Summary
- Peter Molyneux announces Masters of Albion, blending elements from his previous games in a new project.
- The game is a god game with a Fable-inspired aesthetic, set in the world of Albion.
- While promising, Molyneux's project history warns fans to manage expectations until more gameplay is revealed.
Peter Molyneux, founder of the now-defunct Lionhead Studios and the current head of 22cans, has announced Masters of Albion, a new game that looks like a combination of the developer's previous games. Molyneux is best known for his work on games like Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable, though he's been largely missing from the console and PC gaming space in the last decade.
While Molyneux built his career on console and PC games, he's spent the last 12+ years on mobile projects like Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? And the infamous Godus and Godus Wars, both of which have since been delisted from Steam. Now Molyneux has unveiled his next project, and it's a game that will see him return to the PC and console gaming space.
Peter Molyneux appeared alongside Gamescom Opening Night Live host Geoff Keighley to officially announce Masters of Albion. Masters of Albion is a god game with a Fable-inspired aesthetic. While it's set in the world of Albion, the same setting as the Fable franchise, it apparently has no real connection to the series, which is a bit confusing. Regardless, Masters of Albion looks impressive based on the reveal trailer, which showed fans exactly how the new game will work.
Masters of Albion Trailer
Masters of Albion tasks players with managing Oakridge, a village in Albion, by letting them do basically whatever they want. Players can do everything from choosing every ingredient in the sandwiches that their villagers eat to picking them up with their giant god-like hand and flinging them to their deaths. Masters of Albion's god game features will immediately remind longtime Molyneux fans of the Black & White series, but it can also become a more traditional third-person action-adventure game as well, ala Fable.
In the Masters of Albion gameplay trailer, it's revealed that players are able to take direct control of individuals in their village, which shifts the game to a third-person viewpoint. The player does this in the gameplay trailer to fight off some undead enemies, before switching back to the hand to unleash powerful spells on them. Players will be able to equip their villagers with a variety of weapons, and these can even be customized. A silly example given in the trailer is the player creating a bread sword. Needless to say, player freedom seems to be the biggest focus of Masters of Albion. Unfortunately, Peter Molyneux has a track record of over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to his projects. Fans should certainly keep their expectations in check, but it will definitely be interesting to see more of this highly-promising new game.