Fable Legends Preview
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Fable has always given you the choice over whether to be the hero or the villain, but as game director David Eckelberry points out, that's never fundamentally changed the gameplay before. This time it absolutely does. The villain role is inspired by the Sauron-esque image of the villain atop some tower, looking down and directing minions on the battlefield. As the villain you control the quest for the players: where enemies will spawn, how aggressive they are, when the boss will come lumbering out of its lair, when to bring down an impassable portcullis or lay a trap to separate heroes from each other to thwart them.
Fable Legends is designed around five people playing at once, though should you wish to play alone the AI will take over the roles of your companions and the antagonist. That, though, is not the game that Lionhead has designed. The four heroes I saw all played very differently - Prince Charming was closest to classic Fable gameplay, with the camera hanging back above his shoulders, where the archer was viewed through an over-the-should, third-person-shooter perspective. The warrior woman, meanwhile, was the tank of the party, where the magician Winter is a support class whose freezing spell stops enemies in their tracks for one of the others to shatter. These are classic MMO roles, but the combat is far from the sterile experience that can sometimes define that genre. It looks accessible, fast-paced and very physical. Playing alone, you can switch between these party members at will.
Naturally this changes a lot of how Fable Legends plays, but it doesn't change the fundamentals of the series: great storytelling, a gorgeous world and quintessential British humour. The last two are in full evidence even at this early stage. Lionhead's aim with Fable Legends is to create the most beautiful online fantasy out there, and that looks well within the studio's reach with the help of Unreal Engine 4. The heroes chattered entertainingly to each other throughout the quest, and the boss, when it emerged from its lair in some ruins topped with an overgrown stone statue in the shape of a crescent moon, was an ogre with a club topped with the head of another ogre, which was continually arguing with its owner. I'm told that the emotes will definitely be making a return, thankfully - it just wouldn't be a Fable game without the option to fart at people on command
