Fable mastermind Peter Molyneux takes to Gamescom to ask "what the hell was I doing" and announce he got "the old team back together" for a new open-world god game

Hands up, who had an appearance from Peter Molyneux on their Gamescom Opening Night Live bingo card? We knew the Fable creator and god game specialist was working on something new, but this was still one of the show's biggest surprises. His new thing is Masters of Albion, "a new open-world god game" which was apparently self-funded by Molyneux. 

The best part of the presentation may have been Molyneux's intro. "After messing around on mobile – what the hell was I doing – I thought to myself, I need to come home. I need to come home to PC and console," he begins. "I've looked at Dungeon Keeper, I've taken some things that I wanted to explore further with Dungeon Keeper. I've done the same with Black & White, taken things. I've done the same with Fable. This is what I'm showing tonight."

Opening Night Live host Geoff Keighley noted that Molyneux has been working on Masters of Albion for the past three years. "He's back!" Keighley said. Molyneux said "my first realization is that I needed to bring the old team back together again. I'm working with people like Mark Healey, Russell Shaw, and Iain Wright – the people who helped on and created Black & White, Dungeon Keeper, and Fable." 

Healey was a senior artist on Black & White and Fable. Shaw is a composer and sound designer who worked on the Fables series as well as Dungeon Keeper. Wright, meanwhile, contributed to Fable 2 and 3 plus Black & White 2. 

Masters of Albion itself is described as an open-world god game that certainly seems to take a few cues from Molyneux's past work - the giant floating hand you control in particular is a very direct throwback to Black and White. Manage and build a town, craft some unorthodox gear like a bread sword (it doesn't really work), possess any character you want, and fend off "the horrors of Albion." And no, not that Albion, just ye olde Albion. 

There's a Steam page for Masters of Albion, but we don't have final platforms or a release date yet. 

Also fresh from Gamescom: Borde