A rumor has recently emerged about a potential Ubisoft game that is taking clear and intentional inspiration from both Minecraft and Animal Crossing. Such a prospect is sure to have many gamers scratching their heads, so it’s worth getting into everything that is currently known about this rumored cozy game from Ubisoft, scant though the information about it may be.
News about this Animal Crossing-inspired title was first broken by Tom Henderson over at Insider Gaming. According to Henderson, he was in contact with anonymous contacts at Ubisoft who provided him with anecdotal information about the title, which is currently being called Alterra. This contact explicitly described Alterra as being similar to both Animal Crossing and Minecraft, while detailing some of its gameplay and structural components. At the time of writing, Ubisoft has not made any official comment about Alterra, but if the project is indeed in development, it’s probably only a matter of time before further news comes to light.
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Ubisoft Is Allegedly Making Alterra, a Mix Between Minecraft and Animal Crossing
Alterra Will Reportedly Have Social Sim and Crafting Gameplay
According to Henderson’s report, Alterra is planned to feature a number of friendly anthropomorphic NPCs, known as Matterlings, who represent various natural elements. The way that players interact with these Matterlings seems to be similar to the dynamic between the player-character and villagers in Animal Crossing, and this is likely to be where Alterra‘s rumored social simulation mechanics will come into play.
Matterlings have been described as being similar to Funko Pops in appearance.
The social simulation gameplay will be paired with Minecraft-like resource-gathering and crafting mechanics, as players will be tasked with collecting element-specific materials for the aim of building new structures, et cetera. Apparently, players can interact with each other in these outer biomes, which sounds similar to how multiplayer works in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. There will also be “enemies” in these zones, suggesting that the game will have some sort of combat system. Alterra will reportedly be voxel-based, meaning that its visuals will be composed of cube-shaped elements arranged across a grid, contributing to the Minecraft similarities.
Insider Gaming’s report states that there will be “different [Matterlings] added throughout the game’s lifecycle,” pointing toward some degree of live-service elements in
Alterra
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Alterra’s Reported Development Circumstances
Insider Gaming’s report also sheds a bit of light on the factors surrounding Alterra‘s development. For one thing, it is allegedly being led by Patrick Redding, who was previously in charge of Gotham Knights, and coming from Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind Ubisoft’s biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. The report noted that Alterra has been in development for approximately 18 months, indicating that it could be relatively early in its development, depending on its scope and potential obstacles faced by the studio.
Insider Gaming also claims that Alterra was born from a previous voxel-based game that Ubisoft canceled after four years of development. How much, if any, of that game’s content is being repurposed for Alterra is currently unclear. Alterra is reportedly “likely still a few years away,” so it could be a while before more information is revealed.
In the meantime, Alterra is certainly an interesting project to speculate about. Cozy gaming and Ubisoft aren’t exactly the most natural fit, but there’s always a chance that the company could do something special with a project emphasizing social simulation and crafting over open-world exploration, action, and other well-worn AAA staples. It’s also worth noting that Ubisoft rarely releases its games for a single platform, meaning that Alterra, if successful, could serve as an Animal Crossing competitor on non-Nintendo hardware.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a well-known video game developer and publisher with a main headquarters in Saint-Mandé, France. Current CEO Yves Guillemot runs an array of teams responsible for some of the most iconic and well-known series in video games, with franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Farcry, The Crew, Just Dance, and more. Ubisoft also acts as a parent company for an array of other video game developers, including names like Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft Paris, Blue Mammoth Games, Red Storm Entertainment, and more.
- Date Founded
- March 28, 1986
- Headquarters
- Saint Mandé, France
- CEO
- Yves Guillemot