Fable III: It’s All About Touching

Apparently Peter Molyneux’s unveiling of Fable III would “p*ss people off“.  Well, he’s unveiled the game, and the thing that was meant to distress us so much?  There’s no health bar.  Seriously.  “Look at the screen!” said Molyneux during his presentation. “It’s completely clean! Why do we need the f*cking health bar?”  Seems like the only guy annoyed is himself, we really don’t care.

So, instead of having the bar to show the player’s health, we’ll get Uncharted-esque visual cues, such as your character holding his sides to show pain and closeness to death.

Molyneux also demonstrating another new aspect to the game, one potentially more subjective that the removal of the HUD – touching.  “It narrows the emotional boundary,” he said, explaining the reasons behind the mechanic. This isn’t Natal though, it’s a context sensitive action, and can range from holding a hand to throwing someone in the air playfully, or you can drag a beggar and commit crime, should you wish to work on your evil side.

So, Fable III.  No on-screen health bar and a context-sensitive button.  Let’s hope our playtest offers a little more substance.