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Peter Molyneux is back with new god sim Masters Of Albion, which looks like a stripped-down Black & WhiteNo cubes or acorns so far, just breadswords

No cubes or acorns so far, just breadswords

Image credit:22cans

Image credit:22cans

A village in Masters Of Albion, with a scrolling menu of building parts along the bottom

Masters of Albion World Premiere Trailer | GAMESCOM Opening Night Live 2024Watch on YouTube

Masters of Albion World Premiere Trailer | GAMESCOM Opening Night Live 2024

Cover image for YouTube video

“Gifted godlike, ancient powers, you face an enemy the likes of which have not been seen in hundreds of years,” it continues. “Magic is returning to the hills and halls of Albion, threatening to tear down the very foundations of society. Unravel the mystery of the mages, defeat the enemy that lurks in the night and conquer a sorcery that could kill us all.”

You’ll also need to “fulfil orders from the vying factions - food for the people, clothes for the Lords, weapons and armour for the King”. Town progression seems to revolve around the Arcanum, where you can trade favours for new blocks, product parts and magical powers.

After the sun goes down, it’s time to play Splat The Undead. You can hire and control heroes to smack up the night creatures in person, or rain hell upon them from turrets, but it looks far more fun to fry them with spells from your hand cursor. Possessing heroes is also how you’ll explore the game’s open world, it seems, founding new villages and doing quests for treasures.

All told, this seems rather promising. It sounds mean-spirited, but I never thought I’d ever describe a new Molyneux game as promising in this, the year 2024. I particularly like the Wes Anderson-ish viewing perspective. To address the various elephants in the room, Masters Of Albion is conspicuously devoid of shady monetisation mechanics, and most of the features look perfectly achievable. No acorns of overhype so far.

Little update- Graham’s just pointed out to me that this appears to reuse a few systems fromLegacy, Molyneux’s previous blockchain game, which racked up tens of millions of pounds in cryptocurrency sales before launch in 2023. Masters Of Albion doesn’t seem to have any web3 in it.

For more of the latest news and previews from Gamescom 2024, head to ourGamescom 2024 hub.