Developer Playground Games has been relatively tight-lipped about its upcomingFablereboot. Playground announced it in 2020, and the 2021GeForce Now leak hinted that the nextFablemight launch in 2023. However, the game still does not have an official release date, and Playground Games haven’t given fans much to look at beyond a teaser trailer from two years ago.
Fans still don’t know much about theFablereboot’s gameplay, other than it being an open-world RPG made using the ForzaTech Engine. Only time will tell how well the game engine converts to a third-person action RPG, however there are a fewForzafeatures thatFablemight benefit from directly. While players probably won’t be racing through Albion using high-end sports cars,Forza Horizon 5’s Car Decoration system could translate well toFable’s armor and weapon customization.
RELATED:Fable’s Childhood Openings Could Find New Life in the Reboot
Customization in Fable, Fable 2, and Fable 3
Character customization has always been important toFable.Fable 2and3let players choose a male or female protagonist, but none of the three installments featured a conventional customization. Instead, all player characters start with the same baseline appearance can be altered throughout the game. While these include haircuts and tattoos, the player also indirectly changes their character throughFable’s Morphing system.Fable’s Heroes gain or lose weight based on their diet, develop horns or halos based on where they fitwithinFable’s morality system, and grow taller or more muscular by improving various stats.
TheFablegames also allowed players to customize their character’s look with a variety of clothing and armor options. Clothing options were relatively modest in the originalFable, with Light, Dark, and neutral versions of most armor and outfits existing.Fable 2expanded this significantly, giving players more clothing options while introducing dyes that let players change their character’s hair and clothing.
Meanwhile,2010’sFable 3introduced weapon customization as an extension of the Morphing system. Non-Legendary weapons start out looking generic and Morph into different shapes depending on which enemies a player fought, along with other factors. As with many new ideas inFable 3, this turned out to be a mixed bag in-part because the results were harder for players to control than character Morphing. However, just becauseFable 3’s approach wasn’t ideal doesn’t mean fans wouldn’t like expanded options for weapon customization in the next title.
RELATED:Followers Could Bring the Fable Reboot’s World to Life
Customization in Forza Horizon 5 and Fable 4
Playground’s last game beforeFablewas 2021’sForza Horizon 5, which featured a robust vehicle customization system that couldexpand uponFable’s customization options. In addition to swapping between a handful of preset paint jobs, the game offers a wide range of colors.Forza Horizon 5players can also fine-tune the car’s paint job with sliders for Hue, Brightness, and Saturation. Players can also choose to apply paints to the whole vehicle or individual sections like the hood or rims.
Forza Horizon 5also lets players apply multiple layers of vinyl decals. The game offered a wide range of designs to choose from, and gave players a great deal of freedom regarding size, color, and placement. This allowsForza Horizon 5players to create some impressive custom livery, and then share their custom vehicle skins with others.
It’s not hard to imagine Playground Games implementing a similar system inFable, letting players precisely tweak the paint and dye colors on their weapons, armor, and clothing. Instead of vinyl decals, an almost identical system could let players design custom engravings for their armor and swords. Some specific designs would probably have to be different, but there’s no reason thatForza Horizon 5’s car customization system couldn’t translate almost 1-to-1 forPlayground Games rebootedFable.
Fableis in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:The Fable Reboot’s Setting Could Benefit From Expanding on the Void
