Fable Legends Interview

While we're on the topic of Lionhead's Fable series, I thought I'd point you over to this article-style interview on GamesIndustry.biz with studio head John Needham about their forthcoming next-gen RPG, Fable Legends. A handful of choice paragraphs:
"You can see the bigger objective of the studio, right?" asks Needham.

"We're pivoting, we're taking all of this great Fable talent that we have in the studio, adding in online guys like Dave and I and others in the studio, and games as a service is the strategy. Taking classic Fable gameplay and classic Fable lore and bringing it into a next-gen experience on Xbox One."

Adding online features and cooperative play might not be anything new in most games, but then Fable is a very specific franchise, one that offers the player a hundred different choices and ensuing consequences, one that until now has been almost an entirely private experience. Fable: Legends steps away from the old plotline and goes back to the beginning adding the chance to play as the villain, and to take three heroes with you on every quest.

"The reason that this isn't called Fable 4 isn't that we don't love Fable or that's we're not taking all these Fable concepts and design principles and putting it in this game, it's that chronologically it's not where we decided we wanted to go. We're not a continuation of Fable III, or Fable: The Journey's plotline," says Eckelberry, and Needham agrees.

"It's about taking that spirit of innovation that's always been here at Lionhead with Fable and Black & White and The Movies and applying that to online. We love games like Dark Souls with these really unique online modes and we really want to play with that in Fable Legends and the other games we're going to make here."