Once Human Review – The Best Survival Game For Gamer Dads?

Once Human might end up being the game I would play for the rest of my life, and still not get bored of it. That is how good it is.

I have been gaming for almost as long as I can remember, and of all the genres the ones I have loved are the ones that have RPG elements, combined with crafting and base building.

The first game that fit right in for me was Fallout 4, since then I have played games like Minecraft, Satisfactory, Valheim, Ark and many others but not one came close to everything I wanted from a game the way Once Human did.

Once Human which just came out of Beta to a full release might just be that game I have been waiting for so long.

Just a heads up, the gaming experience below is based on the PVE world, not the PVP one. I have heard many elements of the PVP world are a bit different, and it can get competitive. But I wanted a game in which I could relax so I opted for PVE World.

Story

Once Human is survival sci-fi so obviously it is set in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies and weird monsters. But the story around it does not feel like just a rehash of a million others.

The story is well thought out(for a survival game) and plays a good role in ensuring anyone who starts gets to know every aspect of gameplay and story in a very structured manner.

It is set in a world where humans have been invaded by something called Stardust pollution which is infecting people and changing them to something inhuman. Your role is to heal the land inch by inch as you take back the different locations currently controlled by the infected.

The game opens with you escaping a laboratory where you are being experimented on by a post-apocalyptic tech giant called Rosetta. Rosetta has been experimenting on Stardust, and in pursuit of world domination, they are leading to its collapse.

Mayfly on the other hand is a rebel group taking a stand against Rosetta, and also using their technology, and that of Beyonders(possibly an alien group). You are part of the group and have the power to control the Deviants, the Pokemon-like beings whom you can collect and use in battle.

I am still in the early game exploring the world, there may be more to it in future.

Gameplay

One word I can say about the gameplay of Once Human is that it is extremely chill.

Unlike other games of this genre where survival keeps you on the edge of your seat and the whole world seems to be working towards ensuring you do not survive, Once Human gives you every opportunity to explore the world around you without fearing death.

The hunger and thirst management aspects are very forgiving. Food and water are easy to come by (at least in the early game). The crafting resource nodes are also plenty in the beginning. The game has an extremely simple-to-understand UI, and you are guided to each element so methodically, that you mostly never feel lost.

The quests in the early game guide you quite well on every aspect of gameplay, like base building, crafting and survival. No decision you make is permanent, and a change does not come at a great cost. You get a vehicle quite early in the game to traverse the huge map which is a big plus.

You can easily jump in and out of the game without stressing out about missing something crucial.

Teaming up with people around you is also very easy, you have multiple types of grouping, like Hive, Team, Warband etc. Essentially if you want to play with other Meta Humans, you can.

The world is persistent, so once you stake claim to a spot for your base, nobody else can use the place, so be careful while setting it up. Fortunately, the game makes it easy to move it if you ever want to.

Although the game is easy for casuals, if you want to go deep into all the gameplay mechanics to build the best Meta-Human, you can do that too.

Ease Of Play

As a father of a two-year-old and working from 9 to 5, it is not easy to take time out for gaming. It is quite possible that my little one would want my attention right in the middle of my gaming session.

Once Human does not penalise you for stepping away from the game, at least in the PVE world I am in.

I can easily jump out, and then jump back in. The music in the game is extremely calming, and there is no stress of managing ammunition and base since the resources needed to survive are quite easy to come by.

In the initial 5 to 6 hours of gameplay, none of the tasks felt like a chore.

I am still far from the end game, even mid-game from what I can see. But so far from what I have played, I believe Once Human is positioned to be the breakthrough survival game of the year.

Controversy & Reception

If you check out Once Humans’ Steam review you will notice they are mixed. But if you read them, you will notice most people are not complaining about the game, but their EULA policy.

I had my concerns about it too, but then I realised whatever they are clearly stating in black and white is more or less the information we so easily share with many platforms we are already part of.

The biggest concern people had was they would have access to your personal information and social media. But the developers have clarified recently that such information will only be asked where required by law, and your information is only used to abide by the laws of the country you are playing from. It is users’ discretion to give them access to your social media.

So far I have not been asked for any of these details. They do give you an option to link your discord, but you do not have to unless you are comfortable.

Below is the studio statement via their official Once Human Discord channel.

“NetEase takes our users’ data privacy very seriously and adheres to the data privacy principles such as data minimization, purpose limitation, and transparency.

For example, we would only collect government-issued IDs for the following reasons: where the local laws require us to do so (such as for a specific promotion), when the identity of a user’s parent must be verified to obtain consent for their child (if required by applicable child protection laws), or when the user wishes to correct their age information (again if such verification is required by law). In any case, the ID information is deleted immediately after we have fulfilled the purpose of collecting the ID information in the first place.

Similarly, we may ask our users for additional information such as social media account usernames, names, and addresses in user surveys that users voluntarily participate in. Users are free to provide as much or as little information in these user surveys if they choose to respond to the survey at all.

In the spirit of transparency, we have indeed included the type of information that we may collect (which may not be the case if the users aren’t accessing the specific functionality), the purpose for which we collect the data, and how we process the data in our privacy policy.

Our privacy policy also clearly states how you can exercise your rights to manage your personal information by contacting our in-game customer services. We have recently revised our privacy policy with the aim to improve clarity and transparency, which will be published soon.
We have heard your concerns and will continue to improve on how we describe our data privacy practices. If you have any specific questions or concerns after your review of our privacy policy, then please feel free to contact us.Via Once Human’s official Discord.”

Source – Once Human’s official Discord

I believe concerns are unwarranted, and the game is not asking anything extra than any other free-to-play game would. They are just being open about it.

Future

Other than some wait time in joining the game, and the lack of Australian servers, this game’s launch has mostly been bug-free. I have not faced a single issue since I started playing this game. The game has great graphics and a stable frame rate. The ping might be an issue in PVP but there has not been one in PVE.

This gives the impression that the developers know what they are doing. Less time spent fixing bugs means more time adding new features, this is very promising and gives me high hopes for the future of Once Human.

Verdict As A Gamer Dad

Now for a gamer dad like me, Once Human is a perfect no-stress game that I see myself playing for a long time.

Once Human is a perfect 10/10 for me, for the chill vibes.

Have you played the game yet?

What is your impression about it? Do share in the comments below.

For more things Once Human, gaming and pop culture, subscribe to the Geekstradamus blog below and my YouTube channel here.

See you next time.