Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Review

User Rating: 7.5
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Review

Humankind has always progressed and evolved. Through thick and thin we continue to prove our place.  Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey puts the player into a wonderful and scary world, one in which only inelegance and cunning will survive against the ferocious wilderness. Every step you take determines your fate! Do you have what it takes to evolve your clan and surprise history? You will have to play and find out. This is our Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey review for PC.

Once in a blue moon, a game is released that tickles my fancy. Ancestors is my most recent addiction. Ancestors is a game that takes third-person survival to a new level. One could say the game is more than a game. I found Ancestors a great mix of both fun and educational gameplay. The mechanics of the game forced me to learn and even evolve my own way of thinking. I’ll be blunt: I failed twice and again with two different lineages. This is not a game that you just hop in and try to reach the finish line. Doing so pretty much means death and failure. Every action and every thought you make determines your fate. I made many daring attempts to jump from one tree to another and found myself hurt and or worse. You are not only trying to keep yourself alive but your entire clan.

At first, I kind of stumbled into each area with no plan. Later on, I found myself taking it slower, using my surroundings to help hide me from the unknown. There are several key aspects of the game you have to pay attention to in order to be successful. This includes using your intelligence to discover your surroundings and even memorizing dangerous creatures in the area or noticing landmarks that help you navigate. When your intelligence leaves you wondering, you also need to lean on your other skills like hearing and smell. This aids you in understanding your area. This is important because at times you find yourself in a state of panic and fear. The first time I found myself strolling into an area that I did not know, my humanoid lost so much dopamine that he went nuts and ended up running straight into a giant snake and, well, that ended quickly. When you enter an unknown area instead of rushing through it’s better to use all your senses to discover the area and identify everything that is scaring your humanoid. Eventually, you will reach a point where you can conquer your fear of the area.

Eating, drinking, and taking care of yourself are things you need to also think about on a regular basis. Each passing moment you need to make sure you are sleeping, eating and getting enough water to keep your body healthy. There is more to it than just the words. You need to find the food, sure, but before you can eat it you need to inspect and discover if you can eat it or if it’s just another tool. From snails on the ground to fruits in the trees, there are various ways to eat and start your evolution. After I learned and got better, I found myself tricking the big wild bores into following me right into the path of a big snake. They would attack and it seemed the snake always won. After the threat was over, I was able to start gathering and eating meat as well as the fruits and plants.

Choices are the next thing. These choices are the neural upgrades that allow you to do more like walking on two feet, quicker reaction times, expanding your senses and more. There is a cost, however. You need to keep a youngling with you to boost neurons and give you the energy needed to make those jumps. Be careful though: Your young is integral to your survival.

I did find at times that things got a bit repetitive and seemed to reuse elements but those times are few and do not take away from gameplay too much. There are definitely some frustrating elements in the game at first such as learning what will affect your body, when you’re bleeding, or how to regain dopamine when low. In fact, it is learning how to deal with those frustrating elements — without being told how — that teaches a valuable lesson about adaptation and evolution. My guess is that this is actually part of the game itself.

In conclusion, I found the game very satisfying overall. There are, of course, a few hiccups here and there that will doubtless be resolved in time. Nothing is so terrible, however, that it takes away from the overarching experience. I was able to take away some new lessons and thoughts about how I play. If you are into survival games then I would most defiantly suggest this one. You can find the Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey on the Epic Games Store.

A PC code was provided by the developer for the purpose of review.

Summary
I started to criticize the game for not giving me the answers to its frustrating moments, but then I took a step back and realized that is all part of the game.  There is no going back to try again with your lineage. If you fail, you have to deal with your failure. Sometimes it’s a simple mistake that you can recover from. Other times, it’s a critical mistake like killing off your last male and being left with only females and the generations cease to be. It just goes to show how closely actions and consequences go hand and hand.
Good
  • Endless scenarios
  • Smooth graphics
  • Educational
Bad
  • High learning curve
  • Can be repetitive
7.5
Good

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