Legendary, not to say infamous, game designer Peter Molyneux has revealed that this next game, Masters of Albion, will be released on April 22 for Windows PC via Steam.
Molyneux, the former Bullfrog and Lionhead figurehead who created Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable, among others, described Masters of Albion as “the culmination of my life’s work.” It’s a god game — the strategy genre which, Fable aside, he’s best known for — and the influences from and references to his earlier work are clear from the release date trailer.
The game’s world seems very similar to the Albion of Fable, full of rowdy villagers, chickens, and humorous and chaotic fantasy hijinks. The giant spectral hand with which the godlike player builds buildings and manipulates the world and its inhabitants is familiar to Black & White. The hand can possess individual characters who then run around and quest, just as in Fable. At night, undead hordes attack your settlements, like the raids in Dungeon Keeper.
This isn’t the first time Molyneux has turned to his past for inspiration. In 2013, his studio 22cans released Godus, which was modeled on his seminal 1989 god game Populous. But that game never left early access after being mired in controversy. Funded by a high-stakes Kickstarter, Godus was supposed to be ruled over by a single player, the ultimate victor of 22cans’ debut release, the mobile clicker game Curiosity: What’s Inside the Cube? That player, Bryan Henderson, was also supposed to receive a share of the game’s profits. But Henderson’s prize never materialized, and Molyneux claims Godus did not make a profit.
Masters of Albion is intended as a redemption arc for Molyneux, then, as well as a career-capping Greatest Hits. We’ll see if it hits the mark in April. A new Fable game, positioned as a reboot, is currently scheduled for release in 2026.
