Fable’s extensive 30-minute walkthrough, showcasing life in Albion as you cultivate Reputations, purchase properties and build bonds, is a fascinating primer on the different systems available. However, it also ever-so-briefly showcased combat, from different attacks and movement to the spells. As impressive as they looked, there was concern about the overall difficulty.
Thankfully, Playground Games has since clarified that “the guards haven’t all taken up tea drinking mid-shift.” Instead, this was on “Story” difficulty, which offers the “gentlest way” to traverse Albion. “Should you prefer a sterner welcome, other difficulty levels will ensure the guards remember their training and are less… polite.”
It didn’t go into detail about how to make Fable more challenging, but it’s still good news for those who prefer much stricter consequences to their actions. Who knows? Your Reputations may have some kind of effect in mitigating them if you’ve spent enough time in a location (which becomes superfluous on lower difficulties, but I digress).
Either way, these options are just another ingredient to letting players explore Albion on their own terms. You could settle down and have a comfy life sim which seemingly goes on forever, and go the bloodthirsty route of killing all 1,000 handcrafted NPCs. Or live as your average adventurer, embarking on quests, resolving disputes, exploring caves for rare equipment, and so on.
Fable launches on February 23rd, 2027 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, so expect even more details on combat and difficulty in the coming months.