Fable Devs Address Hero Design Changes: 'It's Not a Revolutionary Thing for an RPG to Have'

Character creators are a staple in video games, especially RPGs. Fable is just one of many adventures that let you craft a hero in your own image. But when it's time to showcase a game ahead of launch, tough decisions have to be made.

Since its initial reveal, we've seen multiple hero appearances in trailers and gameplay videos—of all shapes, sizes, and genders. But that first female hero has become the face of Playground's reboot, and some folks have decided it's perfectly normal to complain that she isn't conventionally 'attractive' enough.

Well, at gamescom 2026, the Forza Horizon studio showed off a new extended look at quest gameplay in Albion's capital, Bowerstone, where the player hero was a woman we hadn't seen before. Was this a response to online backlash, or just a simple showcase of the variations available in Fable's character creator? I asked game director Ralph Fulton.

'Earlier this year, we obviously revealed that we have had some customization in our game,' Fulton explains. 'It's not a revolutionary thing for an RPG to have, but nevertheless, there was some speculation that we didn't, and we were happy to reveal: Yes, we did.'

Since then, in the assets we've put out—our showcase trailer, the live gameplay video from June, and both of our assets here—we've been happy to cycle through some of the characters you can select and customize using that tool. The girl you see in the theater demo we're showing today is just another one of the characters you can select and customize in the game. And you know what? People like her, and I'm delighted.'

Fable launches on February 23, 2027, and you'll have the freedom to make your character look however you like. It really is that simple.

For more on the RPG, check out not one, but two previews from gamescom 2026, where I gave my impressions of the new quest gameplay, plus my thoughts on its combat after playing it.