If you’re a fan of simulation games in general or like to manage and create locations and creatures, it’s very likely that you’d also enjoy The Universim. Think “Sim City meets Spore“.
You’ll be provided with a unique fresh planet to control and work with. Spark life, watch evolution take place and see civilization prosper, maybe you even reach the space exploration era and colonize other planets?
The actual features that will be delivered in the final game seem great based on the marketing. Crytivo Games promises a lot and keeps labeling their creation as a kind of god-simulator with innovative features and functions. However the game is partially criticized by the community for being offered to play too early, however the studio clearly declares it as pre-alpha version. The question is just “when will the game be released?”
About Crytivo Games
Crytivo Games is a relatively young studio and was founded in early 2013 by Alexander Koshelkov. After coming up with the idea for The Universim, they started a Kickstarter campaign in April 2014 with an initial goal of $320,000, which then was successfully funded on 24 May 2014 with a total of $387,345 and 11,617 backers. Since the campaign has ended, they also allow for backing, pledging and preordering on their own web page.
The thing with the missing release date
A release date for final version is currently not clearly visible on the web page. The leanest pre-order package is currently priced at $25 without any indication on when you will be able to play the fully developed game.
Crytivo Games about the release date: “The Universim is currently in open ended development stage, which means we can’t really tell you exact date at this moment. We can’t name date because we don’t want miss opportunity to make The Universim bigger and brighter, if we will name a release date this will mean we will have to deliver final game at that date no matter what features we will have. We want keep working on The Universim and more exciting features, with every supporter The Universim grows. No release date doesn’t mean that the game will not be fun or broken, this means that developers will be able to implement more stuff as we go without trying put things quickly for the release date.”
Promised features
- An immersive, evolving universe simulator. Create life in the earliest stages of development and watch as it blossoms into a galactic empire under your guidance.
- Take control of a dynamic, living world simulation.
- Witness the changing of seasons, and survive the brutality of nature.
- Explore beautiful, diverse, procedurally-generated planets.
- Wield the immense powers of a god, ranging from restorative to destructive.
- Conquer the epic expanse of the universe at your own leisure.
- Enjoy the humorous, yet informative, news system as it details the latest information about your growing civilization.
- A deep, intuitive research system that allows for a wide range of play-styles and offers many different ways of advancing your civilization.
- Advance your civilization from the Stone Age all the way to the Space Era, and beyond!
- Dynamic events constantly challenge the player and offer countless new gameplay opportunities.
- No paid DLC, DRM, or microtransactions whatsoever!
Summary
If this type of game is of interest to you, keep subscribed to their news feed, but think carefully about pre-ordering this without clear road map and release schedule. Crytivo Games will not refund you if you reconsider the pre-order. If you want to play something similar in the meantime, have a look at Banished for about $20. If you want to support the development of The Universim, you can also grab some goodies at their merch store. They plan to release on PC, Mac, and Linux, with the possibility of expansion onto other platforms in the future.
YouTube: The Universim Kickstarter Trailer
Photo credit: Crytivo Games
Editorial notice: The list of projected features has been provided by Crytivo Games. It’s not confirmed that each of the listed features will be in the final game.
