Fable Heroes Will Not Shape Future Direction Of Lionhead

Soon-to-be-released Xbox Live Arcade beat-'em-up Fable Heroes will not shape the the future direction of developer Lionhead Studios in any way. Fans of the series were upset by the direction this spin-off took upon its unveil, but the game's lead designer has allayed fears of Lionhead's future direction regarding the release of Fable Heroes.

"I know that there are so many people out there desperate for news on any future Fable titles, but I hope that people see it as an accompaniment to the franchise and trying to expand and take it down a slightly different route about hack-and-slash and being fun," said Ted Timmins to Eurogamer.

"I can understand the fans' frustrations, because it's like whenever a Zelda game hasn't been announced I'm just desperate to know - 'Give me anything, just a screenshot!' The same applies for Team Ico - 'Where's my next Team Ico game? I'm still waiting for it!'"

Fable Heroes coming into fruition was a result of "just six guys getting together, creating something in their spare time and Lionhead liking it so much that it gets signed off."

"It’s still a Lionhead game, but it went through a very different process, coming from a Creative Day," continued Timmins. "It’s credit to Lionhead and Microsoft that they’re willing to take a chance on some guys that have never really done anything like it before. This doesn’t in any way shape the future direction of Lionhead or the games we release. But I hope that it’s influenced it in the sense that Creative Days will, from now on – we’ll get more things from them."

With former Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux leaving his position at the company, Timmins stated the veteran is "irreplaceable," but the direction the studio is taking will be more of a team affair.

"There's loads of us that came through that [work experience] program, and we've all learnt from people like Peter. Lionhead - yeah, I'm sure it'll be a bit of a different place without Peter around. But there's so many people that have learnt from Peter over the years that ultimately - all Lionhead has ever wanted to do was create great experiences. That won't change, that's still going to stay the same. And we all wish Peter the best of luck with his new place."

"The new Lionhead is going to be more about lots of individuals, lots of creativity, lots of innovation from various different opinions," he added. "Peter is irreplaceable. He's inaugurated at BAFTA, he's a total legend in video games. There's no one who can fill those shoes. The new Lionhead is going to be able lots of people working together and creating great things."

Fable Heroes releases on Xbox Live Arcade on May 2nd. The Kinect-focused Fable: The Journey, meanwhile, is due for a launch during September.