Peter Molyneux has returned from his self-imposed media exile for a new interview with Eurogamer today, in which he announced the launch of single player title Godus Wars on Steam Early Access.
Godus Wars expands on some elements of Godus but pitches the player against the computer. The game is free for those who previously backed Godus on Kickstarter and both games are bundled on Steam for $14.99.
This is, Molyneux says, the beginning of his push to set things right after a series of high-profile incidents in recent years. Molyneux’s previous game, Curiosity – What’s Inside the Cube, was designed so that the ‘winner’ would be rewarded with the powers of a god in Godus, able to set the game’s rules and receive a share of the revenue. The winner was Scottish student Bryan Henderson, who despite lavish promises from Molyneux and his studio 22Cans never saw his promised rewards. At least, until now.
Henderson is being included as one of the first two divine opponents in the game and 22Cans plans to continue pushing for a full release and multiplayer component to fulfil its promises. In all, four playable gods will be included, each with 20 different ability cards and two types of units.
After stepping down as 22Cans CEO, Molyneux worked as designer and coder on Godus Wars, with his replacement Simon Phillips overseeing the business side of the company. Molyneux explained that after a disastrous interview with Rock Paper Shotgun last year, in which he was accused of being a “pathological liar”, he decided to focus on creating games and only do interviews about what he’s already done and the games he’s already released. The British developer is legendary for his habit of overpromising and under-delivering on those promises.
So far he seems to be sticking to the principle, declining to comment when asked about 22Cans’ upcoming game, The Trail.
Eurogamer also contacted Henderson for his take on the situation. The Scotsman will be the beneficiary of a recently announced game bundle, which hopes to raise $10,000 as compensation for his situation. Henderson said he hoped to use the money on musical equipment and to travel to Canada.
Last week, Molyneux’s Twitter account was hacked, with false tweets announcing the developer’s retirement and the cancellation of Godus posted.
