Fable's Style-Weaving Combat Aims to Be Approachable and Faithful, Playground Games Says

Kennedy said the team considered the approachability of combat in the classic franchise and wanted to capture some of that for the new game. "When we're talking about being faithful to the classic franchise, we thought about how there was an approachability to combat there, and we knew that we wanted to be able to capture some of that for our game as well," Kennedy said. "But at the same time, we're making a game for gaming today."

He added that the team wanted "breadth and depth" in combat, which led to "style-weaving combat." The system lets players mix and match different weapons and spells. Kennedy said the team wanted players to move from move to move smoothly and easily, combined with a level of expression. "We wanted there to be breadth and depth to it, so we landed on wanting to have style-weaving combat," he said. "We wanted to be able to move from move to move really smoothly and easily, and that combined with the level expression that you've got."

According to Kennedy, players can customize every element of their loadout, including ranged and melee weapons and four spell slots that can be upgraded. He said that after playing for even a little time, players have a broad, deep and rich suite of options. "But being able to move so freely between the moves, and it feeling so responsive and so satisfying, is something we're really proud of," Kennedy said, "because I think we've landed somewhere that is still approachable but has that depth that we want and so therefore is faithful but works in gaming today as well for players, which is sometimes to be proud of."

The Q&A also covered how Fable's humor is incorporated into battle, including allowing players to turn enemies into chickens.

Fable is set to launch on February 23, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. Kennedy also confirmed that the main storyline will take up to 20 hours to beat, while the game's life systems are "limitless."