Now that the dust has settled on Xbox's fabled 2023 Showcase (sorry), fans have started to focus on certain elements of the show; discussing what impressed them most from the event. Fable has been talked about a lot - not least because some viewers believed the trailer could be CGI. It isn't, of course — that much has been confirmed — but one dev working on the project takes this as a huge compliment anyway.
Taking to Twitter, Playground Games' lead lighting artist Lukas Koelz reckons that people questioning whether the trailer contained 'real' footage is "one of the best compliments" you could give.
Clearly, the UK-based team is confident in what it's creating with this Fable reboot, then - they're saying the game will look like this trailer when it ships, basically. That confidence alone is getting us very excited to go hands-on with Fable.
Remember, these are the folks behind the Forza Horizon series, so while we haven't seen much evidence of their RPG-making chops, we do know the team can make gorgeous-looking open world titles.
Does Playground have the right to be this confident after that trailer? Let us know your thoughts.
Comments 48
I had a hard time separating what was and wasn't gameplay aside from the narrative. It appeared to be an extremely minimalist or non-existent UI. Although the humor and narrative were spot on.
He says that now, but wait until a few of these idiots start posting videos after the game comes out "proving" that the footage was faked lol
They need to be more honest about what footage we’re seeing exactly. This game simply said ‘IN GAME FOOTAGE’ but didn’t specify on what. We now know it was Xbox series X but why not label it as such.
Graphics looked great but it’s questionable how much of it was actual gameplay.
I'm not what you'd call a Fable fan. I've always loved the vibe and the world. I've only played Fable II, which I wasn't enamoured with but did finish. However, I am a fan of Playground Games and the playable areas they create; they always look stunning and the games always run well. So this is a top-tier must-play for me when it comes out. I can't wait to see what the finished game is like.
I have no doubt it will look great.
Gameplay or not, it still looked great and if cutscenes are looking like that on release then il be happy. But if that was all pure gameplay footage then I'd expect the visuals to be pushed back by the time it releases, it's ok to make something small look so good but the bigger the game is the more spec demanding it will become.
I believe it will look like that in-engine, and I believe it will look stunning. All praise to the devs.
But I also believe they are playing with the camera in ways that are unrepresentative of the game as it will actually be played, and making it look far more dynamic. (E.g. even when that fireball is thrown the camera is panning out and swinging around etc.) It absolutely makes everything look super-extra awesome... but games don't play well like that and the camera is usually far more static in real gameplay.
We've seen this before in other games... it's why I dislike "in-engine" footage.
For example look at this video of Ride 4 with the REPLAY camera running on console. That is the in-engine replay, that is in the final game. It looks like real life right?
Now look at how it actually looks in the real pure gameplay without the camera doing such dynamic things. See the difference? It still looks good, but not AS good. I imagine this will be the same.
Same with the trailer footage of Unrecord. Or if you have ever used cinematic cam in GTA - awesome looking but almost unplayable as it's hard to control and nausea inducing.
TLDR: Fable will look amazing, devs are super talented. But I very much doubt when the camera is fixed behind us and less dynamic it will look AS awesome as this. I'd LOVE to be wrong though.
Damn, now support you’re comment with showing some pre-footage if it’s true. Just a few frames or seconds. It wil give extra hype.
He didn't say that it was gameplay, he said that what was shown was running on the engine on Series X and that's enough for me. I don't expect to have all the answers about the gameplay and mechanics yet but Fable is a unique game, something unlike any other thing and something that I feel grateful for, just like if Viva Piñata was announced. Unique games that I consider to be highly enjoyable masterpieces. They are invaluable treasures for the Xbox library.
Zero actual ‘thumbs on sticks’ gameplay in that reveal definitely. They leading ya’ll up the garden path(literally)
If you believe that was actual gameplay footage I have a bridge for sale you might be interested in.
Believing anything about a Fable game before the game is released is just asking to be disappointed. I can't even count the number of broken promises with just the first game in the series.
Well considering we didn’t think the game was anywhere close to this stage a few months ago … a stunning cinematic trailer was a huge plus. Like everyone else not sure what was actual gameplay…
@themightyant Those videos are great examples. Rendering in real-time v. stored memory.
In the replay, it looks great but the lack of reflection/water/anything on that's speedometer is driving me nuts!!
Moonglow wrote:
I guess we are all different. While I don't need the HUD and everything I do find it hard to get excited for games without representative gameplay, when I know they are selling something that won't actually be playable like that in game.
Who cares what the engine CAN do, unless that is what I will actually be playing it doesn't matter to me, it's basically a tech demo. We've seen this misrepresented so often with "in-engine" footage of Watch Dogs, The Division, Halo Infinite, Ride 4 etc. etc. Once bitten twice shy and all that and it's far more than twice.
For now it LOOKS great, but I won't get properly excited till they start showing what we actually play.
@Stnkygrngo I think it's more the super dynamic camera, and desaturation, that fools our brains into thinking it's not a game. It moves with inertia like you are riding a bike. If we played the game like that:
1) it would be very hard to control
2) half the gamers would throw up
It's why i'm so dubious about Unrecord or the 'Gameplay reveal' in last years Hellblade 2 trailer. It's not that UE 5 can't do this, It 100% can, but i'd be amazed if the final game isn't massively toned down to make it actually play well. At which point, without all the epic dynamic camera motion, it will start to look like a (very good looking) normal video game.
It isn't a new problem but no one has really solved it yet. Perhaps they will be first ones to do so, as I said above, i'd LOVE to be wrong here.
@Moonglow Spot on as usually 😊.
Having downloaded the 4k video and examined it thoroughly it is clearly in engine footage with snippets of game play running 1800p with fsr2 upscaled to 4k with global illumination and rti enabled. Frame rate comes in at around a almost locked, sometimes, possibly hitting 33&1/3 j/k
Game looks amazing ! Can't wait to kick chickens and cutt some farts with that young lady 💪
Nice looking engine, I hope the actual game can look like that too.
I was one who was not happy with the trailer, it really didnt feel 'Fable' to me. BUT, we clearly didnt see the game and I'm still hopeful that by the time the game is ready, I will be feeling the vibe. Playground don't make a habit of letting us down, so I'm hoping this will be the excellent game we are all looking for.
@themightyant Many games use dynamic camera. Resident Evil remakes for example when you get bitten or when you counter with the knife. What's more conspicious is the blur of the heroine evading the giant. Still, very impressive either way.
I want to add it's refreshing seeing a female protagonist without perfect "specs" should I say. I'm tired of perfect bodies and faces in gaming. She is immediately more likeable.
Why can't this game look this good. I mean look at God of War on ps5 and Horizon Forbidden West. Xbox SX is more powerful than ps5 and they're using the full potential of the console. So this game should look this awesome.
@Amigator I'm pretty sure that there is a select/create your character when you start the game.
I think this is an awesome trailer, looks beautiful and i’m not going to sit here counting frames or whatever people do these days. Excited for the game. Even if it looks almost as good as this for the final product then thats awesome. This is even supposed to be a positive article.
And this does have the staple British humour we know and love from Fable so not sure why some aren’t getting the same vibes (sure it looks different but we are in the future now 😮). Glad i’m not as negative on everything as everyone else seems to be - makes me feel cheery by comparison!
@Banjo- I imagine this will be the case, but the choice for the trailer says something. I'll be sad if I won't be able to chose her from the start.
@K1LLEGAL I feel 100% positive about it, too ✌🏻.
@Amigator Choice is always good, I would like to play as a guy, especially in a game like this whose first entry I played as if I was living in that world myself 😁. Other games I wouldn't mind as much. For instance, in Project Zero/Fatal Frame, the fact that most characters are young girls not strong physically, unlike most video games heroines, increases the sense of vulnerability and I love that.
@Banjo- Yeah you're absolutely right. I vouch for Fatal Frame although I'd argue that even with a male character, seeing ghosts do all kind of stuff in first person is scary enough on it's own.
@Amigator Absolutely! The handcrafted psychological horror can be as scary as beautiful whatever the characters are.
@Amigator Now I'm curious, what are your favourite characters ever, male and female?
More like:
"no way that was real because it looked terrible!"
@themightyant @Ocat
He did, the tweet has 3 shots of the trailer that already were presumed to be actual gameplay footage by players familiar with the IP.
I'm now looking at the video again, trying to repeat that one shot of the fireball. There is no panning out, there is a camera swager that is no much more drastic than the camera swager we get in games like Far Cry as we simply walk or sprint.
There is a camera span on the scene where she kick-trips a guy down, but that is also slow motion and very likely real game play (not that different from kill shots in Fallout.)
The parry zoom in is likely the same, generally its safe to do fancy stuff with the camera in scenes segments that you either slow down time or simply don't have full control of the character due to being animation-locked in a move.
@Banjo-
Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't Fable historically just offers you a choice of gender with 2 pre-designed characters? Would not be shocked if its the same here.
@Tharsman It goes from here
To here. About 4x zoom, plus the camera is pivoting etc.
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Regardless it was one simple example. It's the rest of the trailer that seems even less like gameplay.
@Banjo- Definitely the greatest anti hero ever, Solid Snake. I like this kind of flawed personality. Gordon Freeman. Larry "Kent sent me" Laffer. I can't remember any female cause as I said usually they are too perfect for my liking.
It's playground, up there with Rockstar and Naughty Dog in AAA+ game engine fidelity and optimisation - After forza 5 I would have zero surprise if it looked like this or better.
The ‘ugly’ lady caused a bit of a Twitter storm about wokeness the other day.
Personally, I’m not into the woke stuff, but it was obviously a joke about how you can customise your character (like past fable games) and make them fugly.
The reason we know they weren’t trying to push this ugly girl as beautiful is how they revealed her. Shock and horrified people gasping.
They mocked her looks.
If she is the main character then that’s also fine with me. Having an ugly lady who is brash and effeminate suited the styling of the game for me.
Also, having the dude from IT Crowd was great, and showing their big named celebrities being killed was a master stroke.
All in all it was a great trailer and I just hope the game delivers.
@Krysus it's a trailer, HUD isn't needed, I've watched a few podcasts now, Jeff Grubb has said yep was game play in there in part. Looks fantastic! Playground are masters of open world maps, look at Forza's beauty.
@Kienda Nothing wrong with Wokeness, I'm 39, the character looked cool, Fable has a character creator anyway. Forza H5 has a lot of inclusive stuff which is fantastic, it's 2023, we need bionics limbs, hearing aids, LGBTQ+ in games, it makes sense. People want to be represented etc.
I'm a lefty Liberal, so wokeness I guess is normal, it's just about being inclusive and fair. People like to be dicks on the internet! That's the issue, the character looked cool, more of a tom boy look!
@themightyant a few others have confirmed parts of the Giant fight is also game play, if you're quick you can see it.
I really hope the game looks this amazing. If you think about how beautiful Forza H4 and H5 looks imagine that world but a slower moving character, you can ramp up the foliage, the wildlife the lighting. Been thinking about it a lot as I play Forza H5
I hope that he/she main character isn’t real cos it’s so ugly. Should probably write an article about it and playground games woke agenda
It's not gameplay pure and simple. They have one shot at this, and they know it. Don't screw the pooch, Playground.
Of course it's not real, it's a game, hahahaha
@Tharsman Fable 1 presents a man that evolves physically and psychologically, including sexual orientation, depending on you.
@Amigator As humans, I'm going to choose Richard Aiken voiced by Joseph Walter Whyte (Resident Evil 2002) and as female, Jill Valentine voiced by Heidi Anderson-Swan (Resident Evil 2002) and Nicole Tompkins (Resident Evil 3 2020).
@Ep_13 maybe my interpretation of “woke” is different to yours.
I’m liberal, I thought woke referred to the crazy far-left fringe stuff that pushes beyond the basic decency of giving representation and respect for all and instead moves towards high minded ideals that are impossible to maintain and just cause confusion.
I agree that Fable’s character creator should allow people to make the character how they want and I think representation is good.
It didn’t make sense that people were angry about this character as being “woke” or that the developers were “bowing to wokeness“ (as I saw some claim) when actually it was just a good way to show the customisation you can do. The character they made suited the style of the trailer and they knew what they were doing with and made jokes about.
I thought it was all just a cut scene. I didn't get to see how combat gameplay is like or anything.
@Kienda you should have said this in your first comment. Perfect. Woke isn't a bad thing. Playground games are well known for their diversity and inclusive nature. Look at Forza Horizon 5 character additions. Just assumed you were being negative. You know more than me. Also I'm a liberal lefty. I'd rather be woke then Right or Far right. As then you get into the Xenophobic, Homophobic and all the other negative connotations. Just my view. Also voted Remain if that helps. Brexit looks to have been a disaster across the board.
@Ep_13 I probably shouldn’t have mentioned woke in my first comment. I was more just aghast at the backlash this character and the developers received.
I think what I refer to as woke is different to you. What you refer to as woke, is what I would just say is common decency and respect for all people regardless of who they are. So maybe I’m woke without realising. Haha
I’m not sure about Brexit. I don’t think Brexit should affect our ability to be kind to each other. I think politics has gotten to very angry (maybe it always has been) and so I tend to avoid it.
so ugly I doubt anybody will finish this game... and good yhing this will be on game pass cuz sales would be tragic
@Kienda well said. Brilliant 👌😊 fully agree.
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