Masters of Albion launches on PC and Mac on 22 April 2026, bringing Peter Molyneux's 22cans back to the god game genre the studio's founder helped create. A closed beta playtest is open now through the game's Discord, with registration closing at 6pm GMT on 25 March for players who want to get their hands on the game early.
Albion is a world caught between eras. Old magic, once forgotten, is clawing its way back into a land that had moved on without it, draining the life from its people as it tightens its grip. Players take the role of the Chosen One, granted the power of a god and tasked with wielding an artefact called the Mask to push back against this ancient threat. The setting begins in Oakridge, an undeveloped village that serves as the first canvas for everything the game asks you to build, and everything the night will try to tear down. There's a deliberate cosiness to the daytime hours: a warmth in painting buildings, designing products, housing workers and filling a town with life. That warmth exists specifically so the darkness has something to threaten.
When night falls, the game flips. Monsters and beasts rise up and swarm toward your towns, destroying everything in their path. This is where Masters of Albion layers tower defence into its god game foundation, asking players to construct defensive turrets, erect walls to channel enemies into kill zones, and place hired heroes at strategic chokepoints. The god hand itself becomes a weapon too, raining lightning and fire onto attackers, hurling boulders and explosive barrels into advancing hordes. Surviving the night is the price of continuing the story, and each day that follows brings new tasks to complete before darkness returns. The rhythm is the spine of the whole experience: build, prepare, defend, repeat, pushing deeper into Albion's narrative with each cycle.
What sets the game apart from straightforward city builders is the possession mechanic. Players can leave the overhead god view at any point and drop into the body of a hero, a worker, even a dog or a chicken, exploring Albion from ground level. From up high you're designing towns and managing a workforce, but down on the ground you're completing quests, battling bandits in underground caves, and searching for buried treasure across an open world. The god hand offers its own flavour of interaction at both scales: you can admire or insult your citizens, cajole them or be outright cruel, grab people and fling them, kick chickens, or dig for hidden loot. Buildings go up instantly with no timers, and structures can be combined into unique multi-faceted designs using what the developers describe as an innovative building system. The freedom is broad and deliberately chaotic, letting players shape everything from the food their people eat to the weapons their heroes carry.
22cans was founded in 2012 by Peter Molyneux, whose earlier work defined the god game with titles like Populous and Black & White. The studio's previous release, Godus, landed with a mixed reception, making Masters of Albion something of a proving ground for whether the team can deliver on the ambitions that have always defined Molyneux's design philosophy.
The game is available to wishlist on Steam now. Beneath the cosy village building and the freeform god powers sits a nightly siege that wants to undo everything you've spent the day creating, and the tension between construction and destruction is the pulse Masters of Albion is built around.