Forget GTA 6, this is the game you should be most excited about in 2025

If there’s one title everyone’s excited about in 2025, it’s GTA 6, but it’s not the game I’m most looking forward to next year. 

Yes, you read that right. As thrilling and fun as I expect our triumphant return to Vice City will be, I have to admit that GTA games have never stolen my heart. 

So, while I expect the game will be a tremendous success both critically and commercially as far as I’m concerned, you can keep it. I’ll be busy playing a game that I’ve been waiting 15 years to play. I’m talking, of course, about Fable.

Choices, choices

The Fable games enchanted me long ago, and I’ve probably replayed the series four or five times in my life. I’ve always enjoyed the game for its simple but fun combat, hack-and-slash gameplay, and taking down vile villains (occasionally usurping them and becoming the big bad myself). However, three notable things make this series so remarkable. 

The first is its alignment system. Now, an alignment or morality system is by no way unique to the Fable games, but I don’t think any series has done it as well. You see, while the first game had a classic good-to-bad slider, it later added a new dimension by bringing in purity and corruption. 

We won’t go into the exact specifics of what this means (we’d need diagrams), but basically, every decision (even choices as mundane as what you eat) matters and has a physical effect on your body. Eat well and do good things? You’ll become a shredded angelic figure. Gobble down live chickens and burn down orphanages? Well, your hero will look like a demon who’s spent too long at the buffet table in Hell. 

These choices don’t just affect you, though. Your actions affect the world around you and have a tangible impact on the towns and people you visit. This was really impressive back in the Xbox and 360 days, and I can’t wait to see how the developers at Playground Games put the power of modern consoles and PCs to use in this new game and how our hero will shape Albion.

Albion beckons

Playground Games

Speaking of Albion, my second point involves the world of Fable. It’s jam-packed with interesting areas to explore, including bandit-infested forests, dank caves, and bustling cities. Yet from Bowerstone to Brightwall, all of these towns are populated by charming town folk who’ll cheer (or boo) your hero as you explore.

It’s a small thing, I know, but it really does make it feel like your hero is making an impact on the world. How often have you been playing a AAA game where you go on a rampage only to pay a small fine and get off scot-free? The answer is a lot. 

In Fable, if you go on a murder binge the next time you return to that town, the people living there will cower as you walk past like a muppet hiding from Ebenezer Scrooge as they remember the last time your shadow passed their door. Again, this was all done back on the relatively primitive consoles of yesteryear; who knows how the citizens of Albion will react to your hero now their brains are powered by modern-day tech.

Make ‘em laugh

Xbox Game Studios

Finally, and probably the main reason I’m excited about Fable’s return is the game’s unique sense of humor. Albion is a world jam-packed with funny dialog and off-beat moments that are a clear love letter to old British comedies.

These games channel the same comedic spirit of groups like Monty Python and the Young Ones (ask your great-grandpa). I’ve written before about the ignominy of my god-like hero being labeled a wanker by some random villager. Still, there truly is something special about using humor to undercut and undermine power that I find magical.

Even better, we’re getting some top-notch comedy voice talent in the game, including Matt King who Peep Show fans will know as the one and only Super Hans. If you’re a fan of British comedy, that’s like getting Keanu Reeves to voice Shadow the Hedgehog: a dream come true. 

So while I’ll no doubt be picking up a copy of GTA 6 (and I reserve the right to admit I was wrong if Fable turns out to be a disaster), I’m confident when I’m looking back on 2025, it’ll be Albion’s shores I think of and not Vice City’s.