# Fable

> Albion reborn: the Hero of Briar Hill, style-weaving combat, reputations, romance and every village and chicken Playground Games has shown, with the footage to show it

Fable is Playground Games' open-world action RPG reboot of the Fable series, published by Xbox Game Studios, in which the first Hero in a generation sets out from Briar Hill across a living Albion where reputation is everything; it launches on Feb 23, 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5, day one with Game Pass, with Premium Edition Early Access from Feb 18. This viki covers its release, editions, platforms and PC requirements, its combat, magic, reputations, villagers, romance and property, its story, world and cast, its trailers and the series it reboots, with the moments on YouTube that show them.

Fable is a video wiki on Vi.ki: every key paragraph carries a timestamped YouTube clip that shows what it says, and every page lists its sources. Page text is CC BY-SA 4.0. Canonical page URLs are https://fable.vi.ki/{slug}; a category lists its pages at https://fable.vi.ki/{category}, and a photo has its own page at https://fable.vi.ki/photo/{title}-{id}; please link to them when you quote a page.

Subject: Fable (schema.org VideoGame), the same thing as https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q97656849, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2027_video_game), https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/fable, https://store.steampowered.com/app/2769570/Fable/, https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10015869, https://www.playground-games.com/game/fable.

## Development and Release

- [Development](https://fable.vi.ki/development): Fable is developed by a newly formed team at Playground Games, the Forza Horizon studio Microsoft bought in 2018, on Playground's ForzaTech engine, with support from Eidos Montreal. It was announced in July 2020, delayed twice, and launches on Feb 23, 2027.
- [Fable Series](https://fable.vi.ki/fable-series): Fable (2027) is a reboot of the series Lionhead Studios began on Xbox in 2004, "not a remake or a sequel", so no earlier Fable game is needed to play it. The trilogy was Fable, Fable II and Fable III; Lionhead closed in 2016.
- [Order of the Hero](https://fable.vi.ki/order-of-the-hero): Fable: Order of the Hero is a story expansion coming after Fable's launch, set in a new region of Albion where the Hero uncovers an ancient cult and becomes its "newest celebrity overseer"; it comes with the Premium Edition, the Collector's Edition and the Premium Upgrade, and has no date yet.
- [Playground Games](https://fable.vi.ki/playground-games): Playground Games is the Leamington Spa studio behind Forza Horizon, owned by Microsoft since 2018, and a separate, newly formed team there is developing Fable, led by GM and Game Director Ralph Fulton.

## Gameplay

- [Character Creation](https://fable.vi.ki/character-creation): Fable lets you design your Hero in a character creator, choosing from a range of heads and customizing hairstyle, skin tone, clothing, tattoos and scars. The Hero is voiced by Lily Nichol or Ukweli Roach, and your looks no longer change with your deeds as they did in the Lionhead games.
- [Chickens](https://fable.vi.ki/chickens): Chickens are Fable's running joke and part of its systems: kicking them where people can see earns the Reputation "Chicken Chaser", the Befowl spell turns enemies into chickens, giant fire-breathing chickens are enemies, a Demon Door hides a chicken-kicking minigame, and pre-orders get a Chicken Suit and a Toy Chicken.
- [Combat](https://fable.vi.ki/combat): Fable's combat lets the Hero switch at any moment between melee, ranged weapons and magic (the old games' Strength, Skill and Will), a system Playground Games calls "style-weaving", usually with one Hero against a group of enemies. There is a dodge, a parry, weapon finishers and a combat intensity setting.
- [Enemies](https://fable.vi.ki/enemies): Fable's enemies include bandits and returning creatures from the old games (Hobbes, Balverines and Trolls) and new ones shown in 2026: the skeletal Hollow Folk, flying Wraiths, the Lantern Keeper mini-boss and a giant fire-breathing chicken, the Cockatrice.
- [Living Population](https://fable.vi.ki/living-population): Fable's "Living Population" is its cast of more than 1,000 hand-designed villagers, each with a name, a Trait, a home, a job and a daily schedule, all fully voiced by about 100 actors. The Hero can befriend, employ, rent to, marry or kill every adult among them.
- [Magic and Spells](https://fable.vi.ki/magic): Fable's gamescom 2026 demo showed seven spells, cast by holding RT and pressing a face button from four slots, each with a cooldown: Fireball, Lightning, Blades, Lift, Rush, Push and Befowl, which turns people into chickens. The full spell list has not been published.
- [Property and Jobs](https://fable.vi.ki/property): In Fable the Hero can buy any house or shop (every house in Bowerstone is for sale), become a landlord who sets rent or an employer who sets wages, and take jobs such as blacksmith. Tenants who cannot pay move out, and villagers who dislike you may refuse to work for you.
- [Reputation and Morality](https://fable.vi.ki/reputation): Fable has no good-or-evil meter. Deeds that someone sees, or that you repeat, earn the Hero Reputations such as "Chicken Chaser", kept separately in each settlement (up to six at once), and every villager judges them by their own worldview, which changes catcalls, romance, marriage and shop prices.
- [Romance, Marriage and Children](https://fable.vi.ki/romance): In Fable every adult villager can be dated, married, lived with and had children with, though not all at once, and your Reputations decide who is willing. Marrying several people in one settlement can get you blackmailed.

## Launch Guides

- [Early Access](https://fable.vi.ki/early-access): Fable's Early Access starts on Feb 18, 2027, up to five days before the Feb 23 launch, for owners of the Premium Edition, the Collector's Edition or the Premium Upgrade; Game Pass members get it by buying the Premium Upgrade.
- [Editions and Pre-order Bonuses](https://fable.vi.ki/editions): Fable sells in a $69.99 Standard Edition and a $99.99 Premium Edition, which adds Early Access from Feb 18, 2027, two armor sets, nine gifts, a digital artbook and soundtrack and the Order of the Hero expansion. Every pre-order until launch gets the Chicken Suit pack; the Collector's Edition sold out in June 2026.
- [Game Pass](https://fable.vi.ki/game-pass): Yes. Fable is playable day one, Feb 23, 2027, with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass; members who want Early Access from Feb 18 and the Premium content buy the Premium Upgrade.
- [Platforms](https://fable.vi.ki/platforms): Fable launches on Feb 23, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, PC (Xbox app and Steam), Xbox Cloud and PlayStation 5, the first Fable on a PlayStation. It is not on Xbox One, and no Switch or Switch 2 version has been announced, as of Oct 20, 2026.
- [Release Date and Time](https://fable.vi.ki/release-date): Fable comes out on Feb 23, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5, the same day everywhere, and Premium Edition owners start on Feb 18. Xbox has not announced a launch hour as of Oct 20, 2026; the PlayStation Store lists 4:00 p.m. UTC.

## Setup Guides

- [PC System Requirements](https://fable.vi.ki/pc-requirements): Fable on PC needs at least a Ryzen 5 2600 or Core i7-6850K, 12 GB of RAM and a Radeon RX 6600, GeForce RTX 2060, RTX 5050 or Arc A580 on Windows 10 22H2, with 135 GB on an SSD; Steam recommends a Ryzen 5 5600 or Core i5-11600KF, 16 GB and an RX 6700 XT or RTX 3060 Ti.

## Media

- [Trailers and Showcases](https://fable.vi.ki/trailers): Fable has been shown at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020, 2023, 2024 and 2026, at the Developer_Direct of Jan 22, 2026, and at gamescom 2026; the newest gameplay is the gamescom quest video of Aug 28, 2026, and no launch trailer has been released as of Oct 21, 2026.

## Overview

- [Fable](https://fable.vi.ki/fable): Fable is Playground Games' open-world action RPG reboot of the Fable series, published by Xbox Game Studios, launching Feb 23, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, PC (Xbox app and Steam) and PlayStation 5, day one with Game Pass, with Premium Edition Early Access from Feb 18, 2027.

## Reception

- [Previews and Reception](https://fable.vi.ki/reception): Fable has no reviews yet: it launches Feb 23, 2027 and no review embargo has been announced, as of Oct 21, 2026. Hands-on previews from gamescom 2026 were largely positive about its combat, world and identity, with some reservations.

## Story and Characters

- [Characters](https://fable.vi.ki/characters): Fable's named characters include the Hero of Briar Hill, Isabel, Humphry, Dave the Giant, Arden the Cobbler, Jenny and Jacob of Bloodstone, Connor, Grandma (Samira) and Nigel, the Sheriff of Silverbrook, all announced by Xbox on Jun 7, 2026.
- [Dave the Giant](https://fable.vi.ki/dave-the-giant): Dave the Giant, played by Richard Ayoade, is a gardener who turns himself into a giant with a magical growth formula; in Fable the Hero chooses whether to kill or spare him, and the choice changes the settlement of Silverbrook.
- [Humphry](https://fable.vi.ki/humphry): Humphry the Golden, played by Matt King, is the disgraced Guildmaster of the Heroes' Guild in Fable, once "Albion's greatest Hero", whom the Hero meets in the Guild's empty halls in Bowerstone.
- [Isabel](https://fable.vi.ki/isabel): Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh, played by Hayley Atwell, is Fable's villain: a former pupil of Guildmaster Humphry the Golden whose obsession with righting Albion's wrongs has driven her to darkness.
- [Jack of Blades](https://fable.vi.ki/jack-of-blades): The Jack of Blades, the masked villain of the original Fable (2004), returns in the 2027 reboot: Xbox said the Jun 7, 2026 trailer "teased the return of the legendary Jack of Blades", and that his role will be revealed later.
- [Story](https://fable.vi.ki/story): Fable's story follows the Hero of Briar Hill, whose grandmother and village are turned to stone by a mysterious stranger, on a journey through the Heroes' Guild of Bowerstone and into conflict with Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh; the main story takes about 15 to 20 hours.
- [Voice Cast](https://fable.vi.ki/cast): Fable's cast, announced Jun 7, 2026, includes Hayley Atwell (Isabel), Lily Nichol and Ukweli Roach (the Hero), Matt King (Humphry), Richard Ayoade (Dave the Giant), Susan Wokoma, Natasia Demetriou, Nathan Foad, Kwame Augustine, Nina Wadia and Robert Whitelock.

## World

- [Albion](https://fable.vi.ki/albion): Albion is the world of Fable, a fairytale version of medieval England that Playground Games has built, for the first time in the series, as one seamless open world the Hero can roam freely from early in the game. Its named places include Briar Hill, Bowerstone, Bloodstone, Silverbrook and Wraithmarsh; a map size, region count and fast travel have not been announced.
- [Bowerstone](https://fable.vi.ki/bowerstone): Bowerstone is Albion's capital in Fable, "the series' reimagined capital city": a dense, vertical city where every building can be entered and every house bought, home to Fairfax Castle, the old clock tower and the Heroes' Guild, where the Hero meets Humphry.
- [Briar Hill](https://fable.vi.ki/briar-hill): Briar Hill is the Hero's home village and where Fable begins: the Hero grows up there with Grandma (Samira, landlady of the Rose & Thorn pub) and their brother Connor, until a mysterious stranger turns Grandma and the whole village to stone.
- [Lore and History of Albion](https://fable.vi.ki/lore): Fable is not set on the Lionhead trilogy's timeline: Playground Games rebooted the series with its own Albion and story. Its in-world past is told in "The History of Albion", extracts from the deliberately unreliable historian Brian Bifford covering the Court of Blades, William Black's Heroes, the Old Kingdom and the Blood and Bower Wars.