Peter Molyneux reveals The Trail: Frontier Challenge, coming to Steam this summer

Peter Molyneux said in April that he was working on something new, and this, presumably, is it: The Trail: Frontier Challenge, a "rebuilt and redesigned" version of the 22cans mobile game that was released last year. 

Players in The Trail will "walk down the single track path of destiny" and "take part in a variety of fun challenges" as they make their way to their ultimate goal, the town of Eden Falls. You'll select and level up in one of five professions, earn money through crafting, build, furnish, and upgrade your home, trade with other players to expand the town, and perhaps one day even become the Mayor. 

“Our goal with The Trail: Frontier Challenge was to take the core gameplay and narrative of The Trail on mobile, and reimagine it for Steam players. PC players are looking for a completely immersive and uniquely challenging experience and I think they will be pleased with what we’ve created," Molyneux said. "The gameplay has been developed to be far more strategic, for example, players will now have to balance what they carry in their packs against how fast and far they can travel. Bigger items are heavier and slow you down, smaller items are lighter so you can travel faster.”   

The mobile versions of The Trail seem relatively well-regarded (4.4/5 ratings on both iOS and Android) but I'm not convinced that it will receive the same sort of warm welcome on Steam. For one thing, the mobile versions are free, but the Steam edition will carry a $15 price tag. The legacy of Godus looms large as well: 22cans said in February (of 2016) that it hasn't been abandoned but it quite clearly has for now, and by all appearances the Godus Wars spinoff has suffered the same fate.  

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.