After 20 years in the video game development business, Lionhead Studios officially closed up shop last week.
Gamers, though, won't forget the company's contributions to video games, including titles that changed the very way those games got played. The company also had a long list of awards received for its titles, which included seeing former head Peter Molyneux inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.
Lionhead is now gone forever, but its legacy will live on: many gamers still remain devoted to the developer's titles today.
Black & White
Black & White was one of the first real-time strategy games that allowed players to take on the role of a god — literally — raised by the prayers of a family wishing to save their son. After that, the player chooses a Creature who helps the god with quests, but who also must eventually help its god go up against another god named Nemesis while gaining control over every village on the island.
Black & White gave the player control over locations with an animated on-screen hand that could move people or objects, make miracles happen and even pet and feed the Creature. Black & White was also set up to support the Essential Reality P5 Glove, which allowed players to use virtual reality to control the hand: this was long before virtual reality finally came into its own.
Ultimately, though, the game was about good vs. evil: players could choose to be kind and benevolent to their followers or could be evil gods who used fear to get their way.
"It's the sort of game that comes around once every few years and totally changes the gaming landscape," wrote Game Revolution.
Lionhead followed up the first game with two sequels: Black & White: Creature Isle and Black and White 2: Battle of the Gods.
Fable
Lionhead extended its unique ideas into its Fable franchise, where players took on the role of a Hero who had to traverse the world of Albion, doing deeds (or not) and saving (or not saving) the day. Heroes could do more than just follow missions and quests, they could also participate in more mundane daily activities, such as buying and trading, as well as purchasing houses for fun or profit. The game also offered Heroes the chance to romance and marry villagers.
Fable, too, though, had a sense of morality: Heroes could do good deeds and be Heroic or they could do bad deeds and become villainous. The first Fable was a fresh concept for RPGs at the time and one of the first AAA titles to offer gamers those kind of moral choices. Fable was one of the first big games to offer the player free will, and that still sets it apart from many titles today (although many have since copied those ideas).
There were seven Fable games in all: Fable, Fable: The Lost Chapters, Fable II, Fable III, Fable Heroes, Fable: The Journey and Fable: Anniversary. Fable: The Journey was also one of the first games to embrace the Kinect for Xbox One.
An online multiplayer game, Fable Legends, was in development and even had an open beta before Microsoft decided to shutter the studio and cancel the title.
Thanks for the memories, Lionhead. Good night and good luck.
