[2025] A Reflection on the Fable Series
How It Couldn't Exist Now.
The Fable series started back in 2004, developed by Lionhead Studios. This series takes the player to a Great Britain inspired fantasy land known as Albion. With magic and folklore throughout, the series is full of the traditional fantasy RPG experience with its own twists.
However, unlike other deep dives on series like Paper Mario or more recently, Animal Crossing - this reflection is about the culture and some of the special pieces that made Fable stick out to me.
Preface.
There are four main entries in the series thus far.
Fable*
Fable II
Fable III
Fable (Reboot)
The Story Begins: Fable I & Anniversary
Fable released in 2004 on the original Xbox and Windows. This title had a great start and is remembered fondly by many OG Xbox players. However, in my opinion, the first entry is the worst for replay value, it does not hold up very well in the modern day, and that includes the 2014 “HD remaster” of the original. The game isn’t crazy long, it has severe freezing issues, it has a lot of linear progression but it does set the groundwork for what the future holds. As the player has a lot of control over decisions with the alignment system that carries through the rest of the games moving forward. Fable is a decent title if you can handle the jank and odds and ends. But the first one isn’t the one I want to take a look at.
Woke Before It Was An Issue: Fable II
Four years after the original, Fable II was released on the Xbox 360 by Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios. This takes place centuries after the first entry. And this along with a large scale and direction, this video game EXPANDS everything. And before I continue to gush about why Fable II is arguably one of the best sleeper titles in the 360 generation, let’s go back to that subtitle. “Woke Before It Was An Issue” - I’m sure if you’re reading this, you have some sort of acknowledgment of the amount of anti-woke crusades going on in the world, and especially in this case, video games. While we will hit on upcoming Playground Games’ reboot later and the struggles it faces currently, let’s jump back seventeen years to 2008. This title is “woke” and no one said an absolute thing about it back then. Fable II expands the player's freedoms to incredibly unprecedented heights.
Fable II has all of this:
A very large variety of body types
The main character is incredibly muscular (regardless of base sex option)
One of the important characters is a larger built woman
A variety of race colors
One of the important characters is a black man
Same-sex marriage
Cross-dressing / defying gender stereotypes
STDs
Polyamory
Sex work
Animal rights
Religious freedom vs. indoctrination
What do I mean by all this? Well, the video game allows the player to access and interact with all of these things pretty quickly into the game. If you work at one of the job stalls and buy a ring and house, you can marry any NPC that is interested which is displayed in their info. For example, my most recent playthrough of Fable II - I played as a woman and she was an incredibly buff bodybuilder type lesbian with her wife in Bowerstone. She had the hearts of men and women alike but she never did look at a man. But I took a look at the previous save that I had was a man, and he was married to three different people! Two men and a woman. And that was back in 2015 - literally ten years ago. Which we can go even further back, I remember the first time I played Fable II, I randomly found it at a GameStop, used for six dollars. My dad got me it, I messaged my best friend if he’d ever heard of it on my TracFone and he said no. So we decided to play it that night. And it was one of those moments, the reason I bring this up is that he’s a gay man and there was no question if he could “have a gay option”, it was just in the game off rip. It is also worth noting that with Fable II that playing co-op, the second person had to be the opposite of the main player so when we ultimately married a woman on my initial first playthrough, technically it was a threesome which led to a very interesting experience when his character was also pregnant. And it was a hilarious experience.
Before I get sentimental, I wanted to shift back to the other aspects that would be considered “too woke” for the modern incel gamer. The “DEI chin” and the body types. As I mentioned earlier, my lesbian is a buff Rhea Ripley type lady who would throw you across a soccer field. And that’s not illogical or because Lionhead wanted to make “ugly or unattractive” characters. They looked at how being more physical and in fitness responded to the body. The character morphing existed as a visual representation for the player to see they were getting stronger. And before anyone makes the notion that they did make the woman ugly, both of the player characters are arguably the ugliest unique models out of the entire game. Hammer, the important larger built woman listed above, is a perfect example of this. All of these things existed without question in the world that Albion was. Fable II, and in a moment, III, are video games that would be screamed at by the vocal minority, attacked for virtually any reason if they were to release today. And maybe, it’s because I have a moral compass that wants everyone to be equal but I appreciate this game even more now than I ever did back then as a child.
Fable But Two.
As I went on about in the first half, Fable II is exactly that. More Fable, in every way. It levels up the gameplay, the story feels more expansive, the world feels more alive. Fable II does have some issues as it is from 2008, it has incredibly dark lighting riggings, an uncertain freeze issue where if you cast a spell as it zooms in for a cutscene, it can freeze, it has a decent story progression and a pretty great way to culminate at the end. The main story is about stopping the old king, Lucien and you do so by getting the three heroes, one of each aspect. Skill (guns), Strength (melee weapons), Will (magic) and as the True Hero, or usually referred to as the Hero of Balance, brings them together and to defeat Lucien in the Spire. This game doesn’t have a crazy elaborate or anything insane but it does do well with incorporating the alignment system and choices into the game as you progress. You are free to do as you please between quests and the timeskip. And that means you can have a family, kids, multiple houses, do what you wish as soon as you start the game if you so choose. As I mentioned, my most recent playthrough had a lesbian marriage and the wife actually notes of the character’s extended amount of time away when you return. If I had a true complaint for the game, it would be wanting more time and interaction with all three of the heroes, banter between them and more after the main campaign is over. So, does it keep that mojo moving in the next bout?
The Splitter: Fable III
This one is an incredibly divisive title. Released in 2010, only two years after Fable II, Lionhead is back with another installment in the series. Fable III. And this one is a mixed bag, a lot of good and a helluva lot of bad. Fable III takes the player out of the “random kid turns out to be the hero” and puts you into royalty. Picking between a Prince or Princess at the beginning, the player is tasked at first with rallying support to usurp their brother, Logan who has treated Albion, during the Industrial Age, essentially a dictatorship. It is intentionally vague on what his reasons are at first which makes it easy for the player to gravitate towards the hatred that the main cast express. However, as the player goes about the story, there are two parts that are important. The Promises and the Road to Rule, which we will get to both. The Promises are set up to be important down the road, when the player takes the throne after removing Logan as King. Each of the main important factions that the player comes across will have them, the Brightwall Academy to the desert folk in Aurora. And will be hit upon even more in a bit.
So, then what about the Road to Rule? This is arguably the biggest flaw that many players, including myself, have with Fable III. Unlike the previous two, each part of the road is locked behind a story progression gate, metaphorically and literally. This prevents the player from getting access to a lot of things, including expressions, out of combat options (like increased job working values) and even parenting. This along with the streamlined system of everything shares the points, it becomes much harder to want to invest in those things when the combat chests are more valuable since 80% of the game involves fighting, even side quests. And while some of the combat feels better, like magic spell weaving, it isn’t enough to warrant the change to essentially nerf the other aspects of the game’s options. Especially when Fable II had a good balance in this regard.
The Second Act.
After becoming the new crowned royalty of Albion, that was the only first part of the game’s story. Logan was not the be-all-end-all. He was a halfway point for the story to unfold. As a looming threat will eventually come to conquer all of Albion into chaos, the player has to make choices, connected to the alignment system AND the funds of the throne to balance standing a chance of this threat and bettering the lives of those that the player promised to assist. And there are multiple different parts to this, as each promise made through the first act now is decided upon being deemed “Good” or “Bad” as you have to decide what is the better choice. As someone who has played Fable III many times, the game has a good way to push you in both directions. Dialogue does influence how the world around your actions are made throughout. And while it was more of a joke when I was younger, it was always “Pick the good for everything but the whore house.” and now, as I did the math, that is the only “negative” option that the player has to choose to be able to complete every promise and beyond. The amount of money that the player gets for the throne funds is enough to cover all of the ones before and after it, give or take. And it only amplifies my sentiment towards the second game. These games would not exist with the climate in gaming and the general public we have now.
But truthfully, Fable III is just more Fable. It has a straightforward story and has a lot more horror inspiration than the first two. A lot of the same witty comedic jokes and many of the same elements that the second game had regarding the list above. It is a great time, easily worth a replay or first time play, and the FPS boost does help it age a lot better!
Potential in the Modern Day.
This feels unusual to discuss because a lot has happened in that timeframe with the Fable series. Lionhead Studios was acquired by Microsoft in the Xbox 360 era and something Microsoft seems to do is be too early for the rest of the party. And this was unfortunately what happened with Lionhead Studios. Gamers weren’t ready for the Xbox One’s always online or in this case, Fable Legends, a live service isometric game. It was stuck in a beta for a few years and could never get solid footing. While I only got to play it twice in the entire time it was a “project”, it was an alright experience that could’ve been solid at the time. However, Microsoft missed with this decision, much like Ninja Theory’s Bleeding Edge, and cut resources from a single player (or co-op) title that could’ve actually generated more hype around the Xbox One during this era. This would’ve also broken the meme of “Halo, Gears, Forza” the pillars of Xbox at the time since Fable games, while janky, are incredibly great games. Along with this, Microsoft is also renown for dormant franchises as they have made their acquisition spree go rampant the past few years, some of those titles being Banjo & Kazooie, Conker, Blue Dragon, etc. - Fable was apart of those after the cancellation of Fable Legends and the closure of Lionhead Studios. It was only a year after these announcements that we finally got rumors and job listings hinting at a new Fable. And then, only hours before their Xbox 2020 Showcase, the Fable logo is leaked online. And the teaser being the “one more thing”. My girlfriend was sitting on my bed with my cat, only a few weeks after we started dating and I genuinely screamed. Fable is one of those series that deserves greatness.
And then it went dark. For years, until 2023. When we were treated again with some Fable, an in-game trailer at the 2023 Showcase, this highlighted some combat scenarios, a template protagonist, and a lot of the same witty and charm that the series has been known for. And we got even more in 2024 with a 2025 release window. This trailer hits on a lot of the questions that the previous one did not. A bit of story, interaction with the cities of Albion, NPCs, combat, the ultimate core of Fable - the choices you make then the trailer ending with the antagonist teaser.
And while I have been waiting for many years for Fable content, I want Playground (& Eidos Montreal) to make Fable the best it can be. Everything it could be. If I have to wait longer for it, I will do it patiently. However, on the other side. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that as long as the development has gone smoothly, Fable is the highlighted release that would benefit from the deep dive direct following the Xbox Showcase (as Microsoft has done with Starfield and Black Ops 6 respectively.) - Fable is one of the Xbox brands that means the most, carries the most weight, any sort of publicity to get people interested especially to this reboot, they need to do it. And how does this work with the title of this? The Fable reboot has been blasted since the first announcement of the protagonist being “woke, DEI, ugly” so on and so forth because the protagonist seems to be a black woman and as someone who has played all of the Fable games, that’s completely fine! And we do not know if it is a character customization option or if it is a true character design. Fable(s) of the past allowed all sorts and wacky outfits, hairstyles, colors, and freedom of expression - we will have to wait and see what Playground chose to go forward with the goal of putting the best Fable out there.
Conclusion.
To wrap up, Fable has been a long standing Xbox flagship. Cast aside for years because of bad executive choices but even to this day, someone at Team Xbox hasn’t given up on it. Giving the series new life from Lionhead to Playground. If you want a raunchy, comedic fantasy folk game that has progressive elements that would make an insecure man shit themselves, Fable is the game series for you. I recommend finding a way to play Fable II and Fable III to feel the genuine height of the series.
(Screenshots of my two lady characters in the most recent playthroughs.)
