Fable
While it might sound premature to call Fable a dead franchise, the end of Lionhead Studios and the termination of the series’ last offering looms ominously. The cancellation of Fable Legends was a heartbreak for Microsoft’s RPG fans, and this (perhaps overly) ambitious series now appears to be, at best, temporarily shelved. Peter Molyneux never shies from hyping up his games, and Fable was no exception.
Despite the series’ inevitable inability to reach the heights proposed by its creator, Fable ultimately scratched a unique itch among RPG fans – one that gave the players a decent amount of autonomy while still guiding them along a well-crafted adventure. Boredom certainly struck some fans by the third entry, but Fable Legends promised to shake the series up in meaningful ways. We may never know what would have come from the game’s release, but one thing is for certain: Fable can’t stay dead. Fable was never perfect, but it was certainly good enough, and a more open world, modern take could perhaps give the series a clearer path to deliver on its promises.
The third installment of The Witcher lays a compelling groundwork for what a WRPG can be, and the Fable series is perfectly suited to adopt some of the Witcher’s best elements (effective writing, expansive world-building) while still staying true to what made Fable unique in the first place.
