A lot of Fable fans want to know where exactly Fable 4 takes place. The only trailer for the game reveals very little about the setting besides suggesting that Fable is going back to its high fantasy roots. As the franchise went on, Fable famously experienced an industrial revolution that came to a head in Fable 3. Playground Games' trailer for its upcoming game might suggest that Fable is not only picking back up in a different setting, but a different time period. However, Fable 4 doesn't have to be displaced in both place and time. Instead, Playground Games could set its game in the Old Kingdom.
Although the Fable trilogy is beloved on the whole, not everyone was keen on its sudden industrial turn. Fable 3's industrial Albion,complete with guns and factories, was almost unrecognizable compared to the original Fable's highly traditional medieval fantasy world. Many Fable fans are optimistic about the new Fable game for this reason. The trailer's heavy emphasis on the wilderness and medieval imagery suggests that Playground Games' reboot of the franchise could be returning to the original Albion. Playground Games should going even farther back in Albion's past, though. The Old Kingdom, an important era in Albion's lore, hasn't been touched by the games, but comes with fantastic storytelling opportunities.
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The original lore of Fable states that Albion was once united under one ruler as a nation called the Kingdom of Albion or the Kingdom of Archons, now referred to as the Old Kingdom. The great hero William Black established the Old Kingdom after defeating the tyrannical Court, restoring peace to Albion. However, William — also referred to as the Archon — eventually left the throne due to illness, and the kingdom fell into chaos. The first Fable game picks up many years after the fall of the Old Kingdom, taking place in an Albion torn apart into city states and plagued by crime.
Although the Old Kingdom is very important to the Fable games, there isn't actually a Fable game that takes place during the Archon's reign. Playground Games' trailer for Fable 4, however, could very well lead into a game set in that ancient era. The Archon's Kingdom came to be before humans ruled Albion, and the Fable 4 trailer very much represents a world dominated by wilderness, mystery, and magical creatures. Fable 4 could lean into that by having players explore the Old Kingdom, potentially playing a part in either its rise or its fall.
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There's plenty of interesting directions that Playground Games could take the Old Kingdom in. For instance, it could break Fable tradition by using a protagonist that isn't descended from William Black. Instead, players might play as an aspiring Hero witnessing the Old Kingdom's fall as the Archon's children vie for power. That would play well into Fable's famous morality system, giving good protagonists the chance to protect Albion from ruin, and evil protagonists opportunities to either serve greedy successors of the Archon or to betray them for the player's ends.
Alternately, Fable 4 could focus on the founding of the Old Kingdom. Players might get to play as William Black himself, mastering Fable's Powers of Will by thwarting the Court's machinations while traveling around Albion. At the end of the game, players could reenact history by traveling to the Void to defeat the Court, including the infamous Jack of Blades. Playing as William Black opens doors for some interesting uses of Fable's morality too. While a good-aligned playthrough would naturally result in Fable's canonical lore where a wise and benevolent William rules Albion, evil playthroughs could see William overthrow the Court in search of power, becoming Albion's new tyrant.
The breadth of possibilities that the Old Kingdom opens up for Fable 4 shows that Playground Games should seriously consider keeping a significant amount of the Fable trilogy's old lore in place. Lionhead Studios did some amazing worldbuilding, so leaving Albion behind in the Fable reboot would feel like a bit of a waste. Even if Playground decides to rewrite a lot of things, it would be wise to root Fable 4 in Fable traditions that made the series great. Concepts like the Old Kingdom still have a lot to offer.
Fable 4 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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