The Humankind Odyssey Introduction:
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a survival game created by Panache Digital Games and published by Private Division. It made its debut in August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, under the direction of Patrice Désilets. The game's setting is in prehistoric Africa, where players assume the role of hominin species in the evolutionary lineage of modern humans, with the primary objectives of ensuring their survival and facilitating their evolution.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is played from a third-person perspective, with players taking control of a member of a hominid clan responsible for managing the character's well-being through activities like eating, drinking, and sleeping. The game begins in a prehistoric African jungle, an open world filled with various threats, including dangerous creatures like Machairodus, Metridiochoerus, Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, Adcrocuta hyenas, African rock pythons, giant miocene otters, African buffalo, and more. Players can climb trees but risk injury from falls or predator attacks. As players progress, new areas become accessible for exploration. When hominids are in unfamiliar locations or under threat from predators, they may experience fear, which can be alleviated by discovering glowing orbs of light; otherwise, they may succumb to hysteria.
Gameplay:
Despite the dangers, the hominids can use their heightened senses to detect various sounds, such as predator noises, lost clan members, or potential recruits from other clans. Their intelligence allows them to locate items of interest and make discoveries, such as identifying new sources of food or tools. As players continue to make discoveries, the hominids become more intelligent and proficient, unlocking new skills like crafting bedding from leaves or using medicinal plants for healing. In the event of the player character's death, players switch to controlling another clan member. If all clan members perish, the lineage goes extinct, requiring a game restart.
The ultimate goal is to ensure the survival and evolution of the hominid clan over millions of years. As the clan grows, players can switch between various characters, such as infants, adults, elders, and parents carrying their children. With the clan expanding, players can coordinate social activities like hunting or migration. During periods of rest, players can enhance the hominids' abilities by developing their neural systems, which serve as a skill tree. These acquired skills, like using both hands and standing upright, contribute to the evolution process and are passed down to future generations. The game spans 40 to 50 hours, documenting the clan's evolution over eight million years.
Panache Digital Games, founded by game director Patrice Désilets after leaving Ubisoft in 2014, developed the game. Désilets aimed to create a toolbox for extensive environmental interaction. The team chose a prehistoric setting to avoid the need for large cities and researched paleoanthropology for authenticity. They deliberately avoided drawing inspiration from films or pop culture to maintain the game's uniqueness.
Final Words:
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is designed to encourage players to explore and discover solutions within its systems and features, eschewing a structured narrative campaign. The absence of a mini-map encourages curiosity and free exploration of the game world. Désilets envisioned the game as the first part of a trilogy, ending when the player character reaches a stage resembling Lucy.
The game was initially announced at Reboot Develop 2015 and started as an episodic project but transitioned to a full release with support from Private Division. It first launched on Microsoft Windows in August 2019 via the Epic Games Store, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions following in December 2019. A Steam release took place in August 2020.
Critics praised the game's evolution mechanic for encouraging creative item usage and exploration while expressing mixed opinions on aspects like progression, controls, and repetition. The game's long-form progression and exploration of the world were noted as strengths.
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