Yesterday, independent UK developer 22cans announced that signups for the Masters of Albion Closed Beta Playtest are now open through 6 PM GMT on Wednesday, March 25. The signups are handled directly through the official Discord channel. The playtest will help 22cans refine the game ahead of the planned April 22, 2026 launch on Steam.
Masters of Albion is the upcoming God game designed by Peter Molyneux, arguably the genre's creator with the classics Populous and Black & White. Molyneux, also widely known for Dungeon Keeper and Fable, said this is the culmination of his life's work in the industry.
The game is set in a medieval fantasy version of Albion, where magic is returning to the land and threatens to tear society apart. You play as the Chosen One, a god-like entity gifted with ancient powers, tasked with defending civilization against a creeping, sorcerous enemy. This God game blends elements from other genres, such as town management and tower defence. For example, Masters of Albion gives the player the chance to enter the bodies of the people and explore the world through their eyes, tackling challenges and quests, fighting bandits, searching for secrets and treasures, and roaming freely across the world.
The defining hook is a day/night duality:
- Daytime: You wield a "god hand" to build and customize your village from the ground up: designing homes, food production chains, clothing, weaponry, and infrastructure. The tone is described as "cozy creativity."
- Nighttime: The world becomes dangerous as monsters and dark magical forces attack. Gameplay shifts into real-time defence, where you build walls, place turrets, hire heroes, and can even possess individual heroes or animals directly to fight in combat.
If you're interested in the Masters of Albion Closed Beta Playtest, you'll have to make sure your PC meets or exceeds the following system requirements.
| Specs | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows® 10 (64-bit) | Windows® 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ i5-4670 (quad-core) / AMD® FX-Series™ FX-4350 (quad-core) | Intel® Core™ i5-7600 (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core) |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 (2 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ RX 460 (4 GB) / Intel® Arc™ A380 (6 GB) | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 (6 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ RX 580 (8 GB) / Intel® Arc™ A580 (8 GB) |
| DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Storage | 10 GB available space | 10 GB available space |
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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