Fable: Legends will be taking place before the first game and is set during the Age of Heroes. But more interestingly, it will utilize Unreal Engine 4 to render Albion in amazing new detail. Game director David Eckelberry outlined this quality upgrade in a recent post, stating that, “The output and quality of what can be achieved with the engine is an order of magnitude more advanced than what we could’ve done if we tried to write everything ourselves.
“As content creators, we used to have to wait for months or years before we had a stable toolset to use, but now we’re able to get straight into building games without having to wait for the systems to arrive.
“Albion is lush, full of life and color, and its characters are rendered to a level of detail we’ve never been able to accomplish before. Those stunning characters represent a real new opportunity for us that we’re quite eager to explore. Where previous titles have attempted to dip their feet in the water of cooperative play with the orb system and the like, for the first time we’re embracing a game experience where no Hero must go alone as he ventures into quests and stories.”
Executive producer Geoff Smith also added that the engine has helped streamline the development process, bringing about faster and more powerful results. “The architecture and toolset provided by UE4 allows us to dive straight into making this without waiting for tech to come up to scratch. Immediately we are able to fully utilize the incredible team we have available. We’ve been able to get assets into the game in double-quick time, plus we’re getting visual feedback in a matter of seconds. All this, combined with the flexibility of the materials and shaders, leads to a better looking game.”
The developer also added that Fable: Legends will always feature a band of four players, whether they join through co-op or with AI companions, and that players will be able drop in and out at any time seamlessly.