Fable Returns Home to Albion This Autumn, and It Looks Delightfully Unhinged

In this week’s Xbox Developer Direct session, Playground Games finally lifts the curtain on the long-awaited Fable, providing a much-needed update. After years of waiting and one substantial delay, the company is now revealing a firm release date and the first decent look at the game. The new Fable will be released in the autumn of 2026, and our trip will take us back to the strange world of Albion.

The game will be available on a wide range of platforms, which is unusual for a large first-party release. Xbox Series X|S gamers will have access to it on Day One via Game Pass, while PC players can participate via Windows, Steam, or cloud streaming. Surprisingly, PlayStation 5 users will also be able to join the party straight away.

As your character grows up in the calm village of Briar Hill as a youngster, things start to happen, and you begin to develop some incredible powers. Then one of those classic Fable moments occurs, when a mysterious stranger turns your grandma and the majority of the village to stone, and the grown-up you sets out on a mission to figure out what is happening on and stop it.

The new footage we saw exudes confidence, as it’s all about providing players a sense of freedom and space to explore, which they’ve clearly done with this game. Early exploration focuses on riding across rolling farmland and through a variety of English-inspired locales, such as huge vegetable gardens, enchanting woodlands, and intimidating castles. The communities are bustling with activity, the capital Bowerstone is harboring all sorts of secrets related to the old Heroes Guild, and you can pretty much go wherever you want right away.

Combat is back to its old tricks, with a good mix of melee, ranged, and magical strikes available. Melee swings are satisfying, ranged strikes keep you safe, and magic spells add flair with lightning and fireballs, as well as the ability to transform adversaries into chickens. Here’s the really cool thing: you don’t have to pick between them; you can just switch between the three on the fly and mix them in a variety of ways to suit the situation.

The footage showcased groups of Hobbes, Trolls, and Balverines, with one of the more memorable instances being a big fire-breathing cockatrice which, to be honest, resembled a cross-eyed chicken. Then there were those instances where a friendly fire incident resulted in an unintentional comic moment, such as when a Hobbe whacks its own comrade with a club.

Social networks are also extremely deep; you can buy a property and become a landlord, raising the rent or evicting tenants while watching everything change around you. The same is true for starting a business and hiring villagers as employees; every action you take has an impact on the people around you and how they perceive you; catcalls and praise are just as likely as insults and changed shop prices, all due to the reputation you establish.

Playground Games sees this as a fresh start and an opportunity to create something entirely new, rather than a direct continuation of the previous trilogy timeframe. The team began with the old Lionhead docs and then added their own personality on top of them, and guess what? I think they’ve got it right. Albion seems alive in a way that few other open environments do.