Fable 4 - In Production?

@Wccftech Fable 4 is rumoured to be in production and an ex-Lionhead developer thinks he knows who is developing it.

[…]

Today, former Lionhead Lead Engine Programmer Don Williamson mentioned on Twitter that he figured out which studio received the assignment to build Fable 4, commenting that it's an interesting choice. When asked by yours truly whether this team was located in Brighton, East Sussex; according to Williamson, though, no studio based in Brighton could take on such a massive task.

Mmm ok, having no inside information, I totally know who's building Fable 4 now. Interesting choice…

- Don Williamson (@Donzanoid) January 6, 2018

We know that Studio Gobo's Electric Square is working on a game for Microsoft Studios. However, Electric Square is based in Brighton so by this logic they could be working on something else, perhaps on a smaller scale.

The other major candidate for building Fable 4 among UK studios is none other than Playground Games. They've been openly recruiting developers on their website for a triple-A open world RPG and obviously, they have a great relationship with Microsoft having successfully developed the Horizon spin-off Forza franchise - in fact, Forza Horizon 3 is the only 90+ rated game on Metacritic published by Microsoft Studios during this console generation.

One argument that's been brought up against this possibility is that past openings mentioned "an entirely new AAA open world action RPG" and some had assumed this would mean a new IP.

But the latest opening for Senior Game Designer replaced that "entirely new" label with "exciting, large-scale".

[…]

More information.

Well, they did a pretty good job ruining what little potential that franchise had long ago.

Not sure I see the point. But if Molyneux isn't involved, I guess there's a chance it might be good.

Fable 3 was one of the most godawful "RPG"'s I've ever actually paid money for. Thought it might be decent because Fable 1 was (and 2 was never released for PCs). Boy, was I mistaken. I think it was designed for a target audience of 10 year olds.

Stay away!!! Far Far Away!
Fable series too much hype too little delivery.

Give them a chance maybe they will pull off a miracle though I'm not sure MS would let them even if they had a plan….

Fable: The Lost Chapters (the PC port) was actually a rather good game. I enjoyed it a lot, and have played through it quite a few times. Fable 2, which never got a PC release, wasn't too bad either, but Fable 3 was hopeless. If Fable 4 is in production, I hope they lean on the original for inspiration..

I never liked Fable much. It's too light-hearted and silly for my taste and had little in the way of exploration. I never played any of the sequels, though I have the 3rd game on Steam.

Years ago, I played Fable 2 for a while on my mate's Xbox. After a while I got tired of its light and fluffy tone, but I thought it was actually well on the way to being a good game.

I've not played the sequels, but I thought the first fable was an intresting and innovative game (atleast during the time when it was released). I thought it was really clever how your character's apperance changed based on his stats and choises you made. The fairy tale theme was somewhat adoring too, but I do remember getting tired of the fart humour and lousy combat. Very mixed game. It showed a lot of promise, but many annoying things and lousy design decisions ruined it.

Originally Posted by Maylander
Fable: The Lost Chapters (the PC port) was actually a rather good game. I enjoyed it a lot, and have played through it quite a few times. Fable 2, which never got a PC release, wasn't too bad either, but Fable 3 was hopeless. If Fable 4 is in production, I hope they lean on the original for inspiration..

Agreed. I'd prefer they take inspiration from the Fable: The Lost Chapters rather than 2 or 3. Fable: TLC was actually pretty decent in my eyes. Aside from a few personal quibbles I had regarding changes made to the original, it's still my favorite between the three. Fable 2 was also somewhat decent, though I think the changes made to combat and theme (moving away from armor and smaller towns to larger and more developed areas with a bigger focus on fashion) detracted from the experience.

I actually felt the combat for Fable: The Lost Chapters was pretty fun, but the game is remarkably easy in its entirety (save for a few select scenarios, particularly The Lost Chapters extension) and generally doesn't present much challenge to the player.

At the time of its release, though, I had a ton of fun with it.

I'd be curious to see a take on Fable 4, but I'll keep my expectations grounded.

Well, Peter Molyneux isn't involved so chances it'll be a good game have gone up considerably.

The first Fable was really charming and had a cool character system, in my opinion. The story was also very appealing in a fairy tale manner - though I didn't care for the silly expression crap.

Unfortunately, it was a very short game - and was clearly not anywhere near the potential. It should have been 3-4 timers bigger, for one - and they should have expanded some of the earlier sequences where they build up the story and the setting.

Fable 2 was good, though I never played it that much. In fact, I recently bought an Xbox One X partially to try this again on the best possible platform.

But I'm partial to the first Fable.

Fable 3 was crap beyond belief on PC - so I never gave it more than 10 minutes.

Recently, they also cancelled that Fable Legends thing or whatever that was - that they tried to market as a big deal, at one point.

I'm puzzled as to why they still think the franchise is worth much - but I guess the name is better than no name.

Yes Fable 1 was charming, but it was also a bit too linear. An open world Fable might be interesting, depending on how much they learned from their mistakes.

Originally Posted by rjshae
Yes Fable 1 was charming, but it was also a bit too linear.

Is this a strike against the game? Linearity isn't exactly a bad thing.

Well, it sort of is as it was supposed to be this huge open RPG

At least, that was how Molyneux made it sound. Then again, he made a LOT of promises that never came to fruition.

Originally Posted by NewDArt
Well, it sort of is as it was supposed to be this huge open RPG

At least, that was how Molyneux made it sound. Then again, he made a LOT of promises that never came to fruition.

Ah, in terms of undelivered promises, gotcha.

I still remember him talking about trees being planted and how they would grow as your character aged.

Originally Posted by Ragnaris
Ah, in terms of undelivered promises, gotcha.

I still remember him talking about trees being planted and how they would grow as your character aged.

I've thankfully forgotten 99% of his bullshit - but the hype for Fable was absolutely insane.

I think it might have been the peak of Molyneux lies

I remember reading a fable preview article from one game magazine where Mr. Molyneux said that Fable 1 would have trees which would grow during the course of the game. The landscape would change dramatically etc.

Lots of undelivered promises, but the game was decent. It just wasn't the game which they wanted it to be.

I tried to like Fable as I tried to like Kingdom of Alumar. Same design document I think. Shallow and boring.

I tried them, didn't care for them at all. Just not my cuppa, I suppose.