"President Obama and Ico are two of the major influences we have to thank for Fable 3," Peter Molyneux said at X10. "The former inspired a unique gameplay plot that puts the player in the shoes of a rebel-turned-ruler; the latter puts the power of touch directly in your character's hand."
In Fable 3, players start out as a lowly teenager in Bowerstone, ruled by a tyrannical overlord from a looming castle. Everything is grimier and slightly more industrial-looking than the Middle Ages-flavored Albion of Fable 2. Giant factories produce smoke and a hostile living situation where children as young as five years old are kidnapped off the streets and forced into harsh labor. Clearly, the people of Albion aren't happy about their leadership and that's where you come in.
Using social interaction and your mad skills in melee, ranged, and magical combat, the player amasses an army of followers that eventually storm the castle and overthrow the ruling monarch. Normally, that'd be the end of the adventure game -- but in Fable 3, this is only about halfway through the story. The rest of the game centers around how you as the player will fulfill all of the promises and hopes pinned upon you during the first half of the game when you finally become King or Queen of Albion.
That's about as far into the story as Molyneux was willing to take us without revealing any other major spoilers (besides the part where you become the ruler of the land). Based on changes to gameplay and the new social interaction system he demonstrated, though, we can kind of piece together the rest.
Touch plays a big part in Fable 3. As in the PlayStation 2 hit puzzle adventure Ico, players are now able to physically interact with other non-playable character and do things like lead them around by the hand. The physical interaction you experience with NPCs is based entirely on the context of the action. For example, if you're just meeting a friendly new character, you might shake hands; if you're greeting your child on the street, you might pick them up and hug them. While in contact with an NPC -- say, leading your daughter through the streets by her hand on the way home -- the NPC will react to things your character does. Try to lead her into a pub and she'll drag back on your hand, saying "That's the place that mummy doesn't want you to go to." Similarly, you might try and lead a street bum to the factory and he'll drag back on your character's hand, begging and pleading not to be put to work.
