The Story Behind Fable II’s Musical Score

Develop brings us a little back history about the musical score that was created for Fable II, with many of the details coming straight from composer Russell Shaw.

rom the outset, the team was determined to go all-out for serious acting talent, better writing, charismatic characters, more emotion and scripted music all feeding Shaw’s overall vision for the soundtrack.

(The story is about growing from a child to a hero. As such, the music box features a lot to reflect the character’s lost childhood, and we used Tiffins Boys Choir for many choral sequences for similar reasons. We wanted the music to convey the world of Albion but also enhance the story. Each region had its own music built on descriptive keywords: Bowerstone, for example, is typified by the words Celtic, Scottish, folk and gentle.

(Each scripted moment had an accompanying scored piece. I knew we’d have to use a pretty hefty orchestra to achieve the richness we were after, and also that we’d need to record solo instrumentalists for the folk elements. I’m very lucky in that Peter gives me free reign to do what’s right for the game. The game itself provides so much inspiration musical ideas pop into my head as I’m playing it for the first time.)