updated for the modern day. If not, is there any point making Fable when it's not Fable?

Next: Starfield's Latest Trailer Makes It Seem Small, And That's A Good Thing

Why Fable 4 Should Take Place During The Fall Of The Heroes' Guild

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Xbox and Playground Games announced Fable 4 during Microsoft's live-streamed showcase in the Summer of 2020. However, progress updates have been relatively sparse, though the game appeared on Microsoft's updated Xbox publishing roadmap, positioned after The Outer Worlds 2 but well before the new Indiana Jones, Gears of War, and Elder Scrolls games. Still, fans have little information to go on other than what little they can guess from the trailer.

One big question is when exactly Fable 4 takes place. The trailer's final shot shows what appears to be Bowerstone Castle off in the distance, indicating that Fable's most iconic city is returning. Interestingly, the city doesn't look as built up as it did in Fable 3, hinting at an earlier time in Albion's history. If that's the case, there are no better events for Fable 4 to depict than the Fall of Albion's Guild of Heroes.

RELATED: Insiders Debunk Reports That Fable 4 Development Has Been Restarted

Why Fable's Heroes' Guild Was Destroyed

Albion's Heroes' Guild played a central role in the original Fable, since the player's Hero trained at the Guild, and it's the Guild's job to hand out the Quests to its members. However, by the time Fable 2 takes place about 500 years later, all that remains is the underground ruins of the Guild's Chamber of Fate. Theresa explains this part of Fable's lore when players arrive at the Chamber of Fate for the first time, revealing that Albion's love of the heroes eventually gave way to fear and hatred. This resulted in an uprising where the Guild was burned down, and most of the Heroes were killed.

Theresa doesn't go into too much detail about why the people of Albion turned on the Heroes. However, the first game might hold some clues. While morality has always been an essential concept in the Fable games, the Guild is functionally amoral. The heroes are happy to stop Fable 1 antagonist Jack of Blades from ending the world, but the Guild signs off on some pretty heinous stuff, including mass murder, as long as the gold is good. The Guildmaster even explicitly states that Heroes can choose to be good or evil during his speech at the protagonist's graduation.

The Guild that players see in Lionhead Studio's original Fable looks more like a group of magical mercenaries than upholders of the balance between good and evil. Fable's concept of Renown also makes Heroes come across as glory hounds. While that would put them right at home with the heroes of Greek mythology, it's not exactly a heroic trait in the modern sense. All in all, it's easy to see how Fable's Heroes could start abusing their power to the point that "Evil" almost becomes their default alignment. Even if most or all Heroes are Good, Albion's citizens will probably be more worried about the bad apples killing their friends and burning down their villages.

The Fall of The Guild in Fable 4

It's also reasonably easy to see how this conflict could be a promising concept to build Fable 4's story around, especially if the new Fable doesn't have a purely supernatural villain. It might even make some wonder why this wasn't the plot of Fable 2. Perhaps players could take the role of one of the guild's newest heroes, possibly even the child or grandchild of the original game's protagonist. Longtime Fable fans will naturally feel connected to the Guild based on the first game, which would add some interesting moral dilemmas when confronting the Guild's corruption.

Players could try to reform the Guild from within, changing history at the cost of moral compromise. Alternatively, Fable 4's Hero could brutally crush the rebellion or turn on the other Heroes to aid in the Guild's burning. It also doesn't have to be a matter of Evil Heroes and Good Rebels either; good and bad could be found on both sides. This would allow Fable 4 to tell a more nuanced story than its predecessors.

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Guns and Swords in Fable 4

It's one thing for Albion's people to turn on Fable's Heroes' Guild, but it's not like the order of magical warriors are just going to sit there and take it. However, the ordinary people of Albion had something to level the playing field. At some point before Fable 2, traders from Samarkand brought gunpowder to Albion. The subsequent invention of flintlock rifles allowed normal humans with minimal training to match Heroes in battle.

This brings up one of the arguments for Fable 4 taking place between the second and third games. Fans will disagree over whether guns should return in Fable 4, but this transitional period offers a potential compromise. Flintlock rifles and pistols were already obsolete by the time of Fable 2, with all Fable 3 guns being functionally semiautomatic. However, flintlocks could be state of the art at the time of the Guild's destruction.

Games like GreedFall demonstrate how to incorporate early firearms into an otherwise conventional action RPG, so Playground Games could do the same in the new Fable. Greedfall also occurred in a similar transition period, where medieval weapons like swords and halberds co-existed with muskets and pistols. While GreedFall is not the only game to depict this era of warfare, it's still a rarely-used combination that Fable 4 could capitalize on.

A New Era of Fable

Setting Fable 4 between the first two games brings other benefits as well. The 500-year gap between Fable and Fable 2 is more than enough time for an entire second series, after all. However, a more important feature is that it would let players explore a new era of Albion's history. Part of what makes Fable unique is that it's one of the few fantasy franchises where time and technology noticeably advance, going from medieval in Fable 1 to the Industrial Revolution in Fable 3.

Fable 3's undead Hollow Men dress like 16th-century conquistadors, implying they date back to Albion's equivalent of the 1500s. Fable 4 could take place in roughly that era or perhaps take inspiration from the English Civil War. The latter would be quite fitting since it marked a violent but major transition period for England, similar to the uprising that destroyed Fable's Heroes' Guild. However, depicting either era would be a great way to expand upon an interesting but unseen period of Fable's lore.

Fable 4 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Fable 4 Needs to Keep World Morphing

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