Peter Molyneux is known today as the biggest charlatan in the gaming industry. While it’s true that he has worked on revolutionary and influential games like Populous, Theme Park, and Dungeon Keeper, for at least a decade, all his statements and attempts to create something new have resulted in monumental flops that only serve to demonstrate that he either doesn’t understand or isn’t interested in making a video game, but rather a surprise box. Something that allows him to sell the idea of a great innovation without actually having to make a genuine effort to invent something. Now, in an interview with GameReactor, he has resurfaced to once again promise us a “game never seen before.”
The surprising thing is that instead of selling us some kind of fantasy, he has decided to do the opposite. He has admitted that even though he feels tempted to say it’s the most brilliant game in the world and that it will revolutionize video games and game design, he won’t say it. What he has said is that it is the first game since the legendary Black & White where he has worked as a programmer. That happened in 2001.
This makes us optimistic about the game, but the reality is that since he left Microsoft in 2012, all Molyneux has done is systematically sell us smoke and mirrors. In 2012, he released Curiosity: What’s in the Cube, a collaborative game that seemed more like a joke than a game; Godus, a god simulator far inferior to the aforementioned Black & White and has been in early access since 2013; and The Trail: Frontier Challenge, an adventure game that was released in 2017 without much impact. This is problematic because since 2012, Molyneux has continuously sold us the idea that his next game, this time for real, would be a return to his roots. To the masterpieces he used to create in the past.
While it’s true that Molyneux has been cautious this time, claiming to draw inspiration from Fable, Black and White, and Dungeon Keeper, and stating that they have been working on the game concept for five years, but don’t want to reveal anything about the game just yet, it gives us hope. Perhaps we are being naive. Perhaps we want to have faith in a man who has given us so many great games. But one thing is certain: the last time Molyneux was directly involved in programming and not just selling us the dream, the result was a masterpiece.
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