| Fable | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Developer(s) |
|
| Publisher(s) | Xbox Game Studios |
| Composer(s) | Danny Elfman Russell Shaw |
| Platform(s) | |
| First release | Fable 14 September 2004 |
| Latest release | Fable Fortune 22 February 2018 |
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games for Xbox, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms. The series was developed by Lionhead Studios until the studio was closed in 2016, and is published by Xbox Game Studios.
The Fable series takes place in the fictional nation of Albion, a state that, at the time of the first game, is composed of numerous autonomous city-states with vast areas of countryside or wilderness in between. The setting originally resembles Medieval Britain, with some European elements. The name Albion itself is an ancient albeit still used name for Great Britain. The period of time progresses with each game; in Fable II , Albion has advanced to an era similar to that of the Age of Enlightenment, and by Fable III the nation has been unified under a monarchy and is undergoing an "Age of Industry" similar to the real-world 18th-19th-century Industrial Revolution.
In the first Fable , players assume the role of a boy who is forced into a life of heroism when bandits attack his village, kill his father and kidnap his sister. The choices players make in the game affect the perception and reaction to their Hero by the characters of Albion and change the Hero's appearance to mirror what good or evil deeds he has performed. In addition to the main quest to learn what happened to the Hero's family, players can engage in optional quests and pursuits such as trading, romance and married life, pub gaming, boxing, exploring, and theft. [1]
Fable II takes place 500 years after the events of the first game. [2] The world resembles Europe between the late 1600s and early 1700s, the time of highwaymen and the Enlightenment. Science and more modern ideas have suppressed the religion and magic of old Albion. Its towns have developed into cities, weaponry is slowly taking advantage of gunpowder, and social, family and economic life present more possibilities - as well as challenges. The sequel basically expands most or all parts of the gaming experience from the previous game, without changing the elementary modes of playing. The continent of Albion is larger as a game world, but contains fewer locations, and the locations that remain are more developed and detailed. In contrast to Fable , the solving of set quests is not the basis of the story; rather, the story develops from the player's situation in time and place. This gives the game a sense of more interactivity than the first title in the series.
In Fable III the setting is 50 years after that of Fable II . [3] The historical development is further advanced since the last version: Albion is experiencing an Industrial Revolution and society resembles that of the early 1800s. In all of the versions, the moral development (in a negative or a positive way) is at the core of the gameplay. This moral development is expanded to include the personal or psychological and has a more political aspect, as the goal of the game is to overthrow the oppressive king of Albion, as well as defend the continent from attacks from abroad.
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As role-playing video games, the Fable series constructs the development of a protagonist controlled by the player, and the development is related to the same character's interaction with the game world. A major part of this interaction is for the Fable series related to interaction with people, be it conversation, storytelling, education, trading, gaming, courting and relationships, or fighting.
The player is able to develop the protagonist following several parameters, such as magic, strength and social skills. The player may also direct the moral quality of the protagonist, so that skills may be developed in equal terms and conditions both in the negative and positive field.
In addition to this basis of the gameplay, some of the versions focus on set quests that together give the protagonist the opportunity to develop, as well as unveiling strands of the story of the game.
Fable II and Fable III include cooperative gameplay, where two players with their own character can join forces in their different tasks.
| 2004 | Fable |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Fable: The Lost Chapters |
| 2006–2007 | |
| 2008 | Fable II |
| Fable II Pub Games | |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 | Fable III |
| 2011 | Fable Coin Golf |
| 2012 | Fable Heroes |
| Fable: The Journey | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | Fable Anniversary |
| 2015–2016 | |
| 2017 | Fable Fortune |
| 2018–2024 | |
| 2025 | Fable |
| Game | Metacritic |
|---|---|
| Fable | (Xbox) 85 [4] (PC) 83 [5] (X360) 68 [6] |
| Fable II Pub Games | (X360) 53 [7] |
| Fable II | (X360) 89 [8] |
| Fable III | (X360) 80 [9] (PC) 75 [10] |
| Fable Heroes | (X360) 55 [11] |
| Fable: The Journey | (X360) 61 [12] |
The first game, Fable , was teased in 2001 by developer Lionhead Studios. Lead designer and Lionhead co-founder Peter Molyneux "promised an experience like no other" and that the game would "revolutionize the RPG". Fable was released for Xbox on 14 September 2004. It was originally seen very poorly as it was mostly reported that the game had no content due to the substantial amount of unfulfilled "promises" by Molyneux, which he soon apologized for, garnering even more press coverage. [13]
Despite offers from such large companies, such as Electronic Arts, the over-ambition experienced during Fable's development and overestimated sales of the original game had left Lionhead Studios with low stocks and in debt. [14] To gain access to a bigger budget Lionhead signed with Microsoft Game Studios. An extended version, Fable: The Lost Chapters , was released for Windows and Xbox in September 2005; Feral Interactive ported the game to the Mac platform on 31 March 2008. It featured new content in many forms and, with the support of Microsoft, was a critical and commercial success.
Fable II was released for Xbox 360 on 24 October 2008. It was also a critical and commercial success. It featured a tie-in game called Fable II Pub Games that was released on the Xbox Live Arcade, and an interactive online flash game called Fable: A Hero's Tale that allowed players to open a secret chest in the main game. [15]
A third game, Fable III , was released for Xbox 360 on 29 October 2010, and a Microsoft Windows release on 17 March 2011. [16] [17] This game also featured a tie-in phone game called Fable Coin Golf . [18]
On 2 May 2012, Fable Heroes , was released for the Xbox Live Arcade. Despite the amount of differences the game has from others in the series and its mixed critical reception, [19] it being a multiplayer-based family-friendly beat-em-up, the game is popular among fans as it still embodies some of fans' favorite iconic elements of the series.[ citation needed ]
Fable: The Journey , a spin-off within the series, was released in October 2012 in North America and Europe. The game utilized the Kinect attachment for the Xbox 360. Lead designer Peter Molyneux departed Lionhead Studios in 2012. [20]
Lionhead Studios released an Xbox 360 remake of the original game, including The Lost Chapters, called Fable Anniversary to mixed reviews in February 2014. Fable Trilogy, a compilation for Xbox 360 that includes Fable Anniversary, Fable II and Fable III was released in February 2014. [21]
Fable-themed card games were released as part of the Microsoft Solitaire Collection for the PC on March 4, 2014 and a Fable Anniversary theme was released for the Microsoft Jigsaw collection.[ citation needed ]
In August 2013, Lionhead Studios released a teaser trailer for Fable Legends , an Xbox One title set during the "Age of Heroes" long before the events of the first game. The trailer emphasizes that in the game the player would play alongside four other players and may choose to be the Hero of the story or the Villain. Microsoft canceled the project in March 2016 and Lionhead Studios was closed soon afterwards. [22]
In May 2016, former Lionhead developers launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund Fable Fortune , a free-to-play collectible card game. The game was previously in development at Lionhead prior to the studio's closure. [23] The game was released for the Xbox One in February 2018.
In January 2018, rumors surfaced that a new Fable game was being developed by Playground Games, [24] and that studio was hiring 177 positions for an open world role-playing game. [25] [26] During the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020, a new Fable was announced as being in development, with the game releasing on the Xbox Series X and Series S and Microsoft Windows at an undisclosed date. [27] It will run on the Forza series' in-house game engine, ForzaTech. [28] In November 2021, Eidos-Montréal would join the project as a co-developer. [29] By March 2023, the game was reported to be in the early stages of full production. On June 11, 2023, Playground Games unveiled the first in-game trailer of Fable at the Xbox Games Showcase, featuring actor Richard Ayoade, [30] subsequently followed by another July 2024 trailer featuring actor Matt King. [31]
Fable: The Balverine Order is a fantasy novel by Peter David based on the series. [32] The novel was released in North America and Europe in October 2010. The book was released with an exclusive code to unlock a unique weapon in Fable III. [33] [34] [35]
The story is told from the point of view of a king of an unknown country who listens to an unnamed story-teller in the Fable universe. It takes place between Fable II and III. [36] The central story involves the characters Thomas Kirkman, a wealthy son of a textile merchant whose mother's death puts him on his quest to find a balverine, and his manservant, James Skelton, a child in a large poor family. The two friends brave the wilds in search of a balverine that killed Thomas' brother, Stephen. [37]
Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the Black & White and Fable series. Lionhead started as a breakaway from developer Bullfrog Productions, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life and strategy games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Webley's hamster, which died not long after the naming of the studio, as a result of which the studio was very briefly renamed to Redeye Studios.
Peter Douglas Molyneux is an English video game designer and programmer. He created the god games Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, the Fable series, Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube?, and Godus. In 2012 he founded and currently runs 22cans, a video game development studio.
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles.
Fable is an action role-playing video game, the first in the Fable series. It was developed for the Xbox, Windows, and Mac OS X platforms by Big Blue Box Studios, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft Studios. The game shipped for the Xbox in September 2004. An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for the Xbox and Windows in September 2005. A port of the game for Mac OS X, created by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive, was released in March 2008 after a delay of more than two years due to licensing issues.
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021.
Fable II is a 2008 action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game is the second installment in the Fable game series, and the sequel to 2004's Fable. The story takes place within the fictional land of Albion, 500 years after the first game. Players assume the role of a young hero who is destined to stop a former ruler turned madman from destroying the world. The game features several prominent actors portraying major characters in the game, including Zoë Wanamaker, Ron Glass and Stephen Fry. The game's setting takes inspiration from the historical late colonial era, in terms of architecture, social quality and basic firearms such as flintlock pistols.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a 2007 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the third main installment and the fourth overall installment in the Guitar Hero series. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Neversoft after Activision's acquisition of RedOctane and MTV Games' purchase of Harmonix, the previous development studio for the series. The game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii in October 2007. Aspyr published the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game, releasing them later in 2007.
Fable II Pub Games is an Xbox Live Arcade title that includes three pub game-styled minigames called Keystone, Fortune's Tower and Spinnerbox for the Xbox 360, developed by Carbonated Games under the supervision of Lionhead Studios, which all share functionality with Fable II. The games are included in both editions of Fable II. Fable II Pub Games was free for those who pre-ordered Fable II from participating retailers.
Divinity II is an action role-playing game developed by Larian Studios. Its first release in 2009 was subtitled Ego Draconis and was published by dtp entertainment and in the United States by cdv Software Entertainment. The updated 2010 re-release The Dragon Knight Saga which included the expansion Flames of Vengeance, as well as the final 2012 release as Divinity II: Developer's Cut, were published by Focus Home Interactive.
Fable III is a 2010 action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The third game in the Fable series, the story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion, the player character's brother, by forming alliances and building support for a revolution. After a successful revolt, the player becomes the monarch and is tasked with attempting to defend Albion from a great evil. The game includes voice acting by Ben Kingsley (Sabine), Stephen Fry (Reaver), Simon Pegg, Naomie Harris (Page), Michael Fassbender (Logan), Zoë Wanamaker (Theresa), Bernard Hill, Nicholas Hoult (Elliot), John Cleese (Jasper), Jonathan Ross, Adjoa Andoh (Kalin), Kellie Bright, and Louis Tamone.
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Fable: The Journey is an action role-playing on rails video game, the fifth in the Fable series. It was developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360, as a Kinect title. First announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the game is a standalone title, separate from the main series. Unlike previous games, Fable: The Journey was developed using Unreal Engine 3. It is the last game by Lionhead Studios before the studio's closure in 2016.
Fable Heroes is a beat 'em up video game in the Fable series, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360. Announced at the 2012 Xbox Spring Showcase, it was released on 2 May that year as part of the Xbox Live Arcade Next Promotion. It is the first "family-friendly" game in the Fable series.
The Wolf Among Us is an episodic graphic mystery adventure game developed by Telltale Games, based on Bill Willingham's Fables comic book series, to which it serves as a prequel. The game consists of five episodes that were released throughout 2013 and 2014. Retail versions for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles were made available in November 2014. In the game, the player controls Bigby Wolf, the sheriff of Fabletown – a clandestine community within 1980s New York City consisting of various fantastical characters from fairy tales and folklore – and must investigate a series of mysterious murders, the first ones to occur in Fabletown in a long time.
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows, and Mac OS X platforms. The music of the Fable series is the soundtrack to all three games.
Fable Legends is a cancelled cooperative action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and projected to be published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. Microsoft cancelled the game on 7 March 2016. The servers shut down on 13 April 2016.
Fable Fortune was a free-to-play digital collectible card game set in the Fable universe. The game was released for Windows and Xbox One in February 2018, after an initial early access release. It was co-developed by Flaming Fowl Studios and Mediatonic. In late 2019, Flaming Fowl Studios announced their intent to cease work on further updates for the game, citing its lacklustre performance on the market. The support for the game was finally discontinued on 4 March 2020.
Fable is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. Set in the fictional world of Albion, Fable represents the first new installment in the franchise since Lionhead Studios's Fable: The Journey in 2012. Positioned as a reboot, the game aims to update the series with contemporary gameplay mechanics and visuals, targeting a new generation of players. It is scheduled to be released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S in 2025.