18-minute gameplay of a mission from Gamescom - Impressions

I had been waiting for this game for quite some time. Playground Games' Fable has gone through several phases since its announcement, and until now, Microsoft and Playground had shown us several trailers, but without us seeing a large, continuous piece of gameplay. This changed on August 26, 2026, when a new 18-minute gameplay of a mission from Gamescom was presented, giving us perhaps the best picture to date of what is really being prepared.

And my first impression? Finally, Fable is starting to look like a real game.

Return to Albion

The new Fable is not a remake of any of the previous games, nor is it a direct continuation of the original trilogy. Playground Games treats it as a new beginning, while retaining all the elements that made Fable special: British humor, fantasy aesthetics, choices and their consequences, the freedom to decide what kind of heroine you want to be, and, of course, the… chickens.

The world of Albion is now a a fully open environment, with Bowerstone being one of the most significant areas we've seen so far. Playground wants the world to not just be a beautiful backdrop, but to react to our actions.

This is directly linked to the Living Population system, through which more than 1,000 unique NPCs have their own personality, relationships, and daily lives. The inhabitants of Albion don't just exist to fill the streets. Our relationships with them can change, and our choices can affect how they treat us.

The 18-minute gameplay

The new gameplay is perhaps the most complete sample of Fable we have seen to date. And this time it's not just a cinematic trailer. We watch our heroine undertake an entire mission, with exploration, dialogues, choices, and battles.

The presentation begins with our heroine returning to her home, before heading to the Heroes' Guild. There she meets Humphry and, in a characteristic moment that immediately brings to mind the classic humor of the series, she has the choice to either offer him a beer or... throw it at his head.

From there, the mission continues outside the city, where our heroine confronts members of a gang. Here we get a much better look at the combat system, evasion moves, attacks, and how different abilities can be combined, as well as the AOE style, meaning the possibilities we have whether there are many opponents or one-on-one.

The mission then leads our heroine to search for a deed of ownership, which is an important part of the progression of this particular story.

The final part of the presentation escalates the tension, as our heroine faces a much larger and stronger opponent who uses a heavy two-handed weapon. This is perhaps the point in the gameplay that best shows the difference between ordinary battles and more demanding encounters.

What I liked most is that the presentation didn't try to impress us with just one big battle. It showed us a bit of our heroine's daily life, the humor, the dialogues, the exploration, the choices, and then the action. In other words, it gave us a pretty good idea of how *Fable* wants to operate overall.

The new combat system

Playground Games has evolved the classic **Strength, Skill, and Will** system of the original trilogy into a new system based on the immediate switching of different combat styles.

Our heroine can combine **melee combat, ranged combat, and magic** without constantly interrupting the flow of battle. The weapons, abilities, and spells we have chosen largely determine how we will approach each encounter.

Various weapons have been presented in the game so far, including heavy hammers, bows, and repeating crossbows. Battles include dodges, parries, powerful charged attacks, and special finishing moves.

Magic

Spells seem to play a significant role in combat and are not limited to a simple attack system.

So far, Fireball, Lightning, Blades, Lift, Rush, Push, and Befowl have been showcased. The latter is perhaps the most characteristic example of the series' humor, as it allows our heroine to transform an enemy into... a chicken.

The interesting thing is that the different abilities can be combined with each other and with the other types of combat. For example, we can lift enemies into the air with Lift and then use Lightning or ranged attacks.

Thus, Playground does not seem to treat combat as three separate categories. The idea is to be able to combine them and create our own approach.

What we learned from the Developer Diaries

The 18-minute gameplay is not the only source of information. Playground Games has already presented several Developer Diaries and interviews, through which elements not necessarily appearing in this particular video have been revealed.

One of the most important is the Living Population, with over 1,000 unique inhabitants of Albion. The characters have their own lives and relationships, while our heroine's actions can affect her social standing and how she is treated.

The different Will abilities have also been presented, as well as several of the enemies we will face. Among them are the Hollow Folk, the Wraiths, and the Lantern Keeper, a stronger opponent with special attacks and abilities.

At the same time, the return of Demon Doors, the classic chicken kicking, and the relationship system have been confirmed. Our heroine can create her own life in Albion, acquire property, work, form relationships, and get married.

And of course, there's Jack of Blades, one of the most iconic characters from the original series, who returns in this new story.

Albion seems to have character

This is perhaps the most important element I've taken away so far. Fable isn't just trying to be another big fantasy RPG with a huge map.

Playground Games seems to want Albion to have personality. To be able to walk into a town and meet people who have their own lives. To make a decision that can change a relationship. To buy a house, acquire property, start a family, and at the same time face monsters and get involved in a completely absurd adventure.

And that's exactly what the new Fable needs.

Because Fable wasn't loved just because it was a fantasy RPG. It was loved because it had its own identity. It had humor, quirkiness, choices, and that peculiar British aesthetic that made it stand out from everything else.

When is it released?

Fable now has a release date of February 23, 2027, while the Premium Edition will offer Early Access from February 18.

It will be released on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, and Cloud, and will be available on day one on Game Pass.

After this gameplay, for the first time I have the feeling that I can truly see the Fable that Playground Games is trying to create. Until now, the game existed more as a promise than as something we could substantially evaluate.

Albion looks beautiful, the humor seems to have been preserved, the Living Population is a very interesting idea, and the combat looks much deeper than I expected. I particularly like the ability to combine different types of combat and magic without losing the flow of the action.

But the real gamble is not whether Fable will be beautiful or have good combat. It's whether Playground Games will manage to give it the same personality that the original Fable had.

Because ultimately that's what I remember most from old games. Not just the battles or the world, but the small moments. The absurd choices, the humor, the characters, and that feeling that you could do something completely stupid and the game would turn it into a story you'd remember years later.

With the new gameplay, however, Fable took a very important step: from a game we were waiting to see, it has now become a game I genuinely want to play.

And now the difficult wait begins until February 23, 2027.