Fable is an action role-playing video game and the first in the Fable series. It was created for the Xbox, Windows, and macOS by Big Blue Box Studios, a smaller team that worked with Lionhead Studios. Microsoft Studios published the game. The original version was released for the Xbox in September 2004. A longer version, called Fable: The Lost Chapters, came out for the Xbox and Windows in September 2005. A macOS version, made by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive, was released in March 2008. This release was delayed for more than two years because of problems with licenses.
The game takes place in a fantasy world named Albion. Players control an unnamed hero who joins the Heroes Guild after his family is killed during a bandit attack on his hometown. After leaving the guild, players choose whether the hero will follow a path of good or evil.
The game was first called Project Ego during development. More than 150 people worked on it. The music was composed by Russell Shaw, and the opening theme was written by Danny Elfman. The game was highly expected before its release, partly because Peter Molyneux, a co-founder of Lionhead Studios, promoted it enthusiastically. The game was originally planned for the Dreamcast but moved to the Xbox after the Dreamcast was no longer produced. The game supported Xbox Live’s Live Aware feature. Later, it was supported again on Xbox online servers called Insignia.
Critics praised Fable for its gameplay and design, but some promised features were not included. It was the best-selling game in September 2004 and sold over two million copies by 2006. Two sequels followed: Fable II in 2008 and Fable III in 2010. A reboot is being developed by Playground Games. In 2014, a high-definition version called Fable Anniversary, which includes The Lost Chapters, was released for the Xbox 360 and Windows.
Gameplay
Fable is a role-playing video game where players control their character from a third-person perspective. The main character, known as The Hero of Oakvale, can talk to people, use objects, and fight enemies. The goal of the game is to complete missions called quests that help move the story forward. Players can also choose to complete optional quests or take actions that are not directly tied to the story.
Most quests are found at a central location called the Heroes' Guild. Required quests are marked with a gold symbol and help advance the story, while optional quests are marked with a silver symbol and can be completed in any order. Some quests let players choose to help either evil characters, like bandits, or good characters, like traders and guards. Players can also bet some of the reward gold from a quest for a bigger prize if they complete the quest under certain conditions, such as not taking damage or doing it without clothes. Gold can be used to buy weapons and items, while renown affects how townspeople react to the Hero. Heroes also earn trophies for their victories, which they can show to townspeople to gain more renown.
In addition to using melee weapons (like swords and maces) and ranged weapons (like longbows and crossbows), Heroes can learn and use spells to strengthen their abilities, avoid damage, or hurt enemies. As players complete quests or defeat enemies, they earn general experience and experience based on whether they used melee attacks, ranged weapons, or magic. These experiences help improve Strength, Skill, and Will, respectively. Experience points can be used at a platform in the Heroes' Guild to level up attributes. General experience can be used to improve all groups of attributes. Strength experience can only improve Physique, Health, and Toughness. Skill experience can only improve Speed, Accuracy, and Guile. Will experience can be used to increase magic power or learn and improve spells, which are divided into three groups: Attack Spells, Surround Spells, and Physical Spells. The main character’s experience can be multiplied during combat through a combat multiplier. Each successful hit increases the multiplier, but if the character is hit by an enemy, the multiplier decreases to the next multiple of five or zero if below five.
The game world has towns where players can do activities not related to fighting. Heroes can buy trade items like beer kegs or grain sacks and sell them in other towns for profit. Towns are also places to buy clothing, weapons, or other items. Many towns have houses for sale that the Hero can buy, furnish, or rent out for gold. Heroes can also marry men or women in each town.
In Fable, a player’s Hero has a measure of good or evil alignment based on their actions. Good deeds give good points, which create a positive alignment, while bad actions give evil points, creating a negative alignment. Killing monsters or saving villagers are good actions, while killing innocent people, breaking laws, or mistreating a spouse adds evil points. Eating certain foods can also affect alignment; for example, eating tofu gives good points, while eating crunchy chicks (which are assumed to be alive) gives evil points. Players can also pray at temples. Donations to the Temple of Avo give good points, while "gifts" to the Chapel of Skorm give evil points. Alignment affects how non-player characters react to the Hero and how the Hero looks. A Hero with a strongly positive alignment has a glowing light above their head, butterflies around them, and lighter features. A Hero with a strongly negative alignment has a red haze around their legs, glowing red eyes, and horns.
Other actions affect the Hero. Eating too much makes the character gain weight, while drinking too much beer causes sickness and vomiting. Clothing provides defense in combat and can change how the Hero looks or how townspeople react. Bright clothing makes the Hero look noble, while dark clothing makes them seem threatening. Heroes can also customize their appearance with hairstyles, facial hair, and tattoos. The Hero’s attributes affect their appearance: high Strength makes them look stronger, high Skill makes them taller, and high magic creates glowing patterns on their body.
Synopsis
The story takes place in Albion, a land made up of many city-states separated by wild plains and forests. Long ago, Albion was ruled by a royal family known as the Archons, called the "Old Kingdom." The first Archon ruled peacefully, but his power came from a powerful sword called the Sword of Aeons. Over time, the sword made the Archon and his kingdom corrupt. By the time the game begins, Albion has worsened since the days of the Old Kingdom. A major group in Albion is the Heroes' Guild, which trains and teaches Heroes. Heroes are skilled fighters who work as thieves, soldiers, guards, and protectors. The Guild does not judge whether Heroes act right or wrong.
On his sister’s birthday, a boy’s village, Oakvale, is attacked by bandits who kill his father and take his mother and sister. A Hero named Maze saves the boy and takes him to the Heroes' Guild to train. After years of training, Maze tells the boy about a blind seeress living with bandits near Oakvale and asks him to enter the camp. To his surprise, the seeress is his older sister, Theresa, who was taken in by Twinblade, a former Hero who now leads the bandits. After fighting Twinblade, the boy must decide whether to kill or spare him.
Later, the Hero becomes well-known in Albion and is invited to fight in the Arena, where he meets Jack of Blades, a famous Hero who runs the battles. Jack challenges the Hero to fight his rival, Whisper, who was once his childhood friend at the Guild. After defeating Whisper, the Hero must choose to kill or spare her.
The Hero learns that Jack of Blades destroyed Oakvale during his childhood. With Theresa’s help, he finds his mother alive in Bargate Prison. During a rescue attempt, the Hero is captured and stays in prison for over a year before escaping. Maze is revealed to be a traitor working with Jack, who has kidnapped Theresa again. After defeating Maze, the Hero faces Jack, who kills the Hero’s mother. Jack explains that the Sword of Aeons can only be used if it is given the blood of an Archon. The Hero and Theresa are the last descendants of the Archon, and if Jack destroys them, the sword will become even more powerful. After defeating Jack, the Hero must decide whether to keep the sword by killing Theresa or destroy it forever.
Depending on the Hero’s choices and whether the player keeps or destroys the sword, there are four different endings. After the ending, players can continue their game.
In The Lost Chapters special edition, the story continues. After defeating Jack, the Hero must travel to the Northern Wastes to help a Hero named Scythe stop a great evil. If the Hero destroyed the Sword of Aeons, he can obtain a new sword called "Avo’s Tear," which has the same power but represents the light side. After completing quests, the Hero learns Jack of Blades has returned as a dragon. He defeats Jack again, traps Jack’s soul in a mask, and must decide whether to wear the mask—becoming consumed by Jack—or destroy it forever.
Development
Fable was the first game created by Big Blue Box, a smaller studio connected to Lionhead, which is owned by Peter Molyneux. Dene and Simon Carter, the founders of Big Blue Box, said their first project needed to meet certain standards to be accepted by game companies, but they wanted to make something unique, not a common game. To help cover the costs of running a new studio, Molyneux suggested that Big Blue Box could use Lionhead’s technology and support, allowing them to focus on making the game. After struggling to find a publisher, Big Blue Box received a contract from Microsoft. The Carters explained their goal was to create a role-playing game with a special design:
The game’s world would be a beautiful place with waterfalls, mountains, and forests filled with characters who acted like real people. Players would control a hero who changed based on how they played, such as aging, getting scars, or choosing to wear different clothing. Each player would have a unique experience and their own story to share. They named the game Thingy.
During early development, the game had many different names, including Wishworld and Project Ego.
It took about four years to create Fable, with around 70 developers working on it. The main ideas for the game were that the hero’s appearance would show his experiences, and the world would react based on the player’s choices.
Peter Molyneux strongly promoted Fable, once saying it would be the best game ever made.
Early previews of Fable highlighted its unusual humor and atmosphere, which GamePro compared to the writing styles of Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony. This was different from most role-playing games at the time.
Except for the main theme, the music for Fable was composed by Russell Shaw, who had previously worked on games by Molyneux, such as Magic Carpet and Black & White. The main theme was created by Danny Elfman. Elfman mentioned that Hollywood composers rarely work on video games, partly because many game developers prefer music that sounds like an orchestra but is made with synthesizers. Elfman insisted on using a real orchestra, which Shaw said was more challenging than previous projects. He noted, “There are more people involved (even without considering the orchestra), and the complexities of how music interacts with the game are more obvious.”
Release
Fable: The Lost Chapters was released for Xbox and Windows PC platforms in September 2005. The game was later made available on macOS by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive on March 31, 2008.
The Lost Chapters includes all the content from the original Fable, plus new additions such as extra monsters, weapons, spells, items, armor, towns, buildings, and expressions. Players can now give children objects in the game. The story includes nine new areas and sixteen additional quests. Characters like Briar Rose and Scythe, who had small roles in the original game, now play larger parts in main and side quests. The voice of the main villain, Jack of Blades, sounds deeper and more menacing. Players can also solve the mystery of Lady Grey's sister’s murder. The game also fixed issues like the "dig glitch," which caused the main character to move backward when using a shovel, sometimes trapping them in solid objects.
Fable sold 375,000 copies in its first week and 600,000 copies in its first month. Sales reached 1.4 million copies by March 2005. By July 2006, the Xbox version had sold 1.5 million copies and earned $58 million in the United States. Next Generation listed it as the 29th best-selling game for PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in the U.S. The game has sold about three million copies worldwide.
Reception
Fable received positive feedback from both players and critics. The original Xbox version of the game had an average score of 85% from critics on Metacritic and GameRankings. The game won more than fifty awards and became the fastest-selling Xbox game at the time. At the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences honored Fable with awards for "Original Musical Composition" and "Character or Story Development." It also received nominations for "Outstanding Innovation in Console Gaming," "Game Design," and "Gameplay Engineering."
Fable’s combat system was praised by reviewers. Staff from 1UP.com noted that the game offered many different ways to fight, making combat feel like its own mini-game. They wrote, "Combat becomes its own minigame, with the goal not solely to beat a foe, but to beat it with skill and get the most from every fight. Slaughter becomes irrelevant, and the fights never become tedious."
Although some reviewers pointed out flaws, such as simple character designs, Marc Saltzman of USAToday.com said the game’s depth, open-ended gameplay, and strong story would satisfy players. Fable was also praised for its theme of free will and the consequences of the Hero’s choices. Other aspects, such as humorous characters and a "very British sense of humour, in the style of Monty Python or Douglas Adams," were also well-received.
Some reviewers criticized the short length of the main story. However, many ignored this because the game included many side quests. When Fable was released, some players were upset that it did not include features Peter Molyneux had mentioned during development, such as the Hero’s ability to have children. Molyneux apologized for these omissions on the official Lionhead forums. This issue was later fixed in Fable II and Fable III, which both included the ability to have children.
The PC and Xbox versions of Fable: The Lost Chapters were also well-received, though they had slightly lower average scores than the original game. Reviewers like Greg Kasavin of GameSpot said that the new content helped keep the game fresh. 1UP.com noted that while the added content did not change the game’s core, it increased the number of available quests, addressing complaints about the original game’s short length. GamePro and IGN said the PC version of The Lost Chapters was better than the console version.
In 2005, a Microsoft Game Studios representative said Fable would be part of the next-generation Xbox 360. Sequels Fable II and Fable III were released in 2008 and 2010, respectively.
In 2013, Lionhead Studios announced Fable Anniversary, a remastered version of Fable: The Lost Chapters for the Xbox 360. It included improved graphics, updated audio, a new save system, and Achievements. The game took 15 months to develop and featured upgrades such as native widescreen support, higher polygon count, larger textures, better lighting, and improved shadows. Fable Anniversary was released on Steam on September 12, 2014, and included support for user-created content. Reviews of the game were mixed. While many praised the improved graphics, others criticized the game for not fixing bugs from the original version, such as frequent freezing. The game received a 68% score on Metacritic.