From Big Bang Studios, and published by Alpha-Omega, comes Universe. Probably one of the oldest MMOs, though surprisingly few know much about it. The detail in this game rivals games like Warcraft, Dwarf Fortress, and even Minecraft. It is a simply amazing feat of engineering and game design.
The development of this game is shrouded in mystery. AO claims they released all content instantly after only 7 days of development, but Big Bang insists it’s an ongoing live-service game. Meanwhile, the player base has been stuck in ‘Early Access’ for thousands of years.
Some players believe there was a beta test before launch, but the devs won’t confirm or deny this. Patch notes from the earliest builds are unclear. All I could find in my research for this article were some mentions of a project called “Eden” that was ruined by a poor implementation for a snake with legs.
Big Bang says that the game was designed to have procedurally generated lore. However, some players still insist there’s hidden developer lore in ancient texts and forgotten patches that actually controls the game. AO won’t comment on whether or not this is true.
Wherever this lore comes from, it has created a game rich with detail. There are multiple environments spanning across multiple planets and solar systems that players can explore. Despite this detail, most players have stuck with one planet. One reason for this is that intergalactic travel is nigh but impossible.
For whatever reason, Big Bang Studios has imposed a speed limit on everything within the universe, and has also decided that every planet will constantly move further away from everything else. To make things worse, interplanetary travel is locked behind an absurdly long research tree, and even then, the developers won’t let anyone actually colonize new planets.
Many players have suggested that this is so they can focus on making this one planet content rich, at the expense of all other planets. This is reinforced by the fact that you can use powerful telescopes to view other planets and stars, but the images of them can be years, decades, or even millions of years old.
Big Bang claims that this is due to their system of constantly releasing expansion packs, but AO contradicts this, saying all content was released at once. The promised ‘Interstellar Expansion’ has been teased for ages, but the only content we’ve received are a few rovers and some blurry images.
Many players still don’t think the game is updated often enough. Major balancing issues go untouched for centuries, but minor aesthetic changes (like the color of butterflies) happen constantly without notice.
The game is difficult to play. Even to create an account you need two sponsors. They may help you in the game after that, but many sponsors abandon or lose their sponsees. Some even choose to actively hurt them. Since the game assigns you sponsors at random, Nepotism seems to be an unbalanced perk, letting some players start with unfair advantages simply because of their family of sponsors.
Once you create an account you will spawn with one life and one life only. Once you die, it’s over. Some people claim there is a New Game+ you can explore after death, but only a few players have attempted to get there early. Others claim that if you die you can respawn as another human, and even an animal, leading to the question of whether or not animals are NPCs or players. Players have been asking for an official announcement on what happens after death, but the developers remain totally silent.
Add in to this the hunger and thirst mechanics. Many players complain they are way too punishing. Why do they have to spend 90% of their playtime just grinding for food? When do they get to actually enjoy the game?
With the life you are given can do, well, anything. Unfortunately, the RNG for starting locations is completely broken. Some people spawn in resource-rich biomes with tons of loot, while others start in barren wastelands with no way to level up. Big Bang refuses to patch this exploit, claiming that these conditions were created by players in the first place, and that if they just worked together everyone could have access to all the content.
Some players have figured out how to generate infinite wealth, while others struggle with the mechanics. Unfortunately, despite being a collaborative game, some players are simply greedy. Certain guilds (or ‘nations’) hoard all the rare resources, making it nearly impossible for new players to progress without joining them. They then force other players to join these nations (based on their sponsors and spawn locations), and send their subjects to grief each other before they’ve even had a chance to experience the game properly.
Even within this one planet, travel is difficult. Fast travel is completely disabled. The only way to move quickly is by grinding for years to unlock the ‘Commercial Airline’ or ‘Private Jet’ perks. Or you could just get a lucky spawn and inherit those perks from your sponsors.
Big Bang’s Evolution system is one of the main features that gives the game such a wealth of content. Lately, however, many people have begun to complain about this system, and want it replaced with a system where they can just create everything at once, rather than having to put in some hard work.
The developers claim they don’t interfere with what players do, but whenever things get out of hand, they send massive world-altering events like floods, plagues, and ice ages.
For instance, many players enjoyed playing giant bird-lizards at one stage, but Big Bang decided to destroy them all with an asteroid. This was a very unpopular move, and some people in the game are even trying to bring those creatures back.
Another example was a great flood that killed a lot of players in the Mediterranean. The developers thought they had given players enough warning, but many didn’t listen, and even taunted those who started building large boats.
Another update introduced climate change, but rather than fix the issue, the developers just told players to figure it out themselves. Many players refuse to read the patch notes and claim that this update isn’t real, infuriating people who take the gameplay more seriously.
The recent ‘Global Pandemic’ event revealed that many high-level players refused to participate in cooperative gameplay, leading to many unnecessary deaths. The developers refuse to make any changes, however, believing the game should continue to play out as is.
In the present day the game has become a satire of itself. Despite thousands of years of patch updates, some players still insist on using a broken ‘Trickle-Down Economy’ mechanic, even though it has never worked. Certain leaders (often spawned into wealth) keep telling lower-level players to ‘just grind harder,’ ignoring the fact that they started with rare loot drops thanks to their sponsors.
The introduction of the ‘Social Media’ system, though popular at first, has completely broken communication. Misinformation spreads faster than actual facts, and players often argue about things that are easily proven with in-game mechanics. Some players have exploited the system to generate infinite outrage and influence, while others are stuck in endless flame wars over pointless updates.
One of the most powerful countries has been acting out like a child, turning what was once a serious game into a joke. There are players attempting to rectify the situation, but for the most part these whiny children have managed to hoard enough wealth and power that they can basically do whatever they want.
There have also been questions about the ‘consciousness’ mechanic. Some players claim to have spawned as text bots within a machine, leading to the belief that they may be introducing robots as a new player class soon. This has also influenced the long-asked question as to whether other animals are actually players or NPCs.
But, as always with Universe, changes are on the horizon. Despite the many complaints, Universe is still one of the most popular games on the planet and, dare I say, the universe. There may even be players from beyond the physical realm…
And just in case you didn’t get it:
Happy April Fools!
