Fable Is About 100 Days Away: Everything Playground Has Shown of Its Albion Reboot
After four delays, the return of Xbox's fairy-tale RPG is set for February 23, 2027, on PS5 as well as Xbox and PC. Chicken spells, a talking pig, 1,000 villagers with routines and Hayley Atwell: here is what we know.
The last Fable game, Fable: The Journey, came out in 2012 for Xbox 360's Kinect camera. Four years later, Microsoft closed its maker, Lionhead Studios, and cancelled Fable Legends. For a while, it looked like Albion was gone for good.
Now the series is a little over three months from returning. Fable, a reboot from Playground Games, the studio behind Forza Horizon, is due on February 23, 2027 for Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5, with Game Pass on day one. Premium Edition owners can start five days early, on February 18.
A new beginning, not a sequel
Playground set up a dedicated Fable team in 2017, separate from its Forza Horizon developers, and Microsoft bought the studio in June 2018. The game was announced in July 2020 as a "new beginning" for the series. It is not a continuation of the original timeline.
The story starts in the village of Briar Hill, where your hero is a child. After a time jump, you are an adult, and a mysterious stranger turns the villagers, including your grandmother, to stone. From there, a fully open Albion opens up, with forests, caves, countryside and the city of Bowerstone. Ralph Fulton directs.
Style-weaving, chickens and a talking pig
Fable is a third-person action RPG with a customisable hero. Combat mixes melee, ranged attacks and magic in a system the developers call "style-weaving", an expansion of the classic Fable trio of Strength, Skill and Will. Spells shown so far include Fireball, Lightning, Lift, Push and Befowl, which turns enemies into chickens. Enemies include the Hollow Folk, Wraiths and the Lantern Keeper.
Albion's people are a big focus. The Living Population system gives more than 1,000 characters their own routines and relationships, which carry on when you are not watching, and the game has more than 150,000 lines of dialogue. The morality system is meant to be more nuanced than simple good and evil. One example shown: deciding whether to kill or spare a talking pig.
The cast
Hayley Atwell, known as Peggy Carter in the Marvel films, plays Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh. Matt King plays Humphry, a former Hero. And the series' most famous villain, Jack of Blades, is confirmed to appear, although his role has not been revealed. Anna Megill leads the writing, and Blizzard's cinematics team is helping with art and cinematics, alongside support studios Eidos-Montréal and Third Kind Games.
Four dates, one game
Fable has moved several times. In June 2024, it was announced for 2025. In February 2025, it slipped to 2026. In January 2026, Microsoft set it for autumn 2026, launching on PS5 at the same time. Then, on May 29, 2026, Xbox's Matt Booty moved it to February 23, 2027, saying the game "can have the dedicated moment it deserves", and avoiding a clash with Grand Theft Auto VI in November.
What to watch
The February date is now the one to hold. Expect more on the story and the Jack of Blades before launch, and pay attention to how the Living Population feels in hands-on previews, since that system is the biggest promise in the game.
Fable is the biggest Xbox-made release of early 2027, and one of Microsoft's largest bets yet on launching a flagship series on PlayStation on the very same day. For the rest of the calendar, see our AAA release schedule for winter 2026 and 2027.