Whatever Happened to the Minecraft Killer, Creativerse?

Minecraft once had a monopoly on block based construction games; then Creativerse came along with much fanfare and it seemed that everybody jumped ship, discarding Minecraft in favor of Creativerse. As per so many games these days, games are released, there is a spike in popularity and the game fades away. And this is something most definitely true of Creativerse. Undoubtedly, Creativerse has many excellent features and benefits, but why has the game largely been forgotten once again?

The developers seemed pretty quick to release the game, without much actual content and things to do. But for a construction game, that seems very apt, so for an early access game, there must be other reasons why the popularity has decreased so rapidly.

The honest answer is boredom. It is reasonably easy in Creativerse to reach Lumite level and once a player has reached this level, there is pretty much nothing else to do. Lumite is a collectible item that can only be mined and is embedded in the lowest parts of the most advanced levels of the game.

Players have to dig mine shafts in order to obtain the lumite, the top and bottom of which is constructed from corrupted blocks. Therefore, collecting these items is the most difficult and only available at the end of the game. Even so, it’s possible through continuous play to reach Lumite status in just a day, leaving Creativerse’s longevity severely lacking.

Creativerse is a free to play game, and as opposed to Minecraft, there are in-app purchases — to the chagrin of many gamers. As Minecraft is a game that is all but universally adored by all gamers, there are many fans out there who abhor freemium games and the associated in-app purchases. And if players require more blocks to build in-game, then an in-app purchase is required. Blocks are more rare than in Minecraft and take longer to construct too, making it feel more tedious to gather them manually.

However, in August of this year, the developers launched Creativerse Pro: a paid-for DLC, free to players who had made in-app purchases already in the original game; but $19.99 for those who now want to jump on board and play. And yet, the in-app purchases continue. Making blueprints free is a good idea although still not generous enough to tempt people back.  Although the free to play route is a great idea to enlarge the community — making it available to all without an entry price barrier — it has meant that the game is pretty much ephemeral and dies quickly.

The option to ‘Join Public World’ is a great idea, however there is very little opportunity or facility to compete or interact with others and the game needs to do much, much more to incentivize people to play in the social world. Compare this to Minecraft — where the social and multiplayer aspects are one of its greatest strengths — and you’ll begin to see where Creativerse falls short.

From May 2016, characters were able to be fully customised and there were different areas — such as the Hidden Temple — to explore. More minimal changes have been made, such as unlocks on plaques and signs. Finally in October, the developers decided to design a Halloween update, consisting of a ghostly world appearance, such as haunted stairs and ghosts, which can be hunted in the evening.

The most recent update, called ‘You’, asked players via Twitter what they wanted; and 30 new bricks were introduced to the game as a result. This was not enough, as players are still wanting more main game features such as galaxy systems, colonizing planets with a sense of exploration — and have been very vocal about it. There are no spawning structures — such as villages and dungeons — generated randomly throughout the game, which does not provide any incentive to explore the world once buildings have been constructed. Players want quests, tasks, the ability to level up, spells, ranged weapons, factions and above all a randomly generated world.

Generally, updates appear scarce and are largely bug fixes that provide no additional positive game play. Meanwhile, player demands seem to continue being ignored.

The game was released far too early, meaning players burnt out the game pretty darn quickly and then became bored as the updates were not quick or large enough to tempt them back to play. If the developers choose to integrate players’ requests into the game, then there is a great possibility that people will be tempted back, but until then the game is rather redundant in the shadow of Minecraft, sadly. 

Creativerse is available on Steam for Pro and Free to Play versions.

Let us know what features you’d like to see in Creativerse in the comments below!