I’m starting to think I made a mistake by missing the point of Once Human. Because despite the shooter-centric facade, it seems like everyone just spends all their time building houses in this free-to-play survival game. Damn, I love building houses.
I wrongly assumed Once Human would be more of a DayZ-style PvP shooter than a Valheim-style survival game, so I sat out when my group of friends got into it. But now, a month later, my nightly group voice chat, which is usually filled with shouting about Rainbow Six Siege and Call of Duty, has become suspiciously still—like when you realize you haven’t heard your dog make a sound in the past hour, and that can be a bad thing.
“What is everyone doing?” one of them asked during the unusual silence.
“I’m just working on my house,” another replied. And so it was — for hours.
They are All they’re just working on their houses. Aside from a few stupid car physics clips, most of best posts on the Once Human subreddit since launch, they’ve been massive, complicated bases. And even one of my favorite cuddly gaming influencers addressed it, joking about what happens when Sims player starts playing Once Human.
I expect this in most survival games with crafting. I wasn’t surprised to see massive structures in Palworld and Ark, or even Fallout 76. I just assumed a game that looked like PUBG wouldn’t inspire the same homegrown instincts. And yet it clearly did.
“I’ve been looking for furniture designs for the past three days,” one of my friends admitted when I warned him I was about to call him.
It reminded me of what Rod Humble, former Sims series boss, told us last year, that men lie about what they do in game during focus groups. when in reality they just renovated the bathroom. I’m glad we’ve grown as a community of players and are more willing to admit that we spend a lot of time in a brutal shooter, unlocking fresh house plans. We’re all Sims players inside.
To celebrate, here’s a look at some of the cold stuff Once Human players have built so far:
It took me too long. I need to do the interior, but I need more plans. With r/OnceHumanOfficial
18,000 gravel later, Once Buoyant! I am impressed with the scale this building system allows, despite frustrating cracking issues. With r/OnceHumanOfficial
This is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever built in a game, but unfortunately I’ve reached my decoration limit… With r/OnceHumanOfficial
@gamergirlgale
♬ Storytelling – Adriel
@happeexo
♬ Very nice melody performed by marimba (1452606) – Mitsu Sound
