Fable's story will be '15-20 hours' long, according to its game director, although the game's life systems are 'limitless'
Overview & Key Takeaways
"You can literally play it forever if that's what you want to do."
Throughout all of Fable's showcases and demonstrations this year, one aspect of it has proved difficult to figure out—how big it's going to be. The original Fable games were decently-sized, but not massive, and monster roleplaying games like Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 have dramatically shifted expectations on what an RPG's scope should be.
But it turns out that Fable will stick closely to tradition when it comes to its size, with the caveat that players could potentially hang around in Playground's RPG forever depending on how invested they become in the world they help to forge.
Speaking to Polygon in a Q&A session, associate game director Will Kennedy explained that Fable will have a total of around 40 hours of things to do in the world. "We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay," Kennedy said.
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That's the traditional baseline for an RPG. But Kennedy also pointed out that Fable's life-systems, which allow players to interact with NPCs, commit crimes, buy property and so forth may significantly expand the runtime. "And then, of course, the life systems are limitless, so you can play them for as long as you want." To this, fellow associate game director Craig Litter added that "You can literally play it forever if that's what you want to do."
It's worth stating at this point that you can play any game forever if you really want to do that. I could probably play Doom forever even though the base game is not all that long. Nonetheless, if Fable's life simulation elements put it within touching distance of, say, The Sims, then maybe the 'play it forever' claim isn't so far-fetched.
We were expecting to find out how Fable shapes up relatively soon. But Playground's long-awaited RPG has been pushed to 2027 in order to avoid the looming behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto 6. Alongside its life simulation, the reboot is swapping out the series' old morality system for a more nuanced, character-specific reputation system, although you'll apparently be able to bypass it if you're rich enough—just like in real life!
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