Peter Molyneux, creative director at Microsoft Game Studio has looked back at his career, experiences and games in an exclusive in-depth interview

Speaking candidly with Retro Gamer magazine the industry legend, and designer of such games as Theme Park, Fable and Black and White discussed the criticism levelled at some of his past titles. “Fable was another one of those games which people were very excited about, and it was another which was a little over-hyped to be honest with you,” Molyneux said.

”When I did Fable I learnt a real lesson about talking to journalists. With Fable and with Black & White I really was just actually being a designer at this point. Saying ‘imagine we’re going to have this game feature, and it’s going to do this and this is why we’re going to have it and why it’s important’."

"And of course the poor games journalist writes down all these things and it comes across as ‘oh my god, it’s going to be amazing’ but really they were just words because a lot of the time with Fable and with Black & White I was actually talking I wasn’t really demoing.”

The veteran games designer admitted he’s now more cautious when promoting games. “The real big rules now are; whenever I talk about a game feature I’m going to show it and be honest about it. And if it is an experiment I’ll call it an experiment; I won’t call it a game feature.”

The Lionhead chief also discusses in detail his role as creative director at Microsoft Game Studios, (“I’ve seen some pretty amazing things, which I can’t tell you about of course”) as well as his long career - including his time at Bullfrog – as well as his favourite games. And if you want to know which sequel other than Fable III to look out for, Molyneux’s clear which of his games he’d like to revisit: “I think Populous probably would be the one that would be the most amazing to do a sequel for. “

Check out the full exclusive eight-page feature in issue 71 of Retro Gamer magazine, on sale in the UK December 10, or available at the Imagine eShop.