Albion - Lionhead's fantastical, idealised, over-saturated version of England's green and pleasant land - looks more beautiful than ever. Dense woodland and verdant meadows stretch off into the distance, where a tumbledown city is just visible. A hero fights some goblin-like redcaps on a clifftop, giving himself a running commentary as he does so: "our hero enters the scene: brave, charming, capable of self-narration." It's a good-humoured fairytale, just like Fable has always been. But there is a difference. The hero on-screen, a Prince Charming type who flourishes a rapier and wise-cracks in classic Fable style - is just one of four working together. The other three - a fabulously-attired magician, a female warrior with a shield that looks like it weighs as much as she does, a crossbow-wielding archer - are controlled by other players. And the enemies are controlled by another, fifth player: the villain. From a top-down perspective, the villain controls the heroes' quest, placing enemies, traps, ambushes and more in their path as they play. He's the classic dungeon master.
It's not quite the Fable MMO that's long been rumoured, then, but it's very ambitious. Fable Legends is set 400 years before the other Fable games, at a time when Albion's myths and folklore are still being forged, the point at which legends are reality. Heroes are common: these four on-screen aren't the only ones (and when the game comes out, they won't be the only ones you can play), and they compete and co-operate with each other to step out into the wilds and claim the monster-ridden lands whilst villagers cower away at home. It's not Fable 4, but it's most definitely Fable. Fable has always given you the choice over whether to be the hero or the villain, but as game director David Eckelberry points out, that's never fundamentally changed the gameplay before. This time it absolutely does. The villain role is inspired by the Sauron-esque image of the villain atop some tower, looking down and directing minions on the battlefield. As the villain you control the quest for the players: where enemies will spawn, how aggressive they are, when the boss will come lumbering out of its lair, when to bring down an impassable portcullis or lay a trap to separate heroes from each other to thwart them.
