Lionhead Studios introduced cooperative gameplay to the Fable series in 2008’s Fable II, although many gamers considered it to be a tacked on and mostly uninteresting experience. However, the developer contends that its remedied the shortfalls of Fable II’s cooperative feature in its upcoming sequel.

In Fable II, if a player was connected to Xbox Live they could see any online friends also playing Fable II as glowing orbs floating around the virtual world of Albion. At this stage, they had limited interactivity with their friend; they could trade items and invite them to assist on missions. However, the cooperative gameplay was problematic, with an awkward camera scheme (that would not allow players to stray too far from their partner) and the fact that the secondary player could not use their custom character. The game did not ship with cooperative multiplayer; it was instead patched in upon the game’s retail release, which, coupled with the mode’s problems, led many to speculate that it was a tacked on afterthought.

In Fable III, however, Lionhead has announced that the cooperative offering should be more to players’ tastes. “I heard you all about co-op,” said Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux to 1up’s 4 guys, 1up podcast. “You want to have your own hero come into the world. Okay, fine, you can have that definitely.”

Also following the secondary player’s custom hero into a cooperative game session will be their dog and their inventory set. “When you come into my world, you come in as your hero, with your dog, with all your unique weapons, self-crafted weapons. I heard you -- you don't wanna be tied to my camera, you wanna go off and do your own thing in my world. Fine, fair enough,” continued Molyneux.

However, Molyneux also warned that players should be cautious of exactly who they allow to join in on their games, as their actions will have repercussions to your game world. “Careful who you invite in, 'cause they can screw the whole thing up, man!”