Masters of Albion arrives in early access next year.
Masters of Albion marks Molyneux’s return to the genre he is widely credited with creating.
It ditches his studio 22cans' previous focus on mobile development to instead target consoles as well as PC.
On paper, all of this should inspire a positive reception.
Molyneux, now 65, is visibly older, softly-spoken.
Last year, on social media, he described his mental health as “fragile”.
“Mobile games are not the kind of games I should be designing for.
Free-to-play is a formula that goes against all my crazy idiotic thoughts as a game designer.
“I’m in my 60s now,” he says, solemnly.
“My lifestyle is so awful.
My life expectancy is probably measured in seconds rather than years.
So if I’m going to design another game, it’s got tomatter.”
This game has to matter.”
I really liked playing the dark side.
I looked at Fable and I liked the epic nature of the story and the humour.
20 years ago, he made memories with these returning faces, working on those classics.
Masters of Albion feels like it’s being pitched as a homecoming - and one last chance for glory.
“They should be about making you feel fucking powerful.
I hope the trailer gives the feeling of that.”
“Well, Albion is, of course, a folk name for Britain,” he replies.
It is just saying that Albion - England, old England - is a great setting for a game.
And it’s at this point Molyneux sighs.
“Well, this brings me to the problem, Tom.”
“I should only now talk about features that I can actually demonstrate.
And if I start talking about the story in the story arc…
I can’t demonstrate it to you.
How long will your game remain a pristine countryside?
The landscape will blacken and the trees will go.
Workers will develop interesting medical conditions like bronchitis and stuff like that.”
This is, after all, a god game, Molyneux says.
You should be allowed to make bad choices, to have that freedom and consequence.
I can see him itching to say more.
“I can’t talk about the start of the game, can I?”
he asks a colleague, hopefully.
They shake their head.
“If I’m completely honest, part of it is the opportunity,” Molyneux says.
The trailer is only three minutes.
“Tom, it’s terrifying,” Molyneux says.
Part of me is childishly excited to show off.
And it is showing off, really.
But another part of me is deeply terrified by it.
“It was harsh.
But you know, this is… it’s a big step for me.”
Playersreportedly invested $54m on virtual land in the hopes this gold rush would subsequently pay out.
“Could there be a model that allows people to play a game and earn some money?
At that time, I was very, becoming very disillusioned by the free-to-play market and formula.
We took a branch into play-to-own gaming.
I think play-to-earn gaming has been flat and gone down.
So what became of that $54m, two years on?
“Well, I exaggerate and so do you [the press].
All you guys exaggerated - it wasn’t quite as much as people speculated.”
So it wasn’t $54m?
“It wasn’t that much, but it did give us the money to fund Masters of Albion.
It’s not cheap to do that.
You’ve got to bring them away from their jobs.
“And we’ve still got Godus,” Molyneux says, unprompted.
“It’s still going and is still amazingly popular.
It was featured by Apple two weeks ago on its 10-year anniversary.”
Was that something he’s still keeping under wraps?
It is an open world, man.
It’s an open world god game.”
“It was never a choice.
It was always an accident.
You [the press] defined god games, not me,” he continues.
I’m going to call it a god game'.”
As for where the god genre came from?
It’s like being a pet owner.
These worlds are your pets.
You form a bond with a pet.
It’s up to you how you train your dog.
There’s no manual.
It’s up to you how you do it.
“So really it should be called a pet game.”
Is that sense of responsibility one he now feels for himself, his studio, his legacy?
“Absolutely,” Molyneux says, visibly emotional.
“It’s a sense of responsibility.
And I think that’s really why I persuaded Mark and Ian and Russ to come back.
I said, ‘Come on.'”
His voice is little more than a whisper now.
“‘One more.'”
Can Molyneux do enough to convince the world he should get that last chance he’s hoping for?
The reaction to this evening will surely play a part.
At least, after numerous missteps, Molyneux seems to understand the work to be done.
“It can’t go into early access and be early access, really, can it?”
he asks, quiet.
“It’s got to go into early access and be really fucking amazing.”
That would certainly help, I say.
(His colleague shakes his head once more.)
“All the features are there…”
