Beer, swearing, and aggressive strangers. Simply your common Thursday night time in a North London pub. Seems fantasy isn’t too removed from actuality, although, with a stroll round Fable delivering the very same substances for an eventful afternoon. A hands-off presentation at gamescom 2026 gave me new perception into developer Playground Video games’ Albion and the tales going down in it. Right here, I’ll stroll you thru every part that was proven, forward of me going hands-on with Fable and its fight programs later — keep tuned for my impressions of that very quickly. For now, it’s time to take a journey via Bowerstone and see what a full quest brings with it.
For these uninitiated within the authentic Fable trilogy, Bowerstone is the capital of the fantasy world of Albion, and it’s by no means seemed higher than it does right here. Firstly of my roughly 15-minute reside gameplay demo, our hero, a younger lady with a sword on her again, rode as much as the portcullis of the looming metropolis. What could possibly be an intimidating sight shortly was one in every of awe, although, with its central maintain towering over crooked, smaller buildings that stack up in direction of it. There’s a pleasing off-kilterness to the city, reflecting the imbalance in its world nearly as good struggles to outweigh evil. The askew rooftops and twisty brickwork marry fantastically with the winding nature of town’s streets and the uneven cobblestones that make them. All of it makes this world really feel totally handcrafted and believably constructed by the those that reside there, moderately than a boring geometric sample laid down by an unimaginative metropolis planner.
It’s not simply a sight to behold, although, however a metropolis stuffed with objective. Over 30 companies are dotted throughout it, from hairdressers to garments retailers to tattoo parlours. Playground actually needs you to create a character totally in your personal picture, and make them really feel as married to the world you stroll them via as attainable. Talking of marriage, our first cease in Bowerstone takes us to the hero’s household house — a cosy, well-kept cottage warmed by a roaring fire. Ready for us are our daughter, Daisy, and partner, Elliott. The love between him and our hero continues to be robust, it appears – as she walks away from him, he can’t assist however comment, “Ooph, so glad I married all of that”. Regular on, Elliott, we’ve obtained a village to avoid wasting.
Briar Hill is that village, and the crux of Fable’s primary story. A mysterious red-cloaked determine known as Isabel has turned the individuals of our hometown to stone, and it is as much as us to reanimate them. This quest we’re on now appears pretty early on within the plot, and has taken us to the capital to achieve entry to the Heroes Guild. A earlier mission has popped the important thing to the Guild’s headquarters in our stock, and so we stroll as much as the massive doorways with ease. Once more, each the outside and inside structure and artwork design on present are fantastic, with a pleasant mixture of grandeur and deliberate tough edges on present.
Sitting contained in the guild is Humphry the Golden, a legendary determine in Albion folklore who seems to have seen higher days. Performed by Peep Present’s Tremendous Hans supremo, Matt King, he cuts the determine of a bedraggled alcoholic, slumped in a massive chair within the darkness. By no means meet your heroes has by no means proved a more true phrase. Proving my level, in a stupor, he asks for a massive beer, and we’re offered with our first alternative — Playground guarantees Fable is packed stuffed with each large and small choices that may influence every part from minor character relationships to main story moments. Do you give Humphry the tankard stuffed with hoppy goodness, or throw it over him in an try and wake him up? The latter is chosen, and a pop-up seems on the left of the display screen letting us know that he now thinks we’re an arsehole.
Nonetheless, Humphry wants our assist. In debt and on the cusp of being evicted, as a way to achieve his steering, we’ll have to dig him out of a gap. It seems that this once-respected hero gambled away the possession rights of the guild and misplaced them to Slick Ronnie, a native Bowerstone gang chief. So, it’s now our job to get them again. It doesn’t take us lengthy to get in bother with this gang, both. One step again onto the streets and we’re confronted with a trio of Ronnie’s lackeys who’re bothering Billie, described by Playground as a “part-time playwright, full-time orphan.” Dialogue choices are given, and an try and defuse the scenario is made. Sadly, for them, violence is deemed obligatory.
It’s the primary alternative for us to get a correct look at Fable’s fight, and I’m impressed. It’s at all times troublesome to know the way good a recreation’s motion is till you get your arms on it your self — one thing I’ll be doing in mere hours — nevertheless it actually appears to be like slick. Sweeping sword slashes are executed. A bow and arrow is fired satisfyingly with a ping into somebody’s head. A protracted electrical whip is conjured and despatched crashing down onto the group. A fireball is sculpted from our hero’s palms and despatched blazing into a chest containing a now-unbeating coronary heart. The pliability on present is nice to see, and it seems this received’t be an RPG that restricts your fight choices relying on a strict class construction
That encounter earns us a ability level, and a pretty in depth ability tree is flashed up on display screen after which closed earlier than I’ve time to check it in any depth. Nevertheless, I did see what the ability level was spent on: magical blades, a spell any Fable veteran will little doubt fondly bear in mind. We’ll see in motion shortly.
First, it’s time to move to a extra down-on-its-luck a part of city the place Slick Ronnie’s hideout might be discovered. In fact, the path takes us to a pub. The Poor Home is Ronnie’s chosen watering gap, and after speaking to its clientele, it turns into obvious we’d like entry to the again space of the institution. There are a number of methods in, however we select the straightforward street and pay for entry to avoid wasting time.
As soon as via the door, we discover ourselves confronted with one other lock we don’t have the important thing for. This door is unguarded, nevertheless, so we put our trusty lockpicking abilities to the take a look at and achieve swift entry. There’s no Fallout-esque tumbler-rotating minigame to play right here, simply a easy maintain of a button as a substitute. Ronnie’s workplace waits on the opposite facet, and the deeds to the guild are there to be plundered. Simply strolling away could be far too easy, although, wouldn’t it? On the way in which out, Ronnie isn’t very pleased to see us, and a fast try and bluff her by saying we wandered into this restricted space after a few too many drinks doesn’t go down properly. It’s time to combat once more, and the proper alternative for these magical blades to see some motion.
Upon triggering the assault, three glowing blue swords float above our heads earlier than darting in direction of an enemy every – it’s very a lot the spell you bear in mind, and a good indicator that Playground has no intention of abandoning Fable’s historical past. It seems to be a nice crowd management instrument when surrounded by a number of attackers, as we’re right here. A follow-up arrow to one in every of their knees makes one satisfyingly stumble as they react to the goal harm, after which met with the pointed finish of our sword. Issues then get a little trickier right here, as a cumbersome brute wielding a two-handed axe enters the combat. It’s immediately noticeable what number of extra hits he can take, so as a substitute it appears clever to give attention to build up his stagger bar via sustained assaults so a large harm window opens. Once more, I’m impressed by the fluidity of the motion.
This battle indicators the tip of our time with Fable for now, nevertheless it’s that fight that I can’t wait to get my arms on. I’m left satisfied by the enjoyably British tone of the world, the vary of characters that inhabit it, and the tales they’re keen to inform us. I’m left hopeful the fight matches that high quality, although, and will likely be discovering out very quickly if Fable feels as slick to play because it appears to be like. I’ll let you recognize very quickly.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Comply with him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.