The Fable reboot is getting closer: A new trailer released during today's Xbox Games Showcase revealed that it's finally set to arrive sometime in 2025.
It's been a long way for the new Fable. It was first announced in 2020, and we got a story-focused trailer in 2023 with a barebones setup: "With a dark threat looming, and in a world where your reputation precedes you, your choices will change Albion forever."
Aside from that, though, it's been pretty much radio silence from Microsoft and new developer Playground Games, the studio behind the Forza Horizon series.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer did say in 2021 that we'll be playing the new Fable before The Elder Scrolls 6, but let's be honest, that's a pretty low bar.
The trailer revealed today has a similar sort of twisted fairy tale vibe to it, this time narrated by actor Matt King, perhaps best known (to my UK colleagues, anyway) as Super Hans from the English sitcom Peep Show. Which fits: When Spencer said Fable will arrive before TES6, he also said it will be very British. Playground is clearly leaning into it: The 2023 trailer was narrated by The IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade, like King, a man of notable Britishness.
Here's that video, if you haven't seen it—it's good fun:
The new trailer's a lot of fun too, and makes clear Fable's none-too-serious approach to tales of heroism. But echoing that 2023 trailer, there's also an emphasis on "choices you make" and the consequences that result, and a hint that perhaps the choices made in the events leading up to the new Fable weren't necessarily the best—although it's possible Humphry isn't the most reliable narrator, too.
I think it looks great, but more importantly, we finally have a release target: Fable, "a new beginning for the legendary franchise," is set to come out sometime in 2025.
