Fable is the reboot of the Lionhead Studios RPG series, developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. It launches February 23, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5, and it is included with Game Pass on day one. Playground Games, the studio behind Forza Horizon, has been building it since 2017, and it is the first new Fable game since Fable: The Journey shipped on Kinect in 2012. The reboot brings back Albion, Bowerstone, the Heroes' Guild and the series' British humour, along with a new Hero and a new story. The cast includes Hayley Atwell, Matt King and Richard Ayoade.
I loved the original Fable on Xbox and when I finally streamed the sequels, I loved those as well. When Xbox announced Fable with that first short teaser, I got excited. Every showcase it wasn't at was just that much worse. Its release cannot come soon enough.
Fable Release Date and Platforms
Fable releases on February 23, 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Cloud Gaming. The Premium Edition gets early access starting February 18, 2027, which is five days ahead of the standard launch. Xbox Play Anywhere is supported, so one purchase on the Xbox side covers both console and PC.
The game was originally targeted for 2025, then moved to an Autumn 2026 window during the Xbox Developer Direct in January 2026. On May 29, 2026, Xbox pushed it into 2027 so it could have its own launch window away from a crowded holiday season that included Grand Theft Auto VI. The exact February 23 date was locked in at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7, 2026. Not even Xbox was willing to go head to head with the next GTA game.
Is Fable on Game Pass?
Yes. Fable is a first-party Xbox Game Studios release, so it is included with Game Pass from launch day on Xbox Series X|S, PC and cloud. PlayStation 5 and Steam players need to buy it separately. This is also the first time a Fable game has launched on a PlayStation console, since the original trilogy and its spin-offs were all Xbox and PC releases.
Is Fable a Reboot or Fable 4?
Fable is a reboot, not Fable 4. It does not continue the story of Fable III and does not follow the timeline or characters of the Lionhead trilogy. Playground Games built a new version of Albion that keeps the core ideas of the series, including moral choices, player freedom, the concept of Heroes and the dry British comedy, while telling a new story. Familiar names like Bowerstone, the Heroes' Guild, Hobbes and Balverines return, but the map, the history and the characters around them are new.
Fable Story: The Hero of Briar Hill
The player controls the Hero of Briar Hill, a fully customisable character who starts the game as a child in the village of Briar Hill and discovers heroic powers early on. After a time jump, the adult Hero is back in Briar Hill when a mysterious stranger arrives and turns the Hero's grandmother and the rest of the village to stone.
Before that happens, Grandma tells the Hero about Bowerstone and the Heroes' Guild, where the great Heroes of Albion are supposed to live. That gives the story its starting direction, but Playground Games has said there is no ticking clock forcing the player down the main path. Once the Hero leaves Briar Hill, the whole open world of Albion is available, and it is possible to ignore the petrified village entirely, move to a town in the far north, take a job and get married instead.
The Hero of Briar Hill is voiced by Lily Nichol or Ukweli Roach, depending on the player's choice. Gender, face, hairstyle, skin tone, tattoos, scars and clothing are all customisable.
Fable Characters and Voice Cast
Playground Games leaned hard into British comedy for the Fable cast, and the studio has named Peep Show, The IT Crowd and The Office as direct influences on the game's grounded, awkward humour. Around 100 voice actors worked on the game.
Humphry (Matt King)
Humphry, also known as Guildmaster Humphry the Golden, is billed as Albion's greatest Hero. He is retired when the story begins, hiding out in the empty halls of the Heroes' Guild, and gets pulled back into action to help the Hero of Briar Hill. Matt King, best known as Super Hans in Peep Show, plays him. Humphry was first revealed in a 2024 trailer.
Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh (Hayley Atwell)
Isabel is the main villain of Fable and a Hero in her own right. She is a former pupil of Humphry, and grief over what Playground Games calls a tragic injustice has pushed her toward believing she should be the only Hero Albion needs. That puts her directly against both the Hero of Briar Hill and her old guardian. Hayley Atwell, known as Peggy Carter in the Marvel films, plays Isabel through both performance capture and voice work.
Dave the Giant (Richard Ayoade)
Dave is a self-declared intellectual who accidentally turned himself into a giant, and he doubles as a boss fight. Richard Ayoade from The IT Crowd voices him, and Dave was the first character shown from the reboot in the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase trailer. According to the writing team, a lot of Ayoade's improvised lines made it into the final script.
Jenny and Jacob (Natasia Demetriou and Nathan Foad)
Jenny and Jacob are sibling heirs fighting over control of the port city of Bloodstone. Natasia Demetriou from What We Do in the Shadows plays Jenny, the brutal one, and Nathan Foad from Our Flag Means Death plays Jacob, the more refined and calculating brother.
Arden the Cobbler and the Rest of the Fable Cast
Susan Wokoma plays Arden the Cobbler, a Hero who wants nothing to do with heroism and would rather make shoes. Nina Wadia plays Grandma, Robert Whitelock plays Nigel the Sheriff and Kwame Augustine plays Connor.
Is Jack of Blades in the New Fable?
Yes. The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 trailer ended with a tease of Jack of Blades, the villain of the original 2004 Fable, and Playground Games confirmed he is part of the reimagined Albion. His exact role has not been revealed, including whether he is working with Isabel, manipulating her or acting on his own. Since the reboot does not follow the original timeline, this version of Jack of Blades is not necessarily the same character players defeated in the first game.
Fable Gameplay: Combat, Reputation and Open World Albion
Strength, Skill and Will Combat
Combat returns to the three traditional Fable disciplines of Strength, Skill and Will, which cover melee weapons, ranged weapons and magic. The Hero can switch between all three mid-fight. Melee uses dodges, parries and weapon-specific finishers, while bows and crossbows trade speed against accuracy. Spells sit in four slots and are cast by holding RT and pressing A, B, X or Y. Enemies include Hobbes, Balverines, Trolls and bandits, along with new creatures, and the riddling Demon Doors return as well.
How the Fable Reputation System Works
The old good and evil meter is gone. Fable tracks reputations based on what the Hero does in front of witnesses, and an action has to be seen by at least one person to count. Playground Games' own example is chicken kicking: get caught doing it and the Hero starts earning a reputation as a Chicken Chaser, and if enough people see it, that becomes something the Hero is known for in that settlement. Different NPCs react to the same reputation in different ways, so what one villager finds hilarious another finds disgusting. Up to six reputations can be active in a settlement at once.
Living Population NPCs
Albion has more than 1,000 handcrafted NPCs, each with a personality, a daily routine, a job and relationships of their own that keep developing while the Hero is somewhere else. NPCs remember gifts and grudges. Killing an NPC removes them from the game permanently.
Property, Jobs, Romance and Marriage
Every building in Bowerstone can be entered and every house can be bought. The Hero can become a landlord, collect rent and evict tenants, and can also take regular jobs for money. Any adult NPC can be romanced, and the Hero can get married and have children.
Fable Locations: Bowerstone, Bloodstone and Briar Hill
Albion is a seamless open world made up of villages, cities, forests, countryside and caves. Playground Games describes the setting as fairytale-inspired rather than traditional high fantasy, mixed with the dark humour and satire the series is known for.
Bowerstone returns as the capital and the biggest city shown so far, home to the Heroes' Guild and a castle. Bloodstone is back as a port city, now fought over by Jenny and Jacob. Briar Hill is the Hero's home village and the starting point of the story, and Fairfax Castle also returns. At Gamescom 2026, Playground Games showed 18 minutes of quest gameplay set in Bowerstone.
The game runs on ForzaTech, the same engine behind Forza Horizon. Early in development, the team used the Surfers Paradise area of Forza Horizon 3 to test Fable's character movement.
Fable Editions and Pre-Order Bonuses
Fable comes in three editions. The Standard Edition is the base game. The Premium Edition adds early access starting February 18, 2027, a content pack with Splendid Armour, Bastard Armour and in-game gifts, the digital artbook and soundtrack, and the post-launch expansion Fable: Order of the Hero. The Collector's Edition was sold through the Xbox Gear Store for Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC, with a physical disc on consoles and a Steam code on PC. It sold out for all platforms in June 2026.
Every pre-order includes the Pre-Order Content Pack, which contains the Chicken Suit outfit plus three in-game gifts: a Wild Flower Bouquet, a Toy Chicken and a Scones and Jam Picnic Hamper. The gifts feed into the reputation system and can be used to shape how NPCs see the Hero.
Fable Development History: From Lionhead Studios to Playground Games
Microsoft closed Lionhead Studios in 2016, which also cancelled Fable Legends. Playground Games started a second team dedicated to Fable around 2017, separate from its Forza Horizon team, and Xbox officially announced the reboot with a one-minute cinematic trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020.
The game entered full production around 2023. Richard Ayoade's giant appeared in the first in-game trailer in June 2023, and the June 2024 showcase introduced Matt King as Humphry and confirmed that Eidos-Montréal was helping with development. The Xbox Developer Direct on January 22, 2026 was the first real gameplay deep dive and also confirmed the PlayStation 5 version. Ralph Fulton directs the game, Jacob Shea composed the score, and the writing team includes Anna Megill, Andrew Walsh, Martin Lancaster and Craig Owens.
Fable Trailers
Some of the official Fable trailers and gameplay reveals from 2020 through 2026 release date trailer are below.
Fable (2027) FAQs
When does Fable come out?
Fable releases February 23, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5. Premium Edition owners get early access starting February 18, 2027.
Is Fable coming to PS5?
Yes. Fable launches on PlayStation 5 the same day as Xbox and PC, making it the first Fable game ever released on a PlayStation console.
Is Fable on Game Pass day one?
Yes. Fable is included with Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S, PC and cloud from launch day.
Is the new Fable a sequel to Fable 3?
No. Fable is a reboot set in a reimagined Albion and does not continue the Lionhead timeline or characters from Fable, Fable II or Fable III.
Who plays the villain in Fable?
Hayley Atwell plays Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh, a former pupil of Humphry who is driven by grief to become the only Hero Albion needs.
Is Jack of Blades in the new Fable?
Yes. The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 trailer ended with a tease of Jack of Blades, the villain of the original Fable, and Playground Games confirmed his return. His role in the story has not been revealed.
Who voices Humphry in Fable?
Matt King, known as Super Hans in Peep Show, voices Humphry, the retired Guildmaster of the Heroes' Guild.
Can you get married in the new Fable?
Yes. The Hero can romance any adult NPC in Albion, get married, have children and buy property, including every house in Bowerstone.
