Curiosmos is An Lovely Space Sandbox That Leaves You Ironically Warm

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Curiosmos gives players the chance to do something extraordinary. We’ve all imagined we had the power to create whole star systems out of nothing, and now we can in an adorable way. Curiosmos is a cute and wholesome space gem in which you have lots of freedom to craft your solar system from scratch with lovely crafting tools that fans of the genre will appreciate.

Curiosmos is what I like to call a ‘Play-Doh Universe Sandbox’ game, and that is not a bad thing. The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to control everything, using the mouse to manipulate the cosmos is quite easy to get a hold of. After I smashed enough matter together into a big enough ball, the first planet was born, and the game’s scope opened up.

From there, the empty solar system has the ‘little’ center of the sun, which has a task for you. It can make friends by filling up its backyard with more planetary bodies! Everything is done in a relaxed manner with no real failure state. The game speaks of a menacing black hole threatening to swallow up your blossoming little star system, but I still felt relaxed throughout, and I appreciate having a task to keep me focused.

With the help of a nearby satellite, you slowly begin to learn the gameplay’s tricks. Terraforming planets to make them habitable is the primary goal. While Curiosmos is simple to play, I struggled initially to figure out what to do. I broke up asteroids, and guided the water into the satellite’s collector. Then I returned to my happy little planet and messed around with the planet's surface. Using the mouse to manipulate matter, you can do a lot with the earth to make new land, clouds, rain, and even some sentient life once things are moving in the right direction.

The solar bodies also have their own personalities and react to your actions. I was surprised the first time this happened when I accidentally created a volcano on my first planet that made angry noises. My little planet friend did not like having his skin break into angry hives. It’s a nice little touch to the game, as many space titles are sterile places.

The performance in Curiosmos is decent for a demo, although I was disappointed by the lack of settings. The only thing you can turn on/off is the sound and music, with no sliders. This is a demo, so I hope the developers add those critical options to their game. The trackpads make the controls surprisingly good, although the demo needs work to make it playable on the Steam Deck.

Despite my limited time, I liked what I saw. Curiosmos has all the cozy feels of wrapping yourself in a blanket with hot chocolate and reading a good book. While the full game lacks a release date, the demo is available now!

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