Bionicle: Masks Of Power Devs Unveil First Title, Rustbound

Published Aug 11, 2026, 6:37 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Last year, a Bionicle fan game, Bionicle: Masks of Power, received a cease-and-desist from Lego. Despite prior approval from the company, Lego forced the team to shut down Masks of Power after eight years of hard work. Undeterred, Team Kanohi, as it was then known, vowed to "take everything we’ve learned through creating Masks of Power and using that knowledge and experience as the foundation of a brand-new, original game." True to their word, after rebranding to Unmasked Games, the first trailer for its new action RPG, Rustbound, has been revealed. Bionicle: Masks Of Power Developers Reveal First Original Title, Rustbound Credit: Unmasked Games We spoke to the team behind Bionicle: Masks of Power following its sudden cease-and-desist last year. They told us that between 50 and 60 people had contributed their time to the game, with Jordan Willis, the studio's founder, starting at just 12-years-old. The team adhered to Lego's‘Fair-Play Policy’, never planning to make a dime on the title, admitting they did it justfor the love of Bionicle. The news that Unmasked Games had to shutter the project was heartbreaking for the team, but it vowed to "stay in the fight," and Rustbound was born. Within the last few hours, it received its first trailer. Details on Rustbound are limited, with Unmasked Games describing it as "an action RPG set in an entirely original world." The characters seen in the footage somewhat resemble Bionicles; however, they have been altered enough to make them legally distinct. We presume. While some of the work is likely to be entirely new, in our interview, creative director Garrett Beelow told me that "there are a lot of assets that have nothing to do with Bionicle that we can keep. And there's also like a pretty big opportunity for us to make something awesome and kind of have this just kind of be part of our story," which is likely what we are seeing here. With Lego being such sticklers with its IP, this may be the closest thing we get to a new Bionicle game. And while it's likely still some way off, to see such progress in a little over a year is exciting. Released September 1, 2003 ESRB e Engine unity Genre(s) Platformer, Action-Adventure, Shooter