The Universim is a game that will have you playing as the creator in a creation story of your own design.
The Universim is an Indie, god-style simulation game that was developed and published by Crytivo Games. Crytivo is a game publishing company based in San Diego, founded back in 2013 by Alex Koshelkov with the main goal of developing games that focus mainly on player creativity, which will have the players taking on the role of god and the story of creation with your own thoughts and designs on your civilization.
Starting out in The Universim, you are shown the planets and the different sizes of which you will be able to work with, should you unlock them after selecting the planet. However, you only have access to one planet initially. Once you have selected your world, you will be shown the humans or rather “nuggets” of your world while getting a chance to alter and change certain aspects of your new civilization.
You will, much like in sims games such as The Sims 5, be able to alter aspects of your “nuggets” as well as influence natural disasters and how often or occasionally they will appear; these range from natural disasters to wild animal attacks, and even exile aggression settings. You will be able to build the concepts of your reality to be tranquil or wrathful.
However, be careful of the aspects you choose for both nuggets and nature, as this could have other effects on the plane, such as a loyal believer being a lab rat for aliens. Once you have chosen the way your character will act and be born or how the world works, you will be able to start a new life.
However, you’ll need to hang on because rushing in head first could get you and your new civilization into some trouble. Next to the button, you will be given the option of playing with tutorials, and it is strongly recommended that you play with the tutorials at first until you’ve mastered the simulation.
Once you have selected the tutorial and started life, you will be taken to a cutscene of a narrator asking you to wake up and explain some of what’s to come. All you will see is a blank screen with the word touch, as stated in the original creation story, “in the beginning there was nothing”. Once you touch it, the narrator goes into detail about how things came to be and how you, as “the creator” gave life.
The narrator also goes on to explain a creator’s purpose, which would mainly be to observe and enjoy the fleeting concepts of mortal life, the beauty in how all things are born and, by nature’s law, will die. But with all things starting in life, it needs a little bit of guidance and a push. Once the cutscene is over, you will begin with the tutorial; from moving around with your keys to changing the angles of the camera, the tutorial will be of great assistance in learning how to be the creator in this simulation.
The Universim features an intuitive color interface, somewhat like the spectrum in the game titled Spore. The narrator or “the voice” will be your guide in this game, being both funny and serious, along with the occasional puns. The narrator’s voice actor did a brilliant job bringing the voice to life and giving advice along the way.
As the number of nuggets grows and their faith grows along with it, they will gain access to divine miracles. In the beginning, these miracles will be easy to do, such as Cupid’s arrows matching two nuggets, which will make them fall in love and add to your population after all is said and done.
Starting with just two nuggets, these will be the Adam and Eve of your world, giving life and starting the basics of civilization, a place to sleep and pray. As the population grows and your nuggets start to gather and hunt, you will slowly start to gain access to more buildings such as housing, water systems, places to pray, and so much more. Aside from buildings, in order to progress your civilization, you will need to grant knowledge to the nuggets.
On the bottom left will be your research button; on this screen, you will be able to impart knowledge to your nuggets. This ranges from primitive tools to the space age; using the skill tree, you will guide your civilization from primitive to the space age. However, while you are doing this, the narrator will leave the occasional warning not to teach the nuggets too much or too fast, as they may grow to be too independent and could completely abandon you altogether.
The Universim sound is that of a new adventure, soft and inviting, with hints of magic woven in between. The graphics are beautiful, sort of the same as in the game Spore; the graphics do a brilliant job of visually showing stunning environments, along with life and nature, such as animals or natural disasters.
The Universim’s controls are easy and simple to grasp with not much needing to be done in the beginning as you start out. However, this can change, and it will take some clever thinking to aid or punish the nuggets according to what you need for the civilization to grow and prosper.
Be careful of how much development you allow, though, as too much building and progress can affect the planet, much like ours, which can be devastated due to overpopulation or natural destruction. The narrator gives this warning and is one to keep in mind as you do not want to destroy the planet before getting to the space age.
The Universim’s UI seems a bit small but does what it needs to do, such as giving information and helping with the building aspects. The small-sized UI is not a bad size as it keeps notifications to a minimal size and doesn’t take over your whole screen, giving you more visual advantages like having to look for lost nuggets or just being able to enjoy the sites of your world as it furthers itself into the future of the space-age.
In the end, The Universim is an amazing experience and visual look into the creation myth while giving players tons to do and enjoy. Being a god is no easy task, and this game shows the player just that, much like the Sims but more biblical. You will have to think inside and outside the box in hopes of the best outcomes for both your nuggets and the planet.
The Universim does have a bug or two; however, the developers are very well aware of them and are actively working to fix and patch any bugs that come their way, with the latest patch titled the Day 1 Stability patch. The game is built with a clear passion and determination to create an experience in the way of the creation myth and is definitely worth giving a shot.
Build a utopia with harmony between nature and nuggets, or rush through with a wrathful touch; the power of life and creation is literally in your hands in this simulation. The Universim may join many others in the simulations genre.
