If the Minecraft movie has you craving some open-world survival crafting, but you fancy a little less digging through the dirt and more scope to expand up into the atmosphere and beyond, new sandbox game Cubic Odyssey has just arrived on Steam to deliver exactly that. With the style of Mojang's blocky environments but a spacefaring structure that feels closer to No Man's Sky, it sets you on a task to fight a spreading galactic plague that's sweeping across planets and warping all life beyond recognition. It's out now, and there's even a free demo you can try.
In true Skyrim fashion, every star you see in the sky of Cubic Odyssey represents the light of a star system that you can visit, featuring planets with everything from wildlife to cities, pirate outposts, and mysterious ruins. Start gathering up resources and begin refining them to hit that smooth sandbox game loop of building tools, constructing outposts, and eventually working your way up to bigger projects such as speeders to carry you across the land and starships that let you explore further through space.
At the heart of Cubic Odyssey is an infection called the Red Darkness - you'll see it appear as shifting masses of red-and-black blocks, mutating nearby wildlife and gradually consuming entire planets. You'll have to figure out how to cleanse the plague, or you could encourage it to thrive. With a skill system and the ability to unlock ever-more crafting recipes, support for online co-op, and tech that grows to the likes of megastructures and orbital lasers, there's a lot to discover as you attempt to save (or doom) the galaxy.
Following a successful launch that's seen it earn a positive average review score on Steam, with the main complaints currently around teething problems for multiplayer, developer Atypical Games has put out a detailed roadmap for the rest of the year. To start with, it's targeting a range of fixes and additions for those playing Cubic Odyssey as a co-op game, and plans those improvements to hit in the second week of June, with a new spaceship, speeder, and more furniture following in the back half of the month.
Beyond that comes support for dedicated servers, currently scheduled for the end of July. This will let you host scalable worlds for up to 50 players at once, keeping your progress synced rather than tying it to whichever person began the co-op session. August's updates include an increased diversity for the points of interest you'll find across planets, ramping up both their frequency and variety. You can also expect a spaceship landing pad, extra galaxy types, and the ability to fly while in creative mode to make building easier.
Atypical says it will continue to increase the range of spaceship and speeder mods, equipment, and weapons towards the end of the year, and also wants to introduce basic mod support and the ability to utilize genetic manipulation to crossbreed animals and create new species. Past the end of the year, it's looking at additional features such as agriculture, a garage to keep your speeders and ships, and ultimately the ability to create player-owned space stations.
"We're sorry that some players have encountered various issues since release, and we're working hard on updates to ensure nothing unexpected stands between you and your quest to save the galaxy," Atypical writes. "Game crashes and other critical bugs will be addressed as quickly as possible, regardless of the roadmap." If you're eager to give Cubic Odyssey a go, you can even get a small Steam sale discount right now.
Cubic Odyssey is out now on Steam, with a 10% discount available until Wednesday May 28 meaning you should expect to pay $22.49 / £18.89. There's also a demo you can download for free to try it out first.
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