‘We’ve steered away from anything that’s too crude’ — Fable associate game director says the series’ staple British humour was ‘crucial’ and ‘the real test for Fable when it comes to the tone is that it does just have to be funny’ | Daily Reports Online
- Fable associate game directors Craig Littler and Will Kennedy say British humour is a “crucial” part of the reboot
- They say it’s presented in all systems, from story to dialogue and combat
- Playground Games made sure to steer away “from anything that’s too crude”
Playground Games has said its Fable reboot will feature the series’ iconic British humour across all systems, but it avoided anything overly “crude.”
During a press Q&A at Gamescom, attended by TechRadar, associate game director Craig Littler said British humour “is a core part of the Fable DNA” and the decision to bring it forward into Playground’s reboot “has been a crucial thing that we’re always thinking about, because for us it has to be interwoven throughout the entire game.”
“It’s not just in the story. It’s not just in the dialogue, but you even see flourishes of it in the combat,” Littler said, before talking about the spell that lets players turn enemies into chickens, which he laughs about every time.
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“It’s hilarious,” he added, saying, “We believe that the core idea of Fable is that the humor is [shown] throughout.”
Associate game director Will Kennedy said that even when enemies turn back from a chicken, they’ll still flap around for a while, which is visually funny but also gives players the opportunity to land some attacks.
“To us, tone is something that we’re thinking about all the time and in every system, really,” Kennedy said. “Any opportunity to add that fabled British tone of humor.”
The directors also said the team thought deeply about how to present the humour, particularly for a modern audience; not every joke or gag will land the same for everyone, and the humor in the older Fable titles may be outdated, and they made sure not to feature anything too rude.
“For us, we’ve steered away from anything that’s too crude,” Littler confirmed, “and I think the real test for Fable when it comes to the tone is that it does just have to be funny, and that comes from really great writing, having a brilliant narrative team, and honestly the actors that we’ve hired as well.”
Those actors include British stars and comedians like Hayley Atwell, Matt King, Natasia Demetriou, and more, with Littler saying they “really bring themselves to the role and are also capable of the sincerity that really gets to the heart of fairy tales as well. You want somebody who has that humour, but can really deliver an enormous performance as well.”
He also teased some improvisation from the cast, explaining that the actors are given a solid script, but do give them “some latitude” for some improv.
“At the end of the day, they’re great British comedians,” he added. “Sometimes they’re going to say something that’s just pure gold. So yes, there is some latitude, and absolutely we reuse it when we can.”
Fable launches on launch on February 23, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC.
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