At last night's Gamescom Opening Night Live event, the divisive game developer Peter Molyneux joined Geoff Keighley on stage to announce Masters of Albion — a new god game from his studio 22cans.
The game will reunite the creator with the Media Molecule founders and former Lionhead devs Mark Healey and Kareem Ettouney, as well as the Fable composer Russell Shaw, and the Fable II level designer Iain Wright. Molyneux is also name-checking some of his earlier works as a major influence on the brand new project, including Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable.
Taking the stage at the event, Molyneux introduced the trailer by saying, "After messing around on mobile - what the hell was I doing? I thought to myself, I need to come home." This is obviously in reference to his last couple of projects like The Trail and the NFT game Legacy, which were designed for mobile first and foremost. According to an article from GI.Biz, money raised from the NFT project has been used to self-fund this latest endeavour, which will no doubt be a point of controversy to some.
Speaking to GI.Biz about the latest endeavour, Molyneux elsewhere told the publication that he "never made a great game" and lamented that he "never got an Edge 10/10", before going on to state that his age and lifestyle were a factor in deciding what project he wanted to undertake: "My life expectancy is measured in days rather than years because of my lifestyle. I smoke and drink and don’t sleep enough. So if this is going to be my last game, what should it be?" This is what led him to want to revisit some of the ideas from his earlier work.
At Gamescom Opening Night Live, Molyneux unveiled the game with a roughly 2-minute trailer, showing off the game's proposed mix of god-like simulations and city-building with tower defense elements and third-person combat. This blend of genres is described with the following on the game's Steam page:
"Build by day, fight by night in an epic story of power and consequence. Design, build and customise your world, from the food your people eat to the clothes they wear, the weapons they wield to the homes they live in. Possess characters at will in this unique God Game – Masters of Albion!"
According to GI.Biz and other UK publications like Eurogamer, the plan is to launch the game in Early Access next year, but we're certain there will be some doubts over whether Molyneux can deliver on the promises he's already made, given his recent track record.
You can watch the announcement below: