Playground Games has recently confirmed that the upcoming Fable reboot will have a modestly sized campaign and body of side content, eschewing genre tradition. It should go without saying that the open-world RPG genre is obsessed with its worlds, and making those worlds as big and beefy as possible has therefore often been the default modus operandi for most AAA developers in the space.
But it doesn't necessarily have to be, and Fable may help prove that. According to Playground Games, the main Fable campaign will take roughly 15–20 hours to complete, with an additional 15–20 hours provided through structured side content like quests. Being generous, that means that Fable probably has about 40 hours' worth of handmade narrative and gameplay content on offer. But there are also the life simulation aspects of the game, such as marrying a spouse, buying property, and having children, which Playground Games describes as "limitless." It's too early to call, but this balance of limitless and highly controlled content could wind up working in Fable's favor.
It's been said many times already, but an intense fixation on size, scope, and scale can often work to a game's detriment. It's true that leading publishers and developers, even today, tend to lean into quantity over quality. One only needs to look at recent releases in the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises to see how such overwhelming abundance can actually undermine a game's strengths.
چوونەژوورەوە
بۆ ئەوەی ئیدیعای شوێنی خۆت بکەیت لەسەر لیدەربۆرد!
چوونەژوورەوە
بۆ ئەوەی ئیدیعای شوێنی خۆت بکەیت لەسەر لیدەربۆرد!
It seems like the AAA space may be learning a bit from this, especially given the rise of AA and independent games: it's been demonstrated time and again that players don't necessarily need 100+ hours of content from every title. Of course, there are also games that are praised for their breadth and volume of content, like Baldur's Gate 3 or Elden Ring, but these should be treated more like exceptions than standards. Not every studio can make 100+ hours of great RPG gameplay and story, and not every premise demands that.
For a game like Fable, which will ostensibly be more about capturing the vibes and magic (literal and figurative) of the original Fable trilogy, a swollen time-to-beat just isn't necessary. In fact, the dark fairy-tale nature of the Fable franchise may actually lend itself better to a shorter campaign, as the plot can thereby move at a more efficient and engaging pace. Again, some stories benefit from having as much legroom as possible, but Fable's may not necessarily be one of them.
Side content's a bit trickier. After all, you might think that there's no real upper limit to this sort of thing, since it's all optional in the first place. However, expanding a game with abundant side quests or challenges can also mean stretching creative means too thin, resulting in a lower average quality level for the game as a whole. Then there are the knock-on effects on design pillars like progression and reward economy, which would potentially need to be diluted to make way for more activities. Finally, there are the practical concerns associated with making a video game: given finite time and resources, making a game bigger can also mean watering it down.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/fable-story-length-open-world-rpg-40-hours/
