Fable impresses me again with an extended look at dialog choices and combat, and I can't wait to try it with Xbox Play Anywhere

Fable is not skimping out on any details at this year’s Gamescom, as it provided a metric ton of new gameplay information through an 18-minute gameplay demo, accompanied by a gameplay preview write-up at Xbox Wire.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s not waste any more time and get into the nitty-gritty of what Playground Games has in store for this highly anticipated reboot of the Fable series.

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The demo begins with a recap of Fable’s life-sim elements, where you can mingle with NPCs to potentially start a family, buy a home, or start a business. The player then sets off on a quest to save their grandma and village, which have been turned to stone by the mysterious hero-turned-villain, Isabel.

Throughout the demo, we see the player engaging in dialogue choices that determine how NPCs feel towards them, some funny cinematics that play off like a fantasy version of the iconic sitcom, ‘The Office’, exploring the city, developing skills in the skill tree, and most of all, beating the stuffing out of bandits with the game’s combat system.

Judging from the footage shown in the Gamescom demo and from Xbox Wire’s preview write-up, this game’s combat system is shaping up to be the most in-depth one any Fable title has had to date.

You can parry and dodge enemy attacks, blast enemies off of cliffs using fireballs, catch incoming arrows and throw them back at enemies, trip or knock weapons out of enemies’ hands using bows and crossbows, stun enemies by filling their stagger gauge before performing melee finishers on them, turn enemies into chickens using magic, and so much more.

And all this is done without messing about in menus or loadout bars, so you can focus on the action intuitively without immersion-breaking menu micromanagement.

You will need to master this evolved take on Fable’s combat quickly, as you will contend with more dangerous foes than bandits throughout the game, including reanimated skeletons, wraiths, Cockatrices, and tough mini-bosses like the ghostly Lantern Keeper, to name a few.

Windows Central’s take

I admit it’s been a LONG time since I played the original Fable from 2004, but I do remember combat not being the most in-depth thing in the world, as it mainly amounted to whacking enemies once, moving back to shoot fireballs, rinse and repeat.

So to go from that to this new Fable where we’re catching arrows to throw them back in enemies’ faces, parrying attacks Sekiro-style, and blasting enemies with magic doesn’t take forever to cast anymore is a massive improvement.

If Playground Games can continue polishing this promising combat system to be more speedy and perhaps show off more destructive spells, Fable could be a massive shoo-in for a 2027 Game of the Year contender.

We will have to wait to find out if the combat system, as well as its other gameplay aspects, live up to the hype when Fable launches on February 23, 2027, on Xbox Series X|S (with Xbox Play Anywhere support), Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Game Pass (Day One), PlayStation 5, and Steam.

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