Fable has never shied away from making allusions to classical fantasy elements. In fact, it started out as arguably one of the most traditional depictions of fantasy in the games industry. The very title of Fable tells players what kinds of stories the franchise includes. Retellings of classic fantasy stories and new depictions of familiar fantasy creatures, from giants to werewolves, fill Fable. The franchise is about how the player chooses to retell myths, weaving their own fable based on their behavior and moral choices, so with this in mind, one wonders how much the new Fable game will choose to lean on inspiration from real life.
If any famous real-life myth seems likely to feature significantly in Fable 4, it could be the Sword in the Stone. Fable has always had a particularly strong connecting with British history and culture, to the extent that the world of Albion borrows its name from an archaic name for Great Britain, and the development of Albion across the original Fable trilogy strongly mirrors Great Britain's transition from an island of disconnected nations to a unified kingdom. A Fable 4 built around the Sword in the Stone would continue the tradition of borrowing from British culture and open gateways for some interesting storytelling.
Fable's Sword in the Stone Connections
Technically Fable has already interacted with the Sword in the Stone, but not to the extent that this important Arthurian legend deserves. The first Fable game featured a side quest simply called "The Sword in the Stone," in which players could pull a very powerful longsword called the Harbinger out of a stone if their physical stats were good enough. While there's some interesting lore behind the Harbinger, it doesn't have nearly as much of an impact on Fable as Excalibur has on King Arthur's story.
Interestingly enough, the other place where Fable has touched on this story is in the trailer for Playground Games' new Fable game. As the narrator speaks, a fairy the trailer follows briefly comes across a mysterious sword left standing alone in the woods. The trailer reveals nothing more about the sword, but the human remains laying nearby suggest there's a story behind this sword. It's possible that Playground Games wanted to set up this sword as a central element of Fable's plot, even if the trailer revealed little about Fable 4's story overall. Playground Games' Fable setting, whether it's Albion or not, could require the player to claim this sword as a symbol of some divine right.
How Fable 4 Can Use the Sword
An Excalibur stand-in would offer a lot to the plot of a new Fable game. Fable famously focused in large part on a morality system that would change the player's character and environment based on their choices. The struggle between good and evil is a constant in Fable. That's why a magically chosen monarch would be an interesting protagonist to play as in Fable 4. If players are a ruler, or at least a rightful ruler trying to claim a throne, their decisions to serve justice or injustice would be even more impactful.
Fable 3 already proves the potential of a player-made monarch as a storytelling tool. Fable 4 could reimagine it by making it more pivotal to the player's development and tying it deeply into Fable's traditional morality system. It'd also be a good way to drive home Fable 4's position as a reboot. The game clearly isn't focused on the industrial Albion of Fable 3, so why not choose a classic myth to build a medieval fantasy world around. Although it's possible the sword in the new Fable trailer isn't the sword players need, it seems like too significant a nod to the Sword in the Stone to ignore. Playground Games' Fable may be a reboot, but it should still embrace Fable's love of classical fantasy.
Fable is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.