Dual Universe combines sci-fi star systems and Minecraft

News by Marshall Lemon Contributor

Published on June 15, 2016

Dual Universe is an upcoming sci-fi MMO emphasizing crafting, sandbox exploration, trade, and space warfare.

Dual Universe combines sci-fi star systems and Minecraft

Crafting has become a major feature of countless games ever since Minecraft became popular, but if NovaQuark wants to apply the concept to space travel? We could probably do with at least one more. Dual Universe is a sandbox, first person MMORPG which plans to offer a seamless sci-fi universe with millions of planets.

In short: Dual Universe lets you build a custom spacecraft and fly across the universe with seeing a single loading screen.

Of course, that's not all Dual Universe will feature. As an MMO, you'll be able to interact with other players to carve out your own territories, building elaborate space stations and mining colonies to control your operations. That opens up the possibility of forging peaceful trade with other communities, or forming war parties which steal resources by force. And if you'd rather play solo, Dual Universe will support millions of planets, so no one's stopping you from heading to a secluded star system and crafting your own world.

Dual Universe looks pretty simple in its alpha state, but promises a great deal of complexity and emergent play. You can even design AI scripts to control your ships, which I'm pretty sure is how robot uprisings get started. NovaQuark is planning to release a closed alpha later this year, and a full PC release in 2018, so we've got some time to see how much bigger the finished game will be.