Peter Molyneux - the legendary overpromiser, the godfather of games that are almost good, the man who gave us Black & White and then spiritually never recovered - is back. His studio 22cans has quietly launched Masters of Albion into Early Access, and according to Kotaku, it is... a sandwich-making simulator. Among other things. Allegedly.
So what even IS this game?
Masters of Albion appears to be some kind of god-game city builder, which is very on-brand for the guy who invented the genre. However, the current Early Access build reportedly has players doing such epic, civilization-shaping tasks as... making sandwiches for their villagers. The ambition is palpable, folks.
This is the same studio that shipped Godus back in 2013, a game that raised nearly £530,000 on Kickstarter and then proceeded to spend the next several years in development purgatory. Legacy, their blockchain-based follow-up project, also had a turbulent run. So the track record here is, shall we say, a little spicy - much like a well-made sandwich.
Early Access: the final boss of excuses
To be fair - and we are legally obligated to be fair exactly once per article - Early Access exists precisely for games in this state. Rough edges, missing features, and inexplicable sandwich mechanics are basically the genre's defining characteristics. The question is whether 22cans can actually cook (sandwiches included) and deliver on whatever grand vision Molyneux has sketched on a napkin this time.
Kotaku describes the current build as broken in places, which is doing a lot of heavy lifting as a review descriptor. The god-game elements are apparently present but underdeveloped, leaving players with a product that feels more like a proof-of-concept than a shippable experience.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me three times...
Look, Peter Molyneux has more second chances than a respawn shrine in Dark Souls. The man has genuine talent, a real legacy (lowercase, not the blockchain one), and a brain that clearly fires on some frequency the rest of us can't receive. But after Godus and Legacy, the gaming public's patience bar is running critically low.
Masters of Albion might eventually become something special - Molyneux's ambition has always outpaced his execution, and sometimes, just sometimes, the gap closes. For now though, it's an Early Access god-game where you make sandwiches. And honestly? In 2024's gaming landscape, that might be the most relatable thing Peter Molyneux has ever made.
