Not everything in Fable 2 is fantasy. On the contrary, some of the emotions and relationships you develop in the action RPG could end up feeling very real. Shockingly real. Heartbreakingly real.

We witnessed this potential in our recent demo with the game's creator, Peter Molyneux. He was showing off the sequel's new two-player cooperative multiplayer, which enables a friend's hero to battle, adventure and gain experience in your world, or vice versa. What's more important, however, is the huge and lasting impact your coop partner can have on Fable 2's story and setting during his visit.

Experience everything we did - including gameplay footage and a discussion with Molyneux - by watching the video below. Our highlights (including the sex, murder and child abuse) pick up afterward.

We've seen two players joining together for an entire game's quest before. We've seen experience sharing before. We've seen drop-in-drop-out anytime dynamics before. We've seen badass female heroes before... even if they don’t usually have multiple husbands and all the children that result from unprotected sex with those multiple husbands, as Fable 2's does.

But one moment genuinely surprised us and, if it happened in our game, would genuinely affect us. When Molyneux took his heroine home after a long absence, the guy playing coop casually pulled out a gun and murdered her husband... in front of her son. Bang - just like that. Dead, with no reset function or simple heal spell to undo the horrible deed.

Immediately before this action, the son had been pleading with his mother not to abandon him again for so long. That would make us feel real guilt. The husband had been scolding his wife not to bring such unwholesome travel companions back to the house (in other words, the co-op partner who would later kill him). That would make us feel real shame.

However, allowing a friend to enter our fantasy world and then watching helplessly as that friend destroyed a crucial piece of it - without our permission - would make us feel real betrayal. Real anger at the other player. Real sadness for the lost virtual character.

Now that is something we HAVEN'T seen in a co-op game before. If Fable 2 can deliver more shocking moments like this one, in and out of multiplayer, it might just live up to some of the hype.

Feb 20, 2008