Fable Gets Extensive Gameplay Presentation With New Release Window

January 22, 2026, 2:00pm

After years of anticipation, Playground Games has finally provided fans with a deep dive on its upcoming RPG Fable. Originally slated to launch in 2025, Fable was pushed back to 2026 by Xbox early last year, much to the dismay of fans. Since that time, fans have been eager to see more of Fable in action and learn about when it would at long last be arriving. Now, by way of Xbox’s new Developer Direct event, that showing has come about.

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As the centerpiece of the 2026 Developer Direct presentation, Playground provided its first major look at gameplay from Fable. Those working on the project stressed multiple times throughout that Fable is being developed as a modernized version of the classic trilogy that came to Xbox and Xbox 360 platforms. As such, many gameplay mechanics and systems found in those games will be returning in this reboot with some new modernizations and tweaks.

The biggest departure for Fable this time around is that the game will be fully open-world. While past Fable titles featured expansive worlds, they were never open-ended in the way that games have commonly become over the past decade. This means that Fable will feature more exploration than ever before in the series and will be filled with a whole lot more content.

As for the other major confirmations that have come about in this showing, Fable will again be set in the world of Albion, roughly 100 years after the events of the previous games. A character creator will allow players to design their own protagonist and combat will be split up amongst swordplay, long-range firearms, and magic. Choices will also be presented to the player numerous times throughout Fable and will determine not only the outcome of the story, but will also shape the world itself. Playground gave one specific example of this within the presentation, but promised that many of these instances will occur throughout the game.