Fable preview – bringing back the dog is still a ‘future possibility’ says dev

Fable – there might be no dog but at least you have a horse (Xbox Game Studios) Playground Games’ Fable reboot launches without its beloved canine companion, but director Ralph Fulton says the dog was once planned and could still return in a future update. Xbox’s upcoming Fable reboot is lacking a major feature from the last game, but according to Playground Games director Ralph Fulton, that could very well change in the near future. In an interview, I asked Fulton if there are any staple elements from Fables 1 to 3 the team wanted to bring back, but weren’t able to. Fulton responded: ‘It feels like the first part of the question is begging me to talk about the dog,’ suggesting a canine companion hasn’t been far from the developers’ minds. To be honest, this wasn’t intended as a leading question. ‘Great,’ Fulton said. ‘Now I’ve brought up the dog because I’m a f***ing idiot.’ ‘The feature that I get the most grief about is the dog,’ he continued. ‘Now that I’ve opened the door, as I have said before, it was in the plans. And I made the call during development to cut it. We didn’t feel we could do it justice with the time we had available, and the other things that we needed to dedicate the resources to.’ As in Fable 2 and 3, a dog could have helped seek out buried treasure, attack people for you, and assisted in navigation. However, it was axed some time during development, and the decision rests squarely on Fulton’s shoulders. Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The question remains: why? After all, Fable 2 established the blueprint for an animalistic AI buddy to accompany you throughout your fairytale adventure and if Lionhead could pull it off in 2008, surely Playground Games could do the same in 2027. However, it’s not enough to simply revive the mechanic. 17 years on, in a world as detailed as Fable’s, it would have to be a significant improvement, executed with a much higher level of fidelity. Picture the giant technological leap between the horses in 2010’s Red Dead Redemption and its 2018 sequel. From animation to behaviour to how they’re integrated in a dynamic open world, Rockstar elevated the feature massively. Playground Games, on the other hand, chose to dedicate its resources elsewhere. The main area of change lies in the game’s hundreds of unique characters. According to Fulton, every single one has their own distinct routine, which adheres to their likes, dislikes, and overall personality. ‘You’ll get an NPC who is, under the hood, a reader. So they’ll just find a bench, take out a book and read. Some, and this is a very British thing, are more of a drinker. They’ll go to the pub for their leisure time.’ Characters’ days consist of three parts: sleeping, working, and leisure. A tailor, for instance, will sleep close to their place of work, walk there in the morning, serve the customers of Albion all day, then spend the evening doing their custom leisure activity, be it fishing, painting, or having a pint. The new game seems to be very similar in concept to Fable 2 (Xbox Game Studios) Not only do these bespoke routines apply to the 400 handcrafted citizens in the game’s largest settlement, Bowerstone, but characters across the land, from villages to farms to cottages. When you take this into account, it’s easy to understand the decision leading Playground Games to cut the dog. Not even a delay could save it. On May 29, 2026, Xbox announced, via a post on X, that the game would shift from an October 2026 release to February 27, 2027. This, however, was a tactical move to avoid GTA 6, rather than a bid for extra polishing time. It seems that decision didn’t reach whoever was in charge of the official Fable X account. On April 11, 2026, it posted the game is still on track. ’Excited to welcome you back to Albion in Autumn 2026,’ it read. So, was this a lie? ‘That was a simple case of a decision being made that hadn’t made its way to the people on the social team,’ says Fulton. ‘And just for the record, I don’t hate that decision at all. I don’t want this game to get engulfed by what is going to be the biggest media event of the decade. So February is further away, and that’s disappointing in some ways. But do you know what? It’s a great window for us. We’re going to be ready for it. And we’re super excited to show the world that game.’ That game may not have room for a dog, but Fulton says, ‘it will always be a future possibility.’ Whether that’s part of a free update, a paid download, or just wishful thinking on Fulton’s part remains to be seen. ‘I mean, there’s always scope for everything,’ he continues. ‘There’s a saying in video games. You can do anything but you can’t do everything.’ Fable will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on February 23, 2027. The graphics are really outstanding (Xbox Game Studios) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. 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