Dual Universe Announced – And Doesn’t It Look…

…bloody amazing! Now I, like you probably, love space based sci-fi themed things. Films, Games, Books, TV shows and anything else as long as it has something to do with the great unknown I’m all for it.

Star Wars, Mass Effect, FTL: Faster Than Light, Universe Sandbox, Space Oddity, the episodes of Archer with Bryan Cranston in it where they are on the space station. Anything. Anything space related, is good in my eyes. The scope is endless, the possibilities are unlimited, it’s just an amazing genre to delve into, especially in the gaming world.

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Dual Universe has now been formally announced, and it’s been announced with a plethora of screenshots, and it looks like one of the most stunning games I’ve seen in some time. According to the official website (DualTheGame.com):

“Dual Universe is a gigantic multi-planet universe where players are free to invent their collective destiny: player-driven events will shape the course of History, civilizations will rise and fall, everything that happens matters in a persistent single-shard universe. We are pushing the limits of what is technically possible today to open the door to what we believe is the next generation of MMO games.

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“Earth has been destroyed by a massive cosmic event. Prior to the planet meeting its doom, the United Nations started the “Rebirth program” to send millions of citizens into the far reaches of the cosmos aboard colonial ships – called “Arkships” – to ensure Humanity’s survival. You are one of these survivors, waking up from your long cryosleep to rebuild civilization in the new galaxy you find yourself.”

At the moment, there is no formal release date, but developers Novaquark are planning on releasing a limited Alpha towards the end of 2016, and the Beta about a year later in the second half of 2017 with the aim to release the game fully in 2018. It may seem a long wait, but with a game the size and scope that Dual Universe is attempting to be, it should be well worth the wait.

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The game will be in essence a MMORPG, but the limit to what you can do is within you, not the game:

“Dual Universe is a Massively Multiplayer Online game that definitely has a Sci-Fi context, where many players will roleplay with each others and/or pilot from tiny (solo) to huge (multi-crew) spaceships, or simply remain grounded on a given planet of your choice. It will be possible to play as a trader, or a political leader, or be a space explorer, or an industrialist, or a pirate, or a miner, or indeed due to the sandbox nature of Dual Universe there are no charcter classes, only self determined roles.”

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The scope, as I briefly touched upon, is aiming to be enormous. With a single playable Universe, it should be vast enough, and the companies experience with AI and Robotics, they are aiming for thousands if not millions of “players to be able to interact within the same game world.”

This game is an absolute universe chocka-block with potential, and seeing how it looks and what their plans are a good 2 years prior to their expected release date, this could turn out to be one of those stand-out games that is played for years and years following release.

What say you though Real Gamer? How does this game look to you? Just another space game, or something special? Tell us in the comments below or in the RGM Forums.

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