I have always been fascinated by games that focus on construction and creation rather than telling stories. There certainly are differences in the way genres are executed between games like No Man’s Sky and Minecraft. Cubic Odyssey is another entry into the space exploration/mining/craft scene, but do you have enough new ideas to guarantee the placement of the table?
I went with minimal expectations for this review. Because the game seems very similar to what I’ve already played on the surface. It may be a difficult line to walk for the game when faced with these kinds of immediate perceived inspiration, but Cubic Odyssey also seemed unafraid of their comparisons.
After I started, I was really surprised by the many changes the game brings to the genre as a whole, but in addition to those changes there were a few drawbacks that I couldn’t say I’m a fan. After spending over 20 hours at Cubic Odyssey, this space fairing game was fun, but some odd design choices make the game a bit slower to begin with.
The world of cubes
One of the things that really bothers me when playing this game is visually, there are lots of beauty scattered across the ground. But space is where the game really shines. Looking up at the sky with an incredible skybox is truly amazing, but in a universe surrounded by vast, swirling rims in all directions, it all gets lost.
It’s not to say that the planets themselves lack any kind of visual appeal, but it has resulted in more from the harsh differences between the worlds. Cubic Odyssey does not have a world with a variety of biomes. In fact, all the maps are rather small, so each world acts as its own self-contained biome.
This means that each world you visit has its own unique habits where there is almost nothing but magma, as it is mostly water. Beyond that, each world is made of a different material, so you can have one planet with mushroom trees, while others have coral trees.
It really makes for an incredibly unique environment that has its own unique charm. This also means that each planet comes with its own flora and fauna.
But the most visually surprising is the planets of the universe themselves. Each is a cube, and as you approach its surface, the planet begins to distort and grow before pushing it into the planet’s map.
Every time I landed on a planet, I was blown away by this vision. As I approached, I saw the planet itself bend and shifted, and was made for the coolest entrance I’ve ever seen.
It was incredibly unrequited on my PC, but sometimes some spots start dropping a few frames, but nothing serious. Some low-end PCs may struggle, but most people should discover that this game works well on the setup.
A journey across space
The story here should not break any kind of barrier, but because of certain items, it will lead to more difficult planets. Each planet has a variety of different minerals and items used to create the equipment you need.
The game seems to want to encourage stores to be set up on other planets, but you really don’t need it as it’s easy to set up and enjoy rewards on planets with plenty of resources. The only reason you need to push forward is to unlock new shop items. This is absolutely necessary to upgrade your equipment.
That’s not exactly the best reason to keep moving forward, but at least it prevents you from sitting on one planet forever. Still, you will probably spend a considerable amount of time on planets that you don’t have connected to the warp portal.
Spend time on planetary collection resources, then go through the system’s warp gates and take you to the galaxy you visited before, without needing the warp core, the first time you’ll need.
This is a great advantage. Because you can travel to galaxies with ancient temples with built-in warp portals, clear them and add new locations. Warping is also virtually instantaneous, making it easy to get between the bases.
With some creative designs, the team has brought many new ideas to the genre with some lasting impact.
Aside from the need for minimal stories and upgraded items, there is not much reason to push yourself to travel through space, but like I did, you will do it to satisfy your curiosity. Getting better equipment certainly made the game much easier, but in a way, I ended up making the game Too much easy.
Welcome to the world of tomorrow
The best part of this game is the burning method that makes all the mundane tasks known to be extremely simple. With some creative designs, the team has brought many new ideas to the genre with some lasting impact.
There are so many quality of life changes that bring new spins to this genre, but some of the best can become new staples for the genre as a whole. This is where the game is trying to separate itself from its predecessor, but in doing so, it also scares it has fallen into some new kind of pitfalls.
They have changed durability and are no longer attached to item use. Instead, like some old school MMOs, when you die, they lose durability. This means that you can use your items and weapons indefinitely, with caution.
Are you tired of picking up random pieces of stones and dirt? Now, with a filter system, you don’t need to pick up these types of blocks unless you need them. This makes it much easier to drill ore and is not difficult to change as it is included in the inventory screen.
Plus, you have a loyal companion who scans the types of ore you’ve already found, so you can easily find what you’re looking for. Once you’ve descended to the deep ground, you can actually use the hotkeys to highlight other nearby ores.
Combining this with the ability to teleport to jetpacks and ships brings the worst aspects of the genre to new light. But of course, there were a lot of big changes, so something had to be given. For the Cube Odyssey, something really hurt the early game.
It’ll be Duracell
I’ve seen some bigger positives so far, so I’ll cover some negatives. One of the things I really got was that this space age society is all run on batteries.
Each gear or equipment you have will only work if you have a battery power source for you to do so. It’s not too difficult to make or find these batteries, but they aren’t stacked on the menu, so each backup you carry will knock out one available stock slot.
Running out of battery is extremely frustrating as you kneel effectively on everything you do. Are you trying to run it? Oops, no battery. Do I need to jetpack? Oops, there’s no battery yet. Would you like to teleport back to your ship? You guessed it – no batteries.
This will also be expanded to ships. This means that if you really want to explore the space and fight dogs against other vehicles, you’ll want to get plenty of batteries for the ship. Carrying them around in emergencies and having backups was boring from the start, but the power shortage has become very bad.
Ultimately, this becomes virtually pointless as all the humanoid enemies you face drop the battery. After the first few planets, I was now gathering a lot of people, so I didn’t need to make more of myself.
Having a very annoying mechanic for many of these first few hours was disappointing that I was thrown out as soon as I could handle myself. I was wondering why it was so essential to the system.
Dummy battle
The battle wasn’t incredibly deep, but at least enough to keep you on your toes. The enemy has access to the same gun as you, so you can shoot, shotgun, or close depending on your weapon.
At first, combat can be frustrating due to lack of actual protection, but if you drink a few kills and clean your weapon, most enemies will die in just a few shots. Still, enemies can deal extreme amounts of damage with very small bursts, making them very little worth using them for anything other than ranged weapons.
The combat encounters really simmered to get closer slowly and wipe them out in range before moving slowly, not getting a single shot right away. It feels incredible to wipe out an enemy base in just a few shots, but when wiped off with many shots it feels rather unshiny.
Space combat burns the battery power every time you fire a laser, so you’ll have the choice to have the resources to deal with the battle. You can add weapons to the ship to make combat easier, but it still requires power, so you’ll need batteries more than anything.
Create everything
Since this is a survival type game, you’ll end up creating a lot of gear, but it’s not a much more similar way to the Man’s Sky system than anything else. Instead of actually creating items and gear using ores, you can use them to create other craft items and use them for more crafting.
If that sounds confusing, don’t worry. It’s certainly the aspect of the game I struggled to enjoy, but the game does its best to make the process simple and simple. Whenever you create something with other components, if you have the necessary ores and items, these components can be easily created.
If there aren’t that many items to make it feel pointless, this isn’t too bad. For example, if you want to create high-end gear and appliances, you need a capacitor, but to create that capacitor, you need to combine four different ores.
Ultimately, it can be a hassle to have to incorporate raw materials so that you can create other materials and create actual items. They make the process easier, but there are so many items to create.
This game allows you to pin recipes to the screen, making it easy to see what you need. You cannot have multiple recipes that are pinned at once. So knowing all the items you need can be difficult as you go down your own path.
People, upgrade upgrades
One of the more interesting parts of the game is that it has the ability to upgrade skills when using Skilims. This is the main progression feature that allows you to create, find and use other items.
Without an upgraded mining tool, you cannot minate certain ores. However, the only way you can create that tool is to improve your crafting skills. It happens quite naturally and is a decent mark as to how capable your character is, but again, it feels like another barrier that doesn’t necessarily fit.
Each ability has improvements offered. Mining, for example, offers extra ore and the discount can be increased when you buy items. This is a neat application for the system, but in the end it rarely plays anything other than reaching the required checkpoints for a particular item or gear.
Cube atmosphere
Despite many of these negativity and complaints, I realized I had myself, but the atmosphere in this game is still pure white. The background music, atmosphere and audio cue are incredible and you’ll definitely be sucked into the game.
The music changes a bit from planet to planet, but each change really captures its interstellar ideological exploration. Just as Halo used the score, Cubic Odyssey really wanted him to feel like he was in a film where background music creates a much needed atmosphere.
Speaking of atmosphere, when you go to mining, you sometimes hear itping’ You can hear it when you break the mineral. This means that not only does the monkey brain produce happy chemicals, but the ore has dropped some additional resources for you to pick up.
It’s relatively small in a grand scheme, but it helps to make the boring task of mining a little more interesting. This isn’t the only audio cue that really stands out. Just like Halo’s contracted elite, Cubic Odyssey’s enemies make a fairly clear sound. The audio is a bit yanki, as it appears to come from everything around you, but the actual sound is very similar to the sound of a zombie in Minecraft.
All this reaches its peak, creating a truly prominent style and atmosphere, making Cubic Odyssey a game that remembers. Completely Experience in space exploration and crafting of stars.
Conclusion of comments:
Overall, Cubic Odyssey is a good game that shakes a bit with its own complexity, such as the character’s abilities and battery power. It’s a solid game thanks to all the quality of life changes it brings to the genre, as well as strong atmosphere and interesting visuals. It’s probably not a game I’ll add to my repertoire, but I think it certainly makes my own name in the industry. If you’re really enjoying survival exploration games, this will be a game where you can sink countless times. Cubic Odyssey is a solid game where you’re dragged into strange design choices that clearly help bring difficulties, but the difficulties become insignificant at a certain point in time. Still, it’s fun and anything the game does right makes for a meaningful addition to the genre as a whole.
