Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has already put itself in contention to be this year's best new RPG, but Fable has constantly been lurking on the horizon. The new reboot of the fantasy series by Playground Games has all the right ingredients to go toe to toe with KCD2 – well, apart from one rather important thing. It's no longer coming out in 2025. Dang.
That's right, the previously announced Fable we've seen so far give the impression that it's going to be a good'un. Cameos from British comedy legends like Richard Ayoade, witty humor, stunning visuals both in cinematic moments and in live gameplay, and a sprawling fantasy world will hopefully all combine to create a sublime RPG.
Even though the news of the delay, which arrived in the latest episode of the official Xbox Podcast, is disappointing, said disappointment has been slightly offset by a few more glimpses of gameplay. These include some shots that show off the incredibly detailed environments that you'll find in Playground's interpretation of Albion and some brief combat clips too. Specifically, we see the game's protagonist facing off against a werewolf, some goblin-type creatures, and, well, a giant chicken.
"[I'm] really excited about [Playground's] plans and really excited about the future and I want the community to understand that we do these things for the [benefit] of the games, and the teams, and ultimately that results in the best games for the community." Craig Duncan, the head of Xbox Games Studios, says while announcing the delay to Fable.
Even though this will be a blow for Microsoft's lineup of first-party games this year, it does have a pretty stacked 2025. Avowed has just released, plus there's still Doom The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, The Outer Worlds 2, and many more to come.
Fable will now be released at some point in 2026, according to Duncan. No quarter, season, or month was provided, so we've still got a very wide 12-month window for now. Maybe that'll get narrowed down during the summer or around the time of The Game Awards when we get another, more thorough look at Fable. But it's just 2026 for the time being.
To while away the months before Fable's (hopefully) triumphant return, check out some of the best open-world games on PC right now.
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