At Gamescom, Polygon learned just how long it will take players to beat Fable, the upcoming RPG from Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios, when it launches next year. Unlike some other RPGs, don’t expect to spend hundreds of hours in Albion unless you’re really interacting with the game’s life sim components.

Fable’s main story is reasonably sized

RPGs can range in size and scope, so the question of how long Fable will be came up during a group Q&A attended by Polygon at Gamescom 2026. We learned that it’ll take roughly 20 hours to beat the main story. The developers also teased that completing all of Fable’s side content and engaging with the previously teased NPC interactions could extend that play time even further.

“We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay,” associate game director Will Kennedy told Polygon. “And then, of course, the life systems are limitless, so you can play them for as long as you want.”

Someone else in the group Q&A said that Fable is “not a huge game” in response to Kennedy’s answer, which causedanother associate game director from Playground Games, Craig Littler, to chime in. “As Will just said, you can literally play it forever if that’s what you want to do,” Littler reiterated.

Ultimately, it looks like this will be the kind of RPG that gives back as much as you put into it. If you just want to experience the story and then stop playing, it won’t take you long to complete it. If you’re the kind of player who wants to explore every nook and cranny of this new rendition of Albion and make sure every NPC either loves or hates you, then you’ll be playing Fable for significantly longer.

Fable will be released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Feb. 27, 2027.