Once Human is a surprise. It’s a free-to-play, open-world survival game, a crafting, flavor-of-the-month word-mash if ever there was one, and it takes those worn-out ideas and simplifies them to relatively basic forms. And yet, here we are a few days into its release and I find myself unable to put it down. It’s still early, but so far it’s been so much fun, and so weird.
There’s no shortage of post-apocalyptic survival games out there, whether it’s Fallout 76, Rust, 7 Days to Die, or many, many more. But Once Human makes its take on the setup feel unique and engaging by wrapping the end of the world around an alien invasion rather than the classic zombie or nuclear war scenarios. It’s a fun approach that, in retrospect, feels underrated in the genre, and Once Human uses it in some really clever ways.
This alien organism has the ability to transform almost anything into a grotesque monster, alive or dead. Sure, the shuffling, growling person may look like a zombie, but then he turns around and reveals that he has a blinding stage airy for a head. I fought airy bulbs that turned into giant spiders, sinister trees, and even a bus that sprouted a truly unfortunate number of giant legs and trotted up and down the road like the biggest, yellowest, weirdest centipede that ever existed. I didn’t see the enemies coming, and that made Once Human full of surprises.
Your weapon loadout is pretty basic, consisting of basic melee weapons like blades and rods, as well as general handgun options like a pistol, rifle, and shotgun. They’re pretty basic, but it’s demanding to get bored with a baseball bat when you’re pummeling a monster with a traffic cone for a head or trying to shoot a massive shadow beast boss that might as well be fighting Kratos in God of War. Sure, most fights are decided by swinging your melee weapon or running around shooting as you deplete your health bars, but the boss fights do a good job of mixing in unique mechanics, like forcing you to kill monster spawners to keep the boss vulnerable.
The creatures are the prettiest things in Once Human, where the organic and inorganic meet in a strange, corporeal horror aesthetic. That said, the rest of the world is pretty tedious. The forests aren’t particularly lush, and the same trees are noticeably repeated most of the time. The urban areas are largely covered in drab concrete that shows signs of decay, but not to the extent that stands out in something like the Last of Us series, which feels like a missed opportunity to lean even further into the look of an alien invasion.
The biggest monsters are reserved for dungeon instances, similar to the classic World of Warcraft design. These fights are aimed at groups of up to four players, and Once Human makes it straightforward to create pick-up groups. Clicking a button opens a server-wide party finder where you can browse what groups other people are looking for or start your own. Simply select what activity you’re doing and interested groups will apply to join you, and you can give them a thumbs up or down as you see fit. Even as a relatively shy player when it comes to queuing up with random players (I usually bring my own group of friends), I’ve had a lot of success forming groups, and the fact that no words or other exchanges are required makes it painless even for internet introverts like me.
Outside of combat, there’s a plain linear quest line to complete, which so far has been a loop of visiting various locations, then activating things, finding things, and fighting them. After about 6 hours, it feels like the game is mostly focused on getting me to visit significant landmarks and familiarize myself with Once Human’s core mechanics, which is fine for now, though it will need to pick up the pace soon if it’s going to keep my interest. I do appreciate how it draws me into the strangeness of the world, though, like when I was sent to hunt down a monster that was turning pregnant women into trees (seriously).
I haven’t explored the entire map yet, but even at first it’s large enough that running from one end to the other can be a pain. Luckily, there are a few ways to speed things up. One of the first quests gave me a motorcycle that I can summon at any time, and it’s a lot of fun to ride. There are also unlockable transport towers that act as swift travel points, and even a glider that makes distances much more manageable.
The survival and crafting aspects also really motivate me to explore, as Once Human benefits from being very plain and straightforward here. You start out with very few things you can craft, but as you accumulate XP and level up you get Memetic Cyphers that allow you to unlock nodes in four upgrade trees. There are no loopholes, and as long as you have the Memetic Cyphers and materials you can quickly get into crafting high-quality food and gear. This less-is-more approach makes it straightforward to get back into the action, which I appreciate.
Material gathering is still done via the tried and true “run around and punch trees” method, but at least early on supplies are plentiful enough that going out to mine doesn’t feel like a lot of work. Resources seem to grow back quickly, and there are upgrades down the line that look like they could even automate some of the potential time sinks. The pursuit of such things is so significant in this genre, and while how well these more advanced options are executed remains to be seen, early on it does a good job of requiring some effort to acquire materials without it being tedious.
My current home base is pretty basic, as you might expect from someone just starting out. It’s a wooden foundation large enough for my bed and a few crafting tables—it’s not fancy, but it was straightforward to put together thanks to the plain point-and-drop building system. But since this is a shared-world crafting game, I can browse other players’ structures, which range from ramshackle shacks that make my place look like a palace to two-story mid-century up-to-date homes that would fit right in on HGTV. I haven’t unleashed my inner Frank Lloyd Wright yet, mostly because I haven’t invested the upgrade points that unlock more engaging building options, but I’m looking forward to trying them out soon.
So far, I haven’t been tempted to spend real money on Once Human to speed up the process, as the monetization strategy relies heavily on cosmetic items like weapon skins and home decorations. There’s a battle pass with a premium and free track, but from what I can tell, all the premium rewards are also cosmetic, while the free rewards contain useful crafting components. Importantly, there doesn’t seem to be much concern about pay-to-win, but I’ll keep that in mind as I continue to play.
Of course, I’m still far from the end of the game, both in terms of story and survival, but my first impressions of Once Human are surprisingly very positive. The mechanics are plain and straightforward, allowing the absolutely bizarre world of this alien post-apocalypse to shine. The creatures are terrifying in a fun way, and I’m completely caught up in the loop of being able to create better and better things. I don’t know where we’ll end up as we continue playing for another week or so, but Once Human is off to a really solid start.
