Summary
- Fable fans are more enthusiastic about being able to play the old Fables on PC, than Fable 4.
- A Fable 2 port on PC is the community’s dream scenario.
- The new Fable did not appear at The Game Awards, so we’ll likely see more in the new year.
And so the sun sets on another edition of the Game Awards. Last year’s ceremony was undoubtedly one of the most exciting in recent memory, though a couple of fan bases are sure to be aggrieved that their beloved series’ didn’t get a mention. Although you might expect the Fable fans to be disappointed, they’re actually more aggrieved about a long-standing problem with the series.
Yes, we’re all excited about Playground Games’ new Fable, but also – why can’t we play the entire series on PC in 2024? Fable 2 was an Xbox 360 exclusive so developing a PC port for that game is a more involved job, but Fable 3 is already playable on PC. It’s just saddled with broken Games for Windows Live DRM that makes the game unplayable without a fan-made patch.
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This topic was raised in the comments of a Reddit thread by perola23 about Fable appearing at The Game Awards (before the show aired). Although the chances of a new trailer certainly generated excitement, one of the most common replies was actually about Fable 2 and Fable 3 potentially releasing on Steam.
“If they did this, I would be a very happy man,” writes 24OuncesOfFaygoGrape. “If it includes all the currently unavailable content from the late Fable 2 dot com, I’ll instantly buy it,” replies Daemon-Blackbrier. The age of downloadable content originating on defunct websites is a bygone one, but one that still plagues those who want to see the full breadth of Fable 2.
As the other commenters rightly point out, the community has released unofficial patches for Fable 3 that fix the DRM issue and include unavailable downloadable content. Unfortunately, you can no longer officially buy Fable 3 on Steam, so prospective players won’t be able to avail of this hard work.
As for Fable 2, it was never released on PC. Although a port is perhaps a lot to ask, Fable 2 is often regarded as the best game in the series and the only way for PC players to play the game currently is by streaming the game through Xbox’s cloud gaming service. However, the game doesn’t run particularly well on this service. “Honestly, I’d like this more than Fable 4 news,” says ErraticNymph, summing up the feeling of a lot of commenters in the thread.
As for the new Fable, the last trailer we received for the game was back in June. The game is still scheduled to release next year, and we’ll likely see more about Playground Games’ latest venture in an Xbox Direct early next year.
Fable is an upcoming RPG for Xbox and PC. It will reboot the classic series, this time developed by Playground Games – best known for its work on the Forza series of racing games.