Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been hands-on with Fable and the mysterious Rare survival game that’s been AWOL for 4 years

Phil Spencer is maybe one of the few gaming executives who actually plays games – his Vampire Survivors playtime on Xbox is staggering, for what it’s worth, not to mention all the times he’s been spotted in-game or nuked in Fallout 76. But he’s now decided to flex on everyone by sharing that he’s played unreleased versions of Fable and Everwild.

The Microsoft Gaming CEO appears to have been doing the rounds at Xbox’s UK-based studios as he recently posted about visits to Playground Games, the studio behind Forza Horizon and the upcoming Fable reboot, and Rare, which has a 39-year history spanning Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Sea of Thieves, and now Everwild.

“Great day at Rare, hanging out with the developers at their desks and playing Everwild,” Spencer wrote in a social media post from yesterday. Everwild is undoubtably stunning, but despite being announced five years ago, we don’t actually know much about the fantasy game. Co-op might come into play, and our bonds with majestic creatures seems to be a big factor too, based on its last trailer from 2020. But details about its genre or what playing the game actually feels like is all a mystery, possibly due to its purported reboot mid-development. At least we now know it’s been chugging along nicely.

Playground Games also tweeted that its “team loved chatting to Phil about all things Horizon and Fable, and showing him all their awesome work!” The company’s new take on the twisted fairytale series is due out next year, and they’re pretty much a perfect match. Gorgeous open-worlds. Changing seasons. Dry British wit. I wonder how many chickens Spencer chased in his hands-on time. It’s also nice to see Forza Horizon get a shoutout, though another entry in the open-world racing extravaganza was basically inevitable. 

Check out all the upcoming Xbox Series X games to learn more about Microsoft’s next first-party releases.