If Lionhead Studios and Microsoft could have their way with it, one would imagine that the Fable franchise would have an entry releasing every year. In service of that goal Microsoft has announced yet another spin-off of the Fable franchise, not Fable: The Journey or any of the mobile games Lionhead has released, that skews a bit younger than any of the games before it.

Titled Fable: Heroes, this Xbox Live Arcade title allows groups of up to four to get together and compete with each other in some competitive hack and slash adventuring. As part of their big Spring Showcase, which also revealed new Darksiders II details, Microsoft has released some screenshots and a trailer for Fable: Heroes to ensure fans of the series know exactly what this title is all about.

Obviously when the concept of a hack and slash Fable title is tossed around, the first thing that would come to player's minds bares little to no resemblance to what Lionhead is delivering, but it still has its potential. Fable has always been a series with a sense of humor, so perhaps with an art style injected with a little bit of playfulness, Lionhead can really revel in that.

Check out the trailer:

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Though the game's main source of gameplay might be hacking and slashing, and earning more coins than your friends, it appears that the title also offers a few more opportunities for fun in the way of mini-games such as the cart racing sequence shown in the trailer. Like in Fable, proper players will also be able to level up and unlock new areas within Albion for the group to explore.

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Design wise the game has an almost Costume Quest aesthetic going on, but still keeps many of the trademark enemies and locations that fans battled in or on in Fable 3. Fable: Heroes is also not meant to be a replacement for Fable: The Journey, Lionhead's Kinect adventure, either, it is its own downloadable creation.

Fable: Heroes currently has no release date but is headed to the Xbox Live Arcade.