Although it certainly doesn’t look much like an Ultima game, Astrakore is described by its creator as an “Ultima-like”. Indeed, the basis for Astrakore’s story is Ultima 5; Geoffrey White didn’t want to do a direct copy of Ultima 5, so he chose to set it — or something that told a very similar story, one in which your character is a wanted man — in space, who ultimately ends up fighting against something that threatens the whole galaxy.

Astrakore allows for essentially free-form construction of just about anything, including giant robots and starships — these can then be piloted across the various worlds in the game. There also appears to be a bio-engineering minigame, which allows for the creation of alien “servants”. At least a rudimentary physics system seems to play a role in the game; ships become more massive as more blocks are used to construct them, necessitating the use of more engines…which, in turn, will eat into your fuel. The game — as can be seen in the screenshot above — features a Minecraft-like aesthetic, although the character models are somewhat more detailed and smoother in appearance.

Naturally, there’s now a project entry for it. Two trailers for the game, a short teaser and an extended gameplay preview, have been released.