Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Game Review
3 Step Game Review
About the Game
Released
August 27, 2019
Developer
Panache Digital Games
Price
US$ 39.99
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
Game Description
Survive Your Evolution
Embark on the incredible odyssey of human evolution and begin your journey 10 million years ago in this new adventure from the creator of Assassin’s Creed.
EXPLORE Neogene Africa at the dawn of humankind. For every breath-taking view dangers lurk all around. (continues…)
Game Links
Step 1: Playing Conditions
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
Gameplay Overview
You control a clan of primates and the game was designed to make you feel as one while playing it. There is almost NO EXPLANATION or tutorial of how the game works, neither mechanics or how to progress. There is no game trigger to “push” you to do things. You can spend thousands of years eating herbs and drinking river water. As humankind evolution has been, it’s your will to learn and explore that expands the game possibilities.
The biggest condition to fully enjoy Ancestor is to master its gameplay and after that, build a flawless LINEAGE. Beyond that, if you like SELF-LEARNING and solving problems by TRIAL AND ERROR, you will immediately have fun with this game.
Step 2: Graphics & Sound
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Step 3: Game Evaluation
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
USER INTERFACE
In-game menu and navigation follow common standards as does the nervous system interface. The senses’ interaction and most of the gameplay dynamics are really positive. But there are some small things that BREAK the game rhythm.
The option to skip cutscenes could have an indicator of what key to press. The action of TARGETING an element could be better resolved. To grab an item close to others or selecting a primate among a group can be a challenge. While fighting a predator, the attempt of grabbing a stick can also be frustrating.
STORY
The game title says it all: Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.
It is set million years ago so gamers can experience the evolution of the human species. That’s the plot and the rest of the story will be told by how the game is played. It is a common approach done by survival genre games. A challenging plot is set, strong enough to encourage players to “write and rewrite” their own stories.
In-game there are cutscenes on key moments, for example, birth, generation change, and evolution leap.
COMMUNITY POTENTIAL
The limited information on how it works can be the strongest reason to gather players around the game.
Ancestors have enough content and variables (nervous system, food, animals…) to feed multiple wikis, channels, forums, and blogs. How to best evolve your lineage and beat history can be very appealing.
Nonetheless, being a PVE game there is a limit to what it offers and to keep an active community. From a long-term perspective, gamers’ attention usually fades away and turns to newer games.
GAMEPLAY MOOD TRACKER
MOOD ANALYSIS
My mood tracker result it’s a fact but, in a long-term perspective, it’s UNFAIR to the game. The first 15 hours of gameplay my average mood was at NORMAL and in the last 10 hours, it averaged at EAGER.
The result shows a difficult initial learning process associated with the frustrations of being stuck during the gameplay. After this stage the pleasure of playing with the acquired learnings is evident. As the game wasn’t completed the “late game” fun potential is huge and would surely bring this average above of ENTERTAINED.
GRIND FEELING
Grind feeling is FAR AWAY from this game. There are so many things to explore and learn about that repetition is just not a thing. As the game progress and your primate clan evolve and migrate, environments change and with it everything else (food, animals, plants…).
The game has a task system displayed in an unrevealed checklist of things to do. It represents how much your clan evolves compared to real humankind evolution. The search to reveal each of these tasks (not obligatory) can bring some grind feeling.
LOVED THE MOST
The bold choice of not explaining how the game works. It made me feel like a monkey during hours and brought great satisfaction when I “cracked” the game basis.
DISLIKED THE MOST
To keep the game as real as it proposes to be, it should have considered the option of “first attack”, as the only way to attack an animal is when it initiates the confrontation.
EVALUATION SUMMARY
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey represents perfectly what a game should be to such a big and recurrent topic as humankind’s evolution. It’s fantastic and COMMERCIALLY DARING to bring into a game the core concept of evolution: ones’ will.
The will of humankind to explore, expand, and evolve brought us to today. The game works based on the same principle, the only thing you got to help you advance is YOUR OWN WILL.
From struggle to discovery and joy, the game makes you feel everything. Worth the price it asks, this long and epic journey won’t let you rest until you get to its end.
Choices & Advice
DON’T BUY IT
IF BEING STUCK IS A PROBLEM FOR YOU. IT WILL HAPPEN AT THIS GAME.
WAIT TO BUY
IF YOU BELIEVE THE GAME IS NOT AT YOUR PRICE POINT, WAIT FOR A SALE.
BUY NOW
IF SURVIVAL GENRE AND HUMANKIND EVOLUTION IS APPEALING FOR YOU THIS IS A BLAST.
GAME LIFETIME
GAME CAN BE 100% COMPLETED IN 40-50 HOURS IF YOU DON’T USE THIRD PARTY INFORMATION SOURCES.
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