Are you Curiosmos what this casual sandbox is all about? You should be. Sandbox is relatively accurate, only this physics adventure takes place in space and couldn’t be more creative in terms of its levels of customisation. Why? You’re effectively at the helm of creation.
No, not necessarily biblical terms, but you will be creating a planet. A 3D, clay-like object floats in the void with a variety of alphabet spaghetti/PlayStation symbols hovering around, which, when they interact, cause the initial object to expand and gain character. Unlike those boring Science videos from school, your planet is cute and encourages you to engage instead of falling asleep. And how can you not get involved? Look at that cute lil’ face!
As cute as Curiosmos is, being present at the soundcheck for when a planet is created isn’t the most intuitive. Playing on the Steam Deck, I had no idea what was initially going on until the Sun started talking to me, praising me for my hard work in that I’d created an actual planet. Now the Sun is telling me to go back and see the planet close up, atmosphere and all, and perhaps try interacting with it.
My planet smiles at me, and with the next passing asteroid belt, I grab the debris and lob it at the surface. Why would I do such a thing? Instinct? Regardless, it’s all part the the experimentation and in doing so, my planet gets a bit miffed and further evolves by shooting out magma and forming volcanoes. It’s time to leave again and go have a chinwag with the Sun. This time, it introduces me to a satellite and that’s going to show me how to create a climate.
Curiosmos is incredibly unique, what with the fundamental solar system architecture from the…ground(?) up, to how you interact with passing objects, smashing them into a pulp to make new things. It’s like being let loose with Play-Doh without too much concern over gravity or your folks shouting because you got bits in the carpet.
This is only a demo, mind, so lots more to come, but from this early impression of throwing things about and being creative through destruction? Well, I’m pretty much sold. It’s super duper cute, too. The demo will be available to play by the time this is posted. If not, it’ll be the day after. Regardless, the Steam page for Celine & The Silly Stars’ game is below.
