What Balverines Are
Balverines are Fable's answer to werewolves. They are large, fast, lupine creatures that have appeared in every mainline Fable game since the original in 2004. They are one of the franchise's most recognizable enemy types, alongside Hobbes and Hollow Men.
Origin: The Balvorn
In Fable lore, the first Balverines originated from a massive creature called the Balvorn. The Balvorn was an ancient beast, and the Balverines descended from it or were created through its influence. The exact details vary between sources within the franchise, but the Balvorn is consistently identified as the progenitor of the species.
The Balverine curse is how the creatures multiply. A person bitten by a Balverine on a full moon at midnight becomes a Balverine themselves. This is a direct parallel to werewolf mythology, adapted into Fable's setting. In the original trilogy, encountering your first Balverine was a memorable moment because they were so much more dangerous than the bandits and Hobbes you had been fighting up to that point.
Silver Weakness
Silver is the Balverine's key weakness, again mirroring werewolf mythology. In previous Fable games, silver-augmented weapons dealt increased damage to Balverines. Whether the reboot keeps this mechanic, or how the weapon augmentation system works in general, has not been detailed. But given the franchise's history, silver and Balverines are closely linked.
White Balverines
White Balverines are the most powerful type in Fable lore. They have white fur and red eyes. They are faster, stronger, and more durable than regular Balverines. In the original games, White Balverines could howl to summon reinforcements, calling regular Balverines to their location. Fighting a White Balverine often meant fighting it and the pack it called in.
Whether the reboot includes White Balverines or similar variants has not been confirmed. Given the stated design goal of each enemy having unique behaviors and weak points, some differentiation within the Balverine population seems likely.
Confirmed for the Reboot
Playground Games confirmed that Balverines return in the Fable reboot alongside Hobbes, Hollow Men, and Trolls. They were listed as part of the returning enemy roster. The reboot ensures each enemy type has "unique strengths and weaknesses," which means Balverines will fight differently from other creatures and require different approaches.
Combat behavior in previous games
In the original trilogy, Balverines were defined by their speed and aggression. They charged at the player. They leaped great heights and distances, closing gaps quickly. They attacked with claw swipes that dealt heavy damage. They were hard to pin down with melee because they moved so fast.
Fighting them typically meant either using ranged attacks to chip away at their health before they reached you, or timing blocks and counterattacks carefully in melee. Magic (Will) was often effective for crowd control, especially against multiple Balverines at once.
The reboot has not shown detailed Balverine combat footage, so how they fight in the new game is speculative based on their historical behavior and the general statement about unique strengths and weaknesses.
Updated Designs
Like all returning creatures, Balverines have been redesigned for the reboot. Playground Games gave each returning enemy an updated look while ensuring they "certainly look like they belong in Albion." The exact design changes have not been shown in close-up detail.
The Balverine curse as story element
In previous Fable games, the Balverine curse was a plot element. In Fable 1, there was a quest where a Balverine bit a character and the player had to decide how to handle the infected person. In some games, there were hints that the player could contract the curse themselves, though full player-Balverine transformation was never a major mechanic.
Whether the Balverine curse returns as a story or gameplay element in the reboot has not been confirmed. Given Playground Games' emphasis on player choice and consequences, a quest involving the curse would fit the game's design, but this is speculation.
Balverines and style weaving
The Style Weaving combat system should change how Balverines feel compared to earlier games. In the old trilogy, you picked a combat style and stuck with it during a fight. Now you can blend melee, ranged, and Will magic mid-combo. A Balverine charges at you, you dodge, fire an arrow to slow it down, cast a crowd control spell, then close with a sword combo. The fluidity of style weaving should make Balverine fights more dynamic than the older games' somewhat repetitive dodge-and-counter loops.