The new Fable 4 from developer Playground Games intends to reboot the acclaimed role-playing franchise with an open-world design and an all-new combat system that was created from scratch.
Speaking with Spanish publication Vandal in a recent interview, combat designer Juan Fernández revealed that he spent three years at Playground Games to “lay the foundations” for the new Fable game.
Playground Games is known for its Forza Horizon franchise, but jumping over to a game like Fable required a different set of expertise. Fernández was tasked to create a combat system worthy of a next-generation Fable game while defining its technical requirements for the open world.
His work on the new Fable 4 included “creating technical systems, writing documentation, doing competitive research (studying the characteristics of the best action RPGs that had come out in those years to find out what made them attractive) and analyzing the classic Fables to understand the essence of the game franchise and be able to maintain it.”
Fernández also revealed that several “prototypes were made at the time to test the [combat] tools and systems” for the game.
He was all praise for Playground Games, stating that the developer has the mentality of achieving complex milestones with fewer resources. To further cement those ambitions, Fernández explained that if Ubisoft needs 5,000 staffers to complete an Assassin’s Creed game in seven years, Playground can complete a game like Fable with just 200 staffers in five years.
That being said, the scope of Fable 4 was on a massive scale. Fernández prefers working on shorter projects and hence, parted ways with Playground Games on good terms once his core combat systems were in place.
From what he saw and experienced, Fernández stated that he found Fable 4 to be “a super, super interesting IP.” He added that the game “has incredible potential and there’s a really good team” with “a lot of talent” working on it.
Fable 4 remains in development for Xbox Series consoles and PC. The game is yet to receive a release date and from the looks of it, will be taking more time.
