14 DAY TRIAL // Fable Anniversary is an upgraded version of the first game in the long-running action role-playing series, but initially, the team at Microsoft in charge of the franchise was interested in creating a remake that would tweak many of the core game mechanics.
Ted Timmins, franchise manager of the series at Microsoft, tells VG247 that, “we really wanted to just remake the whole thing. But then once we worked out it would take about three years we realised it wasn’t viable. And that’s not really what the fans would want. The fans want a nice excuse to play through the original again.”
According to the executive, the feedback coming from the community so far has been ecstatic because players are able to experience the same quests that they loved ten years ago with improved control options and much better graphics.
A complete Fable remake would also have faced tough competition from comparisons with other recent releases like Halo Anniversary and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
Timmins adds, “This isn’t a reboot like Tomb Raider. This is reminding the fans why they fell in love with Albion all that time ago. The fans have been demanding this and it’s one of the reasons why we decided to put it on the Xbox 360 – to let the fans complete their collection and have the whole franchise on one platform.”
At the moment, Lionhead and Microsoft are working on a new Fable title called Legends, which is set to be launched on the Xbox One and which will allow gamers to take on the role of either the hero or the villain in a story set 1,000 years before the events of the core series.
Fully remastered versions of other Fable games might be offered on the new Microsoft home console in the near future.