14 DAY TRIAL // John Needham, the leader of the team at Lionhead, says that the company’s upcoming Fable Legends has drawn a certain amount of inspiration from the online experiences introduced by Dark Souls and by Journey.
He tells Eurogamer that the two games generated a number of ideas for his team, which they are able to implement using the new cloud-based technology of the Xbox One.
Needham explains, “I love Dark Souls, where you’re invading other people’s worlds, and games like Journey, where people are organically coming in and out of your game world. Having that kind of infrastructure behind the Xbox One gives you a lot of flexibility to do highly innovative online.”
The executive says that he wants to make Lionhead a leading developer when it comes to online experiences and that Fable as a franchise is uniquely suited for such a move.
He adds, “That was goal number one, and rallying the studio around, look, we can make a fantastic Fable experience online. This is not an IP that has to be a single-player experience.”
Fable Legends is designed to allow gamers to create groups of five and tackle a number of challenges set during the Age of Heroes, a period long before the events of the first single-player game in the franchise.
The company says that gamers will have access to extensive character customization options and that they will be able to choose whether they are the hero or the villain of a certain scenario.
Fable Legends will use the power of the Xbox One to deliver an updated take on the art style of the series and the cloud will play a major part in the game mechanics.
Neither Lionhead nor Microsoft has offered a clear launch date for the new title, but fans are expecting it in late 2014.