The Witcher Heavily inspires Fable's Combat

When Fable was first revealed with a teaser at the January Xbox Games Showcase 2024, it received a fair share of criticism. Everything from the protagonist's look to the game's potential audience-pleasing disasters has been extensively discussed. However, the developers at Playground Games and the publishing partner Xbox Game Studios ignored these complaints and continued working on the game according to schedule.

Apart from Avowed, Fable is one of the most highly anticipated games from Xbox Game Studios. We already know that Microsoft invested heavily in Playground Games for Fable's success, and the fans who stayed loyal to the franchise despised these hotted debases and were hoping for an update; they would be thrilled with this news if that were their genuine intention.

An industry insider has revealed some early gameplay footage from Fable's alpha build, suggesting that the game takes design cues from CD Projekt RED. Even though it isn't an exact duplicate of The Witcher, he can tell where the idea came from in the fight footage. Fable has comparable gameplay, and the footage is surprisingly well done for an alpha build. The Witcher appears to have influenced the fighting style, but there are enough unique elements to set it apart. Additionally, we were aware that the producer of Baldur's Gate 3 would also be involved with Fable's development. So, there'll surely be some differences.

This detail was shared by Jez Corden, and upon viewing some early gameplay footage for Fable, he positively shared his view on the game, calling it fantastic. Nevertheless, Corden is unsure about the timing of the development of this alpha build and whether the footage was from 2023 or earlier or even 2024. What's important, though, is that the alpha gameplay footage of Fable has characteristics similar to those of The Witcher 3. He disclosed that numerous ex-CDPR developers, including a combat designer, are currently working on Fable. This strongly suggests that The Witcher will heavily inspire the game's combat.

The gameplay footage from Fable featured a variety of weapons, including melee weapons resembling Geralt's, magic, and bows and arrows. However, the inclusion of spells and various melee weapons was officially confirmed earlier, as seen in the gameplay trailers. Considering Corden's gaming experience, his positive comments about the game's playability and combat—particularly on the alpha build—are encouraging.

Fable is set to release in 2025, and this leak makes it appear that development is proceeding swimmingly. Even though Playground Games has already confirmed that Fable will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2025, since it appears that the alpha gameplay is very refined, it could suggest that Fable is nearly set to be launched in due time. Hopefully, we will hear about the game's release date at confirmation at The Game Awards 2024. Being a fan of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, I am already looking forward to that.