Premise
You are described as "Albion's first hero in a generation." The game begins with your character as a child in Briar Hill, a small rural village. You discover heroic powers during childhood. After a time jump to adulthood (when Character Customization begins), a mysterious stranger arrives and petrifies your grandmother and the entire village, turning everyone to stone.
You leave to find out why and how to reverse it. The investigation leads to the Heroes' Guild in Bowerstone, where Humphry the Golden reluctantly takes you on. The story revolves around uncovering the secrets of the Guild and its Guildmaster.
No time pressure
The developers emphasized there is no ticking clock. The petrification gives you motivation but the game does not rush you. You can spend as long as you want exploring Albion, buying property, fighting enemies, and building your reputation before pursuing the main quest. Briar Hill stays frozen until you decide to act.
The Cult of Shadows
An antagonistic organization operating out of Bloodstone. Their leader has not been revealed. The cult appears connected to the events at Briar Hill and whatever is threatening Albion, but Playground Games has kept the specific connections under wraps.
Central question
Playground Games frames the entire RPG around one question: "What does it mean to you to be a hero?" The reputation system, NPC reactions, and the consequences of your choices all feed into this. There is no objectively correct way to play. The game does not tell you whether you are good or evil.
Fairytale, not fantasy
Ralph Fulton described the tone using an original Lionhead Studios design document that said "Fable is Fairytale, not Fantasy." His reading of that: Fable is about small, personal, whimsical stories about regular people. It is not grand sweeping epic fantasy. It sits on the opposite end of the spectrum from Game of Thrones or Skyrim.
That said, there is a petrified village and a shadowy cult, so the stakes are real. The game mixes genuine threat with comedy. People are in danger and also chickens are everywhere.
Reboot, not sequel
This is a full reboot. Playground Games decided not to be "beholden to the timeline of the original games" in order to "construct our own Albion and tell our own new story within it." Familiar locations like Bowerstone and Bloodstone return, but the history is not identical to the original trilogy.
Some fan analysis suggests the game may be set roughly 100 years before Fable 2, based on the medieval aesthetic and the presence of a guildmaster. This has not been confirmed by Playground Games.