Once human has been out for a few weeks now and I want to share some gameplay, my experience and information about this game. There has been a lot of talk about this game, developers have made lots of changes. I have heard lots of people say they are a little done with all the survival open world craft games and I really get this. Once human feels unique enough to stand out and that is one of the reasons I want to share my experience. You might not want to miss out one this one.
Once human summary
Once Human is a multiplayer open-world survival game set in a strange, post-apocalyptic future. Unite with friends to fight monstrous enemies, uncover secret plots, compete for resources, and build your own territory. Once, you were merely human. Now, you have the power to remake the world.
The apocalypse changed everything. Human, animal, plant… all are infested by an alien creature – Stardust. As a Meta-Human, you can survive the contamination and use the power of Stardust. Play alone or join others to fight, build and explore. When the world is in chaos, you are our last hope.
You wake up in the middle of nowhere. You’ll have to brace yourself for the cruelty of nature (from monsters to lack of food); however, Stardust’s influence does not restrict to living things, it also affects the soil and water. Eating polluted food and drinking dirty water will reduce your Sanity. When your Sanity drops, your max HP would drop accordingly. To eat or not to eat, it’s a question.
Starting once human
During the beta I really enjoyed once human, so I wanted to play when this game launched. There were some issues during launch that really made an impact and for me this meant not playing with my friends, as well as for lots of other people. The game quickly got lots of bad reviews. Developers fixed this within 12 hours, it was fixed as soon as I woke up the next morning. There were still lots of questions and doubts but I really respect how quick this and other issues were resolved.
Character creation is insane, you can adjust every little detail about the face and facial structures and features. With that said, there are limited number of hairstyles and colors you can choose from. Later during gameplay I got an item to change the hair color some more. The shop has some hairstyles you can unlock, but I expect more in the future. Same goes for clothing and accessories.
You have made your character
Before creating your character, you choose which world you play in. You can make a character in each world. Your choice is between PVE and PVP worlds. My character is PVE, but I expect to also try PVP in the future. Once Human works with seasons. After each season there are resets, after which you do keep things like blueprints and unlocks.
At the time of me writing this blog I have played a little over 50 hours and the game has been out for two weeks and a bit now. I have experienced most of the game aspects and have a good overall view of the game, but there is still a lot to do. I do not feel bored at all and had questions at the start that I have the answers to now. If you have not played yet, I would advice to just try it. The game is free after all, and I think it is worth it.
Deviations, bosses and more
So you are a meta, woke up in a lab of sorts and after the tutorial you were let loose in the world. A world where you can experience loads of things. This felt a little overwhelming to me at first. There are seasonal achievements, journey quests, and of course side quests and the main quest. All the different types of achievements and quests not only give rewards but also gave me direction. It helped navigate this game.
A free, open world, survival craft and more of those cool genres we like, put together in what was expected to be a generic game but is quite a unique and enjoyable game. What can we do in Once human? The world is filled with enemies that are not your typical zombies or aliens. Those still surprise me. They look really cool and you can find different groups and types of enemies. Maybe even weirder are deviants. They are cute and can help you, these are creatures you can capture that can help you in different ways. You carry one in your backpack, that can help with combat. Others help around your base with chores or collection of items. These weird creatures feel a little like pets.
Living things look amazing
Bosses are just as unique looking and have cool mechanics. Some easier to understand then others. One thing is for sure, there was no lack of creativity when making this game. There is enough variety in bosses and mechanics to keep interesting. The weapons you fight these with are a little more conventional. There are lots of melee and ranged weapons to choose from. You start with a few blueprints but can discover way more. Combine these with mods, different types of add-ons and calibrate them to make them more effective.
War and stardust
Once Human can be enjoyed alone or together. You can add friends but also join or form a hive and a Warband. There are different events that occur for you to join. One example are world events, named public crisis. Besides these and the quests there are also strongholds and dungeons (Raids) to enjoy. Gather stardust and other important resources to unlock new things or but from vendors. There is a story behind this post apocalyptic world of stardust, the Rosetta organisation and this world. You can read a piece of background here. There is also a Once human discord, in which one of the channels is dedicated to Lore discussion.
Besides all these experience, you have your house you have build. As you progress you will need more and more space for all your stuff because you can make a lot of different things and find more and more deviations. Personally I have moved my house a few times already to be in newer, higher level areas with the right resources a few times. In between quests and events I liked building a home base. I have still got lots to unlock and build there.
Is Once human coming to consoles?
The game and all its content is free. There is a shop to but stuff and the game has a battle-pass. None of these are needed. This game is not pay to win. All stuff you can buy or unlock this way are awesome looks, new cool things but nothing game-changing. Each season of the game is split in weeks, with new goals and challenges unlocking each week. I have don a lot of these but still have new things to do. At this moment Once human is PC only. It is not playable on playstation. Will Starry studio bring Once human to consoles? At this point, this is undecided. There is a major update coming in september, there is no information on the content of this update yet, except that it will ‘bring significant changes and enhancements to the game’. The developers do listen a lot to their players and fan-base though and I would not be surprised if the game will come to consoles as well. There has been a player survey and I am really happy to see and experience a developer that works with their player base and really listens.
Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this game as much as I do. If you haven’t played, I hope you will consider giving this game a try. I will definitely play more and am excited for a promised controller update, so I can play more without using mouse and keyboard too much. There is a lot of story behind all this that I would like to learn more about. If you like deckbuilding games, maybe you will enjoy my blog about Hellcard. If you enjoy ARPG’s like I do, I recommend checking out my Last Epoch blog. As always if you’ve got questions or want to share your experience, do not hesitate to leave a reply or message me.
