Characters

The hero

You are the first Hero in a generation. The protagonist is fully customizable (gender, appearance, clothing) and begins as a child in Briar Hill before a time jump to adulthood. The character creator opens after the childhood prologue.

Your heroic powers emerge during childhood. After a mysterious stranger petrifies your grandmother and everyone in your village, you set out to find answers. This leads you to the Heroes' Guild and Guildmaster Humphry. See the Story article for the full plot.

Humphry the Golden

Voiced by Matt King (Super Hans in Peep Show). Humphry is the Guildmaster of the Heroes' Guild in Bowerstone. He is a retired hero, jaded and reclusive, who gets forced out of retirement to help the player.

A mockumentary-style trailer at Xbox Showcase 2024 introduced him, filmed like a documentary crew following a washed-up celebrity. A character spotlight from August 2023 described him as a "darker interpretation of the hero archetype." Matt King's performance leans into the comedy of an aging hero dragged back into action against his will.

Dave

Voiced by Richard Ayoade (Moss in The IT Crowd). Dave is a glasses-wearing gardener who calls himself a "vegetable enthusiast." He discovers a magical growth formula and accidentally transforms into a giant. You fight him as a boss. He was introduced in the first in-game trailer at Xbox Games Showcase 2023.

You can kill or spare Dave. If you kill him, his giant corpse stays in the world permanently. Cinematics Director Mark Tan confirmed this "is going to affect house prices" in the area, because nobody wants to buy property next to a dead giant. The reputation consequences ripple outward from there.

NPC systems

Fable has over 1,000 handcrafted NPCs. The team initially considered procedural generation but decided against it. Each NPC has:

• A unique name and appearance

• A job and daily routine

• A home with a bed (cities have beds for every resident)

• Family connections and relationships with other NPCs

• A personality and moral worldview

• Individual voice acting

• Memory of your actions

NPCs gossip about you. If you do something in front of witnesses, word spreads through the community. NPCs adjust how they interact with you based on what they have seen or heard. Some give mockumentary-style interview segments about you, commenting on your behavior like talking heads in The Office. Your reputation can also affect shop prices and quest availability.

Romance and marriage

You can marry any of the 1,000+ NPCs regardless of gender. Having children is confirmed. Divorce is possible. It is unclear whether you can be married to multiple people at once, which was a feature in earlier Fable games. See Property and economy for how marriage fits into the life simulation side.

No dog companion

Fable 2 and 3 had a dog that followed you everywhere. Ralph Fulton confirmed there is no dog in this game: "We do not have a dog in this game." He added that "a substantial number of people on the team have yet to forgive me for that decision" and cited development reasons. He also pointed out the original Fable did not have a dog; it was added in Fable 2.

Voice cast

Playground Games has said the game has an "amazing cast" and emphasized hiring British actors. The full cast list has not been released. Confirmed actors:

• Matt King as Humphry the Golden (Guildmaster)

• Richard Ayoade as Dave (gardener-turned-giant)

Regional British accents are used throughout: Brummie (Birmingham), Scouse (Liverpool), and various Midlands dialects. Playground Games has said they are not softening the British character for international audiences.