Fable’s Style of Comedy Was Influenced by Peep Show, The IT Crowd and The Office, Says Director

by

The Fable series has always been known for its uniquely British humor. Ralph Fulton, the director of the Fable reboot at Playground Games, recently discussed the comedic influences on the new game in an interview with Xbox Wire. He mentioned classic British shows like The IT Crowd, Peep Show, and The Office as key inspirations for the game’s comedy.

“We were inspired by the incredibly rich variety of British comedies that have been around over the last 20 years like ‘Peep Show,’ ‘The IT Crowd’ and so many others,” he said. “We started with ‘The Office’, which again started out as quintessentially British, but also travels really, really well. Not just that IP, but a lot of the techniques and the devices that it’s popularized, you know. It’s that really grounded, awkward style of humour which really appeals to us. And the actors who have been in a lot of these shows – and indeed some of whom are in our game – they’re known all over the world.”

I’ve been thinking about how the UK version of The Office really influenced our game. It’s a pretty unique comedy style – that whole mockumentary thing with all the awkward moments building up to funny payoffs – and we hadn’t really seen that done much in games before. We actually experimented with that style in some of our trailers, and we ended up bringing a lot of those same storytelling techniques into the game itself.

Another great aspect of The Office that we borrowed is the mockumentary style you might have noticed in our trailers. Some people think we only used it for the trailers, but it’s actually a technique we employ throughout the entire game.”

I haven’t encountered this technique in games before, but it’s a great way to deliver jokes or reveal character details smoothly. What might feel awkward or forced in a conversation suddenly feels natural when presented directly to the player through the game’s visuals.

Fulton also shared more information about Fable, explaining that the open-world action RPG will have over a thousand uniquely created characters. Each of these characters will have their own personality, job, and how they view the player.

As a huge fan, I was really interested to hear that the team at Playground Games actually didn’t go with procedural generation for the NPCs in the new Fable. Apparently, they decided early on that they wanted to painstakingly create each character – everything from their name and how they look, to their personality, morals, job, and even their family. They felt it was super important that players could really get to know these unique, carefully crafted people, and you just can’t achieve that with something randomly generated.

Fulton explained that the new Fable game will move away from the simple good-versus-evil morality system seen in past Fable titles. Instead, the game will focus on how individual characters react to the player’s choices, forming opinions based on their own values and the player’s actions.

Want to learn more about the new Fable game? Find out why Playground Games chose to restart the series instead of continuing with Fable 4. The game will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S this fall.

Read More

2026-01-23 17:41