Chris InglisCubic Odyssey is an open world sandbox adventure game developed by Atypical Games and published by Gaijin Entertainment and launched on May 15, 2025. The game’s trailer immediately drew comparisons to Minecraft crossed with No Man’s Sky, and it indeed does feel like that meld of games. However Cubic Odyssey quickly establishes its own identity through intricate environmental details and a compelling sense of progression.
The core gameplay loop revolves around exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and base building. You begin with basic tools, tasked with surviving the initial challenges of your new world. As standard, different ores and materials like dirt, stone, wood and sand are required for specific crafting recipes. This encourages thorough exploration and a keen eye for detail, rewarding players who pay attention to their surroundings. There’s both on-ground and space combat encounters once you eventually build a ship and leave the first planet.
A crucial element in this progression is your trusty companion drone, QBE-1. This helpful bot significantly enhances the resource-gathering process. Initially, you’ll manually prospect for ores, but as you upgrade QBE-1, it gains the ability to scan the environment for specific mineral tiers you’ve previously encountered with a percentage chance of discovering new ores on that tier. It took me a decent amount of time to finally unlock silicon and during that discovery period, I felt progression halted somewhat. However, the introduction of QBE-1 feels like a thoughtful design choice, respecting the player’s time while still encouraging exploration.
The visual presentation of Cubic Odyssey is charming, with its vibrant block-based aesthetic. The dynamic day-night cycle is particularly impressive, with the breathtaking night sky serving not just as a visual treat but also as a constant reminder of the ultimate goal: reaching those distant stars. The gameplay experience is generally smooth with occasional graphics hitches, but the controls are intuitive for building, crafting and combat. The sound design complements the gameplay effectively, with ambient environmental sounds and satisfying effects for mining and crafting.
Progression in Cubic Odyssey is tied directly to its robust crafting system. You start by creating basic necessities, but the tech tree branches out significantly, leading to more advanced tools, machinery, and eventually, the components required for interstellar travel. This sense of tangible progress, from humble beginnings to the potential of soaring through the cosmos, is a key driving force. Looking at the map you can see the game’s long-term potential. While it doesn’t have billions of stars like No Man’s Sky, it still has a huge amount to explore, and each is labelled with level requirements that helps you to map out your travel progression.
While the primary focus of Cubic Odyssey leans heavily into sandbox gameplay, there’s a subtle narrative thread woven into the experience. Scattered across the planets are remnants of previous civilizations – abandoned structures, cryptic data logs, and environmental anomalies. Piecing together these fragments hints at a larger story, a history of interstellar travel and the mysteries that lie beyond your current world. You will face combat encounters at nighttime and as well as a spreading galactic infection that mutates wildlife, consumes planets, and threatens all life.
Overall, Cubic Odyssey offers a compelling blend of detailed survival mechanics and the allure of interstellar exploration akin to Minecraft versus No Man’s Sky. The intricate resource system, the helpful QBE-1 drone, co-op gameplay, and searching the stars all contributes to a unique experience within the genre. I still have much of the universe to explore as I level up and find new systems. If you love either of those games but are looking for something familiar but a little different, this game rewards curiosity and the drive to build your own odyssey, one block at a time.
This review utilised a key provided by Gaijin Entertainment and Cubic Odyssey is out now on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation, and is coming soon to Epic Games Store.
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