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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Once Upon The Universe
Paweł Witkowski ByteEncode · Published by Paweł Witkowski ByteEncode
Positive — 94% positive (35 reviews)
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
Once Upon The Universe is a god-game that takes you to the VERY beginning of creation. You begin the game just after the big bang, with nothing but an empty space and a lot of super hot hydrogen in the entire universe. Fill the universe with life and watch it thrive - or destory it.
£13.99
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Price history
Indie, Simulation, Strategy, Early Access · 2026 · More £5 - £15 games
About this game
Start at the beginning. The actual beginning.
Once Upon The Universe is a new take on a classic god-game formula, taking you to the very VERY beginning of creation. You begin the game just after the big bang, with nothing but empty space and a lot of super hot hydrogen in the entire universe. The little beings that might later occupy some of that space might not initially be aware of your presence - make sure they know who they owe all of that wonderous creation to.
Make the Universe yours:
Shape the universe from the very beginning
Use gravity and other "anomalies" to directly (and indirectly) form stellar objects from available matter
Stabilize and optimize orbit, raise water level and create biosphere to allow life to take its very first breath
Support and intervene in civilizations affairs, as they take their place among the stars
Make the civilizations aware of your presence - the Creator
Build a universe, not a civilization
Life has a mind and a will of its own. Influence instead of control.
Affect planetary conditions, stabilize stars, manipulate matter. Support life and interfere with civilizations when you decide they need a little help. Or a warning.
Plants and animals can spread across different environments, compete for available space and form increasingly complex ecosystems.
Watch civilizations grow on their own
When intelligent life appears, they are capable of taking care of themselves. Given enough time and the right conditions, those societies can advance through several eras and eventually reach space.
They look to make their own mark on the universe. But are they alone? Once they encounter other civilizations, they will trade, compete, form agreements, and sometimes, go to war.
Not every civilization survives.
Population growth, shortages, war, social problems and other internal pressures can (and in many cases will) become a serious threat. A successful civilization can expand across several planets and still collapse later.
Their stars are not permanent either. Stars age and eventually die. Planetary orbits can destabilize. Worlds can lose the conditions that made life possible in the first place.
You may intervene and save the day, or let events unfold on their own.
Make them notice you
If you decide to interfere with Civilizations affairs, they become aware of your presence.
Helping them, changing their environment or directly interfering can increase their awareness of you. More destructive and direct methods of increasing that awareness can work too, although civilizations may not exactly appreciate them.
You can act as a guardian, stepping in as their kind protector, or you may force your will through expression of raw force.
Or leave them entirely alone, watching from afar as they develop on their own.
From the first star to stellar engineering
Advanced civilizations will establish colonies, build fleets, wage wars and eventually work on projects on a stellar scale, such as Dyson Spheres or moving entire planets.
Meanwhile, the universe itself continues to age, drifts towards entropy. And the only thing that counters entropy, is life. Make it thrive.
You start with nothing but empty space and a whole lot of super hot hydrogen. The rest is up to you.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 11
- Processor: Core Duo 2
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia 8600
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 100 MB available space
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Supported Languages
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
Ice Caps, Sea Levels and Hydrology
Ice caps and water evaporation. With this update, planet land surfaces will no longer have a fixed water-to-land ratio. Instead, it is now actively affected by the level of ice caps on the planet, which will grow and melt depending on the planet’s temperature. If the planet's temperature rises too far beyond livable conditions, the Moist Greenhouse effect can occur, gradually evaporating water into space. Also, as usual, a couple of bug fixes. Enjoy!Added dynamic polar ice caps that gradually grow and melt with planetary temperature, changing sea levels and exposing new land over time.Melting polar ice caps can now reclaim previously exposed land, destroying infrastructure caught by the rising sea.Existing saves are now smoothly transitioned to the new planetary water and polar ice cap system, preserving existing land before climate-driven changes gradually take effect.Extremely hot water-bearing planets can now enter a Moist Greenhouse state, gradually losing their planetary water reserves.Updated building terminology across the UI to consistently use building instances and expansion instead of the obsolete building level and upgrade terminology.Fixed planetary surface terrain flickering between grass and rocky or sandy terrain as biosphere life placements update.Read full article on Community Announcements (Byteencoder)Patch NotesOfficial
build 0.11.2
Added a dedicated Remove Building action to the Surface panel. Planet list rows can now be clicked anywhere to quickly focus the selected planet. Added Creator metric tooltips to civilization General panels, making recent Influence and Antagonism changes easier to trace.Read full article on Community Announcements (Byteencoder)Patch NotesOfficial
build 0.11.1
Added Ultrawide resolution support with instant resolution preview and automatic rollback if the new resolution is not confirmed within 15 seconds. Fixed Heavy Water Stations remaining in space after their civilization went extinct. Added pagination to large context action menus, preventing long Inspire and Demand lists from extending beyond the screen.Read full article on Community Announcements (Byteencoder)AnnouncementsOfficial
Roads and Ports
Roads and ports!It's an introduction to the planetary logistics system, and the next step toward making each planet feel like a living, breathing entity instead of just an economic data point. With this foundation in place, more planet surface changes will follow soon.Added planetary road networks for Space Age civilizations. Buildings now require a connection to a City Center to remain operational, civilizations autonomously expand roads to reconnect isolated infrastructure, and the Creator can Inspire or Demand road construction on specific surface tiles.Added Sea Ports: Modern-era civilizations can establish coastal food ports, while Space Age Sea Ports extend City Center road networks across connected bodies of water and support overseas infrastructure.Read full article on Community Announcements (Byteencoder)Patch NotesOfficial
build 0.10.3
Added social class breakdown and current social building expansion limit to the Surface civilization panel. Fixed multiline text display Industrial Production in General Panel. Added feedback when attempting to open Sector View while an anomaly power is armed. Improved technology tree highlighting and prerequisite colors to make technology dependencies clearer.Read full article on Community Announcements (Byteencoder)
