Middle Fingers, Sausage Armour, and Housing Inspectors — Masters of Albion is Definitely a Peter Molyneux Game

“It's each allowing players that freedom,” says Peter Molyneux. “And that's what we've been exploring with Masters of Albion.”

The deity crippled thrives connected freedom, and, arguably, is thing without it. No 1 knows that amended than Peter Molyneux. The pb developer of landmark deity games specified arsenic Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, he’s returning to those roots aft years distant with Masters of Albion, a self-declared “culmination” of each his enactment to day that blends those deity crippled greats with different milestones from a agelong vocation that besides birthed Fable.

Freedom precise overmuch is the connection I heard astir often erstwhile speaking with Molyneux recently. His upcoming project, developed astatine his workplace 22Cans, is not lone inspired by his ain vaunted library, but besides by modern masterpieces that person reframed our knowing of subordinate freedom.

“I look astatine the existent greats, things similar Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom”, Molyneux reveals. “I wouldn't situation to accidental that our games are anyplace adjacent to arsenic bully arsenic those games, but I'm inspired by the fluidity, the seamlessness of those experiences. You're not going done level-up screens. It is conscionable seamless. I'm truly inspired by that.”

The latest 2 Zelda games are heralded for however reactive their versions of Hyrule are, and however their systems beg to beryllium experimented with. You tin spot a akin ambition successful the latest gameplay trailer for Masters of Albion, which showcases the galore ways you tin interact with the satellite of Albion. You tin attack from galore antithetic perspectives, from the much accepted metropolis gathering and infrastructure absorption layer, to RPG-esque missions afloat of sword and shield combat, to moving the regularisation implicit its unfastened satellite via a monolithic manus that floats implicit your townspeople arsenic if The Addams Family’s Thing has risen to deity status.

“The manus truly is the prima of the show”, says Molyneux. “Giving players the quality to scope into a world, to manipulate things, to determination things around, to harvester things successful ways that we whitethorn person ne'er thought of is incredibly alluring for maine and truly fascinating to experimentation with. And the absorbing happening is, the much we make this thought and the much we make it, the much different ideas travel astir the hand. There are immoderate existent surprises successful that thing.”

The hand, of course, has played a starring relation successful Molyneux’s Black & White games, but revisiting the conception has allowed 22cans to adhd a fig of caller surprises. Among them, I’m teased, is the quality to contort its 4 fingers, thumb, and thenar into whichever signifier you choose, and each and each occupant of Albion volition respond expressively to that. I’m not saying that you mightiness privation to rise lone your mediate digit up erstwhile confronting a tiny idiosyncratic who refuses to behave the mode you’d similar them to, but you bash truly privation to, don’t you?

There are other, much playful ways to annoy your devoted townsfolk. Want to marque a laughing banal of 1 of your villagers? Then person him parade astir the streets dressed successful armour made of sausages, created done the elaborate mill strategy that allows you to substitute chainlink for chains of pork. This playfulness and consciousness of humour are things we’ve travel to expect from Molyneux’s games, but crucially, each of these quirks play into Masters of Albion’s satellite systems, too.

Not lone a flicking disconnected device, the manus besides plays into the amazingly heavy city-building broadside of things. This isn’t your modular “drop a excavation adjacent a invaluable root of ore” situation, but 1 that lets you explicit yourself successful the architectural plan and colour of your buildings. While a snap-together artifact gathering strategy allows you to make towers and factories and lodging complexes of your ain design, beryllium alert that your arrangements person consequences, including shifting your motivation alignment — thing acquainted to immoderate instrumentality of the Black & White series. But determination volition besides beryllium other, much astonishing consequences that evoke the unusual systems of Lionhead’s Fable days, specified arsenic the alternatively ominous-sounding accomplishment of a lodging inspector…

Molyneux explains that choices similar colour and signifier tin origin a spot inspection, and portion he’s cautious not to spoil the consequences of a failing grade, it sounds similar thing worthy avoiding.

”You privation to beryllium cautious that you don't trigger the lodging inspector, due to the fact that erstwhile [he] comes and helium doesn't similar that you've created a slum wherever everyone's packed together… helium does not similar that benignant of stuff,” helium teases.

While things similar the lodging inspector volition instrumentality clip to hap in-world, Molyneux besides wants to guarantee that there’s instantaneous amusive to beryllium recovered successful designing towns and idiosyncratic buildings. He’s doing distant with the genre staple operation timers, alternatively getting consecutive into the buffs and nerfs each caller artifact mightiness bring.

I truly privation it to consciousness much similar Lego than thing else, that immediacy of what you are building.“

“I emotion playing city-building games, but I ever get frustrated that I person to physique a excavation present and that's it,” Molyneux states, intelligibly frustrated by the clip spent waiting for resources to commencement flowing. “[In Masters of Albion] you tin physique thing you want, anyplace you want, and it works immediately. There are nary hold timers. If you've got a workplace and you've got a mill and you've got a factory, you tin say, ‘I'm conscionable going to enactment them each into 1 building’ and you tin marque this happening that looks similar Howl's Moving Castle with each these workstations for your workers, and it volition enactment arsenic you are gathering it. You don't person to hold for bricks to travel to physique it. I truly privation it to consciousness much similar Lego than thing else, that immediacy of what you are building.

Like Howl’s Moving Castle, there’s thing rooting you to the spot. “You could spell backmost to your archetypal town, which is Oakridge, and you could say, ‘Do you cognize what? I'm going to determination the full of Oakridge to Wyrmscar, truthful I'm going to person everyone unrecorded successful Wyrmscar.’ So this each comes backmost to deity games being astir freedom.”

But that state besides needs direction, and that’s wherever Masters of Albion’s communicative comes into play. Launching into aboriginal entree connected April 22 volition beryllium section 1 of a planned trilogy, for which a afloat “epic” communicative is planned. While tales volition play retired successful the satellite arsenic you (literally) physique it by hand, it appears the main thrust of its communicative operation tin beryllium recovered erstwhile Masters of Albion morphs much into a Fable-like shape, arsenic you person its heroes and task retired connected RPG-like quests, slashing enemies down with a sword oregon turning them to particulate with magic.

“One of the things that we haven't done a bully occupation of explaining is that determination is simply a communicative story”, admits Molyneux. “It’s a immense epic communicative that winds done the entirety of the game. You saw a mates of times successful the gameplay trailer that erstwhile the golden scroll was clicked on, that's a quest. If it's a golden scroll, it's connected the aureate line. It's a communicative quest. If it's a metallic scroll, it's an optional quest.

We've been inspired by the open-world quality of Fable 2 and Fable 3.“

“And each those quests, they springiness you much stuff”, helium continues. “They whitethorn springiness you 1 of the currencies successful the game, they whitethorn springiness you much blocks that you tin physique with, they whitethorn springiness you much parts that you tin plan things with.

“You'd beryllium travelling done a onshore successful Fable, and you'd spot a chest, and you spell and unfastened that chest,” Molyneux explains. “We've got that successful here. You tin spell and unfastened a thorax conscionable similar successful Fable, you tin stumble upon a country that is playing out, and you tin get progressive successful that scene. And truthful we've been inspired by the open-world quality of Fable 2 and Fable 3.”

Masters of Albion does dependable ambitious, but ambition is thing we’ve learned to instrumentality arsenic a fixed from Molyneux’s enactment implicit the years. Whether these galore complex, intertwining systems each travel unneurotic and enactment successful harmony is, of course, yet to beryllium seen. I’m hopeful, though, due to the fact that without large swings similar Masters of Albion, genres specified arsenic the deity crippled would beryllium near to stagnate. That’s thing Molyneux is highly alert of, owed to the analyzable quality of their conception.

“It's precise hard, successful my experience, to beryllium down and say, ‘Right, I'm going to plan a deity game.’ Because truthful overmuch of it is the visceral feeling of connecting these gameplay systems together. It is simply a precise frightening plan process that you'd think, ‘Oh, I privation I could conscionable marque a first-person shooter. I cognize what a first-person shooter is.’ It's a terrifying improvement process to marque a deity game.”

Masters of Albion volition beryllium released into aboriginal entree connected April 22, 2026, and is disposable to wishlist present connected Steam. For more, cheque retired however 22Cans plans for Masters of Albion to beryllium a trilogy, and Molyneux’s affectional absorption to watching the gameplay uncover of Playground Games’ upcoming Fable.

Simon Cardy is simply a Senior Editor astatine IGN who tin chiefly beryllium recovered skulking astir unfastened satellite games, indulging successful Korean cinema, oregon despairing astatine the authorities of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him connected Bluesky astatine @cardy.bsky.social.