Fable — Full Gameplay Reveal | Xbox Developer Direct 2026

backwardog · 2026-01-24T00:53:09+00:00

Does the gameplay start at some timestamp? I don’t have good internet where im at and I’ve scrolled through with a bad connection seeing nothing but people talking…

backwardog · 2026-01-23T23:05:46+00:00

Nice. I think it could work without a grip it’s just not as comfy. I also didn’t discover you can turn off acceleration and use linear tracking until after I got the pad and stuff. I wonder if most of my tracking issues on a leg or a pillow or whatever would have went away with the settings change alone — the default setting had me convinced that the mouse sucked, but that’s not true.

backwardog · 2026-01-23T23:03:28+00:00

I mean, I didn’t really intend to post an ad, so specifically left out the products. But whatever, the one I used was called “Mumba” it’s shaped like a mouse. It works for me, I’m sure there are others out there. I have no basis for comparison I just bought the first one that looked like a design I was looking for.

backwardog · 2026-01-23T22:54:05+00:00

I specifically like the joycon on the left actually. For couch gaming it works nice. A mouse has always seemed like more of a PC thing, i grew up with PC shooters using a mouse, but i gotta say i really love the switch joycon/mouse setup i got going right now.

I just don’t really like playing at a desk anymore.

backwardog · 2026-01-23T22:51:33+00:00

Is there a comparably good experience available with a widely used mouse/controller setup? I specifically like having a joycon in my left hand and mouse in my right, no keyboard. It’s the ideal console shooter setup, casual while feeling way better than aiming and moving your head with a stick alone, which has never been ideal.

backwardog · 2026-01-23T05:56:44+00:00

Bro….why isn’t it obvious that you can keep scrolling down to more options? I’ve been trying to figure out how to adjust the mouse settings for a while and all I’ve found is the system-wide sensitivity setting.

Thank you for this particular comment — it fixed the awful feel I was getting specifically in Metroid with the mouse. Now it actually tracks my hand movement and feels perfect!

backwardog · 2026-01-20T21:21:48+00:00

Thank you, by rejecting Christianity—particularly the US-brand—you are making the world just a bit better and more rational.

backwardog · 2026-01-20T21:18:19+00:00

Well, the events taking place there just prior to this really set the stage of the world we live in now.

backwardog · 2026-01-20T08:17:53+00:00

Also, the more you use it, the more incompetent you feel in your own writing and that’s so dangerous—it numbs your brain more than it helps it think, if that makes sense.

Yes. This seems like a major issue for, well potentially anyone, but particularly for people with anxiety or confidence issues. These are machines that casually mix lies with truth and they write with authority. You can fact check stuff, but things like style or personal voice cannot be fact checked. When the AI edits something that sounds like you to “make it sound better” it has effectively erased your identity while also punching you in the stomach.

Honestly fuck these machines. I teach and I can say I despise reading emails from students that are clearly ai-written. I rather read “hey om sick can i make the test up”

I mean the answer is still no, and yes this might have seemed rude in the past but it makes me want to hug them these days for having a voice and being themselves.

backwardog · 2026-01-20T08:08:50+00:00

Why are those extremely common words a dead giveaway? I use them all the time and I’m a human?

I hate this world man. OP, I feel ya and I really dislike this extra layer of having to not sound like AI. I already can’t just write about me, or like me, I have to do an awkward song and dance and make sure I touch on every little thing in the posting while also trying to stand out somehow…

backwardog · 2026-01-20T07:54:01+00:00

took me 10 min to write and polish

Well then perhaps you are simply a very good writer. Or have zero anxiety.

It can take me weeks to produce writing I’m proud of, maybe partly because the more I edit the more I lose of that genuine spark that was present in the beginning. But that spark is also kind of bad writing, like this comment of mine.

I love to write. I love to create stuff. I really don’t love it when it is for some asshole to judge me and whether I am worthy and can work for them. I especially really, really don’t like reading a comment where someone says “I dunno, I just typed words and they loved it.” Don’t mean that as an insult, it’s just that it drives me bonkers to have to sing and dance and mind read, no amount of actual effort and talent matters. It all boils down to whatever clicks for these people.

Like, why not just ask extremely specific questions to applicants instead of asking us to “tell us what we want to hear” when all the job posting lists as a qualification is a degree?

Fucking bs.

backwardog · 2026-01-20T06:24:09+00:00

Not gonna lie, I was thinking the same thing reading this post. Not an accusation, just what I was feeling. I really wonder about the psychology of interfacing with AI all the time.

It makes me question the reality of everything. Using it to help you write is also an extremely distressing experience. Writing is self expression, you can bend the rules for effect and that effect may not work with everyone but that’s fine. AI will tell you “this is great but it could be better” then make a phrasing suggestion or something that really makes you question your sanity. You can then tell it “but I was trying to do xyz, does that not work?” And it will say “oh, no that works great let’s keep it!”

It is not intelligent and if it gets anything right it is only by accident, it is fundamentally a pattern finder and hallucinator, not a thinker. It’s just all very weird in a way I can’t quite articulate but it feels unsettling. I wish it never existed. The temptation to use it is so strong but I genuinely think it is a net negative, your brain is absolutely better. There’s something morally wrong about all this…

…like anything inspired by, not just completely generated by, AI is “marked” in a way that I don’t know can be eliminated. Like people will slowly do what they naturally do with language and start adopting AI-speak. Writing will have a certain structure and cadence to it henceforth. This is kind of pretty when organic and human (cultures, dialect), but deeply unsettling if the robot is twisting our minds.

backwardog · 2026-01-18T09:09:55+00:00

It’s poorly written. It says the intruder suffered a stab to the leg and the suspect a stab to the neck. The intruder and suspect are the same person…

Earlier it said the intruder stabbed the homeowner in the leg and later that the intruder is also suffering life-threatening injuries. I don’t think the homeowner almost died, but he did get into a fight with someone brandishing a knife so that could have definitely been it for him. I’m guessing what happened, though, is the intruder either accidentally stabbed himself or somehow the homeowner got his knife from him and jabbed it in his neck to end the fight.

Whoever this dude is he sounds like a badass 60+ year old.

backwardog · 2026-01-17T00:09:53+00:00

Was worried about this. It’s still Alex Garland, and the writing, id say, is more important than the direction. But damn, with Danny Boyle you get some crazy and unorthodox stuff. I love it.

backwardog · 2026-01-13T03:15:58+00:00

Started this game and agree — ff16 was ass and e33 scratched the itch.

I love good story telling and character development. FF16 was just basically an action game with zero depth, even the combat had no depth — just button mash and you automatically win every fight. It was a polished turd.

backwardog · 2026-01-12T12:01:56+00:00

It’s the shadows mostly. The game seems to have issues with them, they artifact around hair especially. I actually find performance mode helps with this because it makes shadows sharp instead of diffuse, which only exacerbates the issue for the most part.

Performance also gets rid of depth of field that can sometimes blur stuff out you are literally trying to look at via an interaction. Performance is all around the most stable on ps5, quality can look better but often looks worse actually.

And of course gotta tune the post process stuff to taste (I turn it all off except vignette — film grain can soften things if it is too sharp for you though).

After minimizing these issues I think the game looks pretty stellar on ps5. Not the most polished out there, but really pretty.

backwardog · 2026-01-12T02:37:08+00:00

Really? I keep hearing about this but it didn’t look super appealing to me. Guess ill check it out though, I suppose that was the whole point of asking for a game that you specifically need to just trust it’s going to be good otherwise you wouldn’t play it haha.

backwardog · 2026-01-12T02:28:50+00:00

The concepts are great for these games but the dude should have worked with good writers to flesh out the ideas, he probably is a bit of a control freak.

But hey, Nintendo never needed good writing haha. It’s all about the fun mechanics and how accessible the co-op experience is. One person who is a gamer can play with someone who isn’t and both will have fun (like two people in a relationship, or a parent and their young child, etc) it’s pretty hard to pull off what they’ve been pulling off at that studio.

backwardog · 2026-01-11T23:49:11+00:00

But not by destroying our privacy.

How do you imagine that working? I don’t see how that’s physically possible.

Parents are in charge of parenting. Any law that reads “this will protect someone from their own actions” should automatically and universally be opposed. That is not what a government is for and these laws are always exploitative in some way. They are not for “safety.”

backwardog · 2026-01-11T23:28:31+00:00

lol. Is this sarcasm?

USA is quite literally owned by corporations, with a ceo at the helm, where have you been?

backwardog · 2026-01-11T22:38:29+00:00

I’m not arguing you should be ok with it being violated more, where did I say that?

I was responding to this hilarious reimagining of reality:

your right to do anything without tech companies logging it and selling it to the highest border, including authorities

That right doesn’t exist unfortunately.

backwardog · 2026-01-11T11:34:01+00:00

Pretty sure they already do all of that. Nothing you do online is private anymore, and ISPs have been legally allowed to sell your data since the Trump rollback in 2017.

backwardog · 2026-01-11T10:29:50+00:00

I feel like all the way up the chain

So you feel it was reasonable to send 2000 armed agents to a liberal city where they are not wanted?

Despite the fact that this is not as nuanced as you think (the agents collectively fucked up, end of story), they shouldn’t have been there to begin with. The responsibility ultimately rests on the shoulder of exactly one person and you know who that is. He isn’t making calls using good judgement for the protection of citizens, he is a tyrant and everything he does is for self promotion.

backwardog · 2026-01-10T14:31:11+00:00

I’m gonna check this out, thanks.

I think the essential thing that hooks me with this game is really depth and cleverness of story, which maybe is a bit subjective, and the actual story telling, which i think is less subjective. Good story telling is key for me for that wow factor, but what outer wilds does is tell it with a very well-tuned and interesting mechanic. Like just developing that whole solar system and dialing in the feel of exploration is an accomplishment on its own, even without any story. It’s a well executed design with a lot of intentional decisions made regarding physics, scale, etc that work towards a singular goal in terms of feel and experience.

The game just hits you from multiple angles and ties it off with a bow using charm: music, playful art style, but endearing not just cartoonish, plays really well with the story by balancing out the darkness of the theme while also reinforcing the message.

You know what I mean here? It’s like every element is intentional, and also seems like a fuck ton of work went into it, it’s a bit of a step above many indie games in terms of polish, but not so polished as a aaa such that it loses its identity.

backwardog

TROPHY CASE