Ubisoft is not quite out of Steam yet, and while some of its latest releases have stumbled, it still has something up its sleeve. An insider report claims that Ubisoft’s next project could be something somewhat groundbreaking and might even compete with Nintendo’s biggest social sim game, Animal Crossing.
The info came from Insider Gaming where Ubisoft reportedly sent them images of the upcoming Animal Crossing-inspired sim game. At the moment, the game is unnamed and is currently codenamed Project Alterra.
What’s unique about it is the voxel creation and visuals. For those unaware, voxels are three-dimensional counterparts of pixels and are often in an isometric perspective. Hence, Alterra could very well be a top-down social sim.
Additionally, Project Alterra will set itself apart by having Funko-Pop-looking animals and NPCs, which they apparently call ‘Matterlings.’ The game will thus have building mechanics similar to Minecraft. Players can also travel to different islands and biomes away from the safety of their main island.
It’s Still Early in the Development Cycle
At the moment, Ubisoft remains silent and conservative on the details, but the game is currently in production at Ubisoft Montreal.
Fabien Lhéraud will serve as the upcoming game’s lead producer, and he makes it clear that project Alterra is their “next-gen project,” which could imply that it would either take advantage of the PS5 Pro’s hardware or be ready for the eventual PS6 (which won’t be released until the late 2020s, presumably).
So far, project Alterra has reportedly been in development for only 18 months, and most games take more than three years to develop. In any case, this could very well be the Animal Crossing competitor, or the alternative fans have been waiting for, especially since it comes from a AAA game studio.
It’s worth noting that there are also other AAA Animal Crossing competitors on the horizon, such as Floatopia from NetEase Games.
