when playground games When it emerged in 2010, the studio was focused on a rather specific goal – to create the best racing game possible. The team from Leamington Spa quickly made a name for themselves with Forza Horizon, offering a great alternative to traditional simulators such as grand tour.
But Playground has grown a lot over the years, and its ambitions have expanded along with its team. Now the studio best known for racing is trying to revive one of the most famous British role-playing games – fable.
The original game came out on Xbox in 2004, thanks lionhead studio and instantly stands out from other fantasy RPGs. It’s based on the usual genre fundamentals, but with a strong emphasis on player choice, the consequences of decisions, and a British sense of humor. The show later featured voices from well-known local actors, including Stephen Fry and Simon Pegg.
Over time, Fable has become one of the most distinctive series Microsoft. However, her fate was not easy. In 2016, Microsoft shut down Lionhead, and the studio’s last project was multi-user fable legend – Never came out. The series effectively disappeared for many years after that.
Now, Playground Games is trying to bring Fable back after about a decade of hiatus. For Playground co-founder and project manager Ralph Fulton, the job was a new experience, even after working in the games industry for many years. He admitted that working on Fable gave him a different perspective on the game development process itself, and anticipates that the project will have a similar impact on players.
Going from a racing game to a full-blown action RPG is a risky decision. Playground had to prove that its skills were not limited to cars and open tracks. At the same time, the studio decided not to give up on forza horizon.
Fulton noted that working with a large open world seemed like the most natural point of contact between the two projects. There’s no place for cars in the new game, but creating spacious play spaces filled with events and exploration opportunities is still familiar territory for the team.
When Microsoft approached Playground about a chance to challenge Fable, other options fell out of favor almost immediately. In 2017, an agreement was reached, after which the studio was faced with a new and extremely difficult task – to create a separate team for a completely different genre.
Fulton said building a team from scratch is one of the most difficult tasks in the modern gaming industry. It’s not enough to gather people with impressive resumes: developers must learn to work with each other, or even a strong team can quickly fall apart. Playground has to attract talent from all over the world, some of whom come here specifically to get a job on Fable because they’ve loved the game since the original game.
The first results of this multi-year process have already been revealed at Gamescom. The demo shown doesn’t let you explore the entirety of Albion, but there’s only one Underground episode to show how far the Playground has strayed from its racing roots.
In the demo, the hero traveled through a mineshaft filled with ghosts and encountered a group of skeleton knights. Combat is built around tangible impacts and a variety of weapons: hammers literally hit enemies with a heavy crunch, bow shots are accompanied by a noticeable whistle, and opponents scatter when defeated.
The action then shifts to the haunted swamp, where flying ghosts are added to the already familiar enemies. Magical attacks turn combat into a striking visual show – projectiles of fire and lightning strikes at enemies. However, Fable is not afraid of utterly British absurdity: the hero transforms a defeated opponent into a crowing rooster.
Humor plays an equally important role. While exploring the mines, you’ll find an old love letter left behind by a dying miner. Although there’s a comedic air to what’s going on, the text is surprisingly serious and awkward – a man trying to find the words to say a final goodbye, but unable to express his feelings directly.
Playground believes that the combination of serious situations and British irony is one of the key features of the new Fables. Fulton said the developers wanted to move away from the usual fantasy clichés of characters speaking with dignity and archaism. Instead, the team strived to use modern language, recognizable expressions and quintessentially British humour, while maintaining the fairy tale core of the world.
This is especially evident in the characters. In the demo, players were aided by Humphrey, played by Matt King, who is known for diorama. His hero is a former warrior who was once considered Albion’s greatest hero, but has now become a more sarcastic and misanthropic man.
Overall, Fable has an unusually rich cast, all of whom are representatives of the British comedy scene. The game will also star Richard Ayoade IT group and Natasia Demetriouiz what do we do in the shadows.
Additionally, some scenes were established almost directly during the recording process. According to Fulton, Ayoade improvised so freely that he sometimes even came up with new dialogue in the studio. For the developer, watching this process became one of the most memorable moments in game development.
Demetriou, in turn, brought her signature British profanity to the role, and according to Fulton, the team itself was somewhat surprised by the result. However, the developers decided not to limit the actress and allowed her to fully express her style.
As a result, the new Fable gradually took on a rather unusual face. Playground Games comes to this project from the field of racing games, but is now trying to prove that it can create not only convincing open spaces, but also full-fledged role-playing games with a combat system, exploration, characters and the author’s unique humor.
The main question is whether the studio can maintain the mix of fairy tales, satire, and free choice that made players enjoy the original Fable. Judging from the first few episodes, “Playground” will at least not turn the show into a typical serious fantasy drama – British self-irony will still be one of its most important characteristics.