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You might be reading that sentence back and thinking, “What on Earth are you talking about?”
“What the hell is happening?”
Boss fight time! Boss encounters feel weighty and meaningful.
was the one and only question I kept asking myself.
I was even holding a Northern Pike as a melee weapon; this game was getting fishy.
I went off catching spirits and placing them in electrically powered glass Ghostbusters containers.
Taking on a boss that’s 100 times your size in real-time is awesome.
Again, I repeat, what the hell is happening?
Whatever it was, I was hooked.
The reason is something I can’t outright explain, either.
Taking on a boss that’s 100 times your size in real-time is awesome.
There’s no one particular reason that stands out over the others.
It’s not like there’s someGrand Theft Autolevel-breaking feature that sets this game out amongst the others.
What’s better than that?
Honestly, during the cutscene I had no idea what this represented, but it looked cool!
What is Once Human?
Let’s talk about what Once Human is on paper.
Through this pollution, various forms of meta-humans have been born.
She’s an ally, don’t worry. Not an evil angel.
That’s where the player comes in.
The narrative is one of strangeness that becomes fun to follow in a cult-classical fashion.
Players can select from two distinct modes, either PvP or PvE, before jumping in.
(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
This choice will make or break your experience.
Playing solo in PvE is easier, but PvP as a solo?
These are potent creatures from another dimension powered by Stardust.
(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
you could use these creatures as forms of magical abilities with a proper cooldown.
It remains cosmetic, much like other live-service games such as Sea of Thieves.
We’ll discuss more later.
(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
The combat felt satisfying and worthwhile; different weapons offer a variety of playstyles for players to flex.
I never felt like the central systems at play were janky or riddled with annoying bugs.
Players can switch to other weapon types like melee, bows, SMGs, and assault rifles.
She’s talkin', but those lips ain’t movin'.
Enemies reacted to axe blows and bullets alike.
It was refreshing to see foes that had natural physical responses.
The whole premise of the game feels like a more streamlined version of Ark.
Ever been grinned at for an entire conversation?(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
Gathering resources felt fun and manageable.
I wasn’t out running marathons for logs or having to hunt down deer until the sun came up.
Easily attainable upgrades to my gathering tool continued to speed this process up.
This is the moment where I discovered I wasn’t a mute.(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
I was back at the base and doing the entertaining stuff, building, and crafting.
What I loved most about Once Human is the culmination of systems working together.
I’m being serious, what’s here is so freaking weird, but it performs fantastically.
The motorcycle travel isn’t terrific.(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
I can’t wait to jump in and explore things like the leveling system.
I felt like I barely started to scratch the surface in my 12 hours of play.
Everything unlocked at a rate that felt balanced and carefully planned.
Oh, I didn’t even mention it, but you can totally use this crow named V like Mary Poppins.
For example, the dialogue system as a whole felt unfinished.
For the first 30 minutes, my character never spoke.
Other times, the character’s mouths didn’t move.
Like my fish?(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
Almost highlighting this feeling of things that were overlooked, controller support wasn’t even enabled for the demo.
Even though it’s verified to work on the Steam page, it doesn’t work.
The real sense of concern comes from how Netease and Starry Studio plan to implement microtransactions in Once Human.
Enemies are fun to fight, but also a little easy early.(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
While the developers areon recordsaying that they will never putpay-to-wintransactions in the game, I’m only cautiously optimistic.
It’s the publisher that has me worried.
Netease has a mixed history when it comes to releases in the last couple of years.
I’ll let you find out about this one for yourself.(Image credit: Future via Michael Hoglund)
While Bloodstrike, anotherNeteaseGame, is heralded for its cosmetic-only microtransactions.
Let’s hope Starry Studios wins the ideology debate.
It’sfree-to-playwith the promise of no pay-to-win, that’s an automatic download from me.
Doing a little research, the demo build that was available was an older one.
The build was even older than their last beta playtest.
I guess we’ll see in a couple of weeks.
Plus, the game won’t cost you anything to try.
Now I’m convinced, and others should be too once they try it for themselves.
Once Human launches on July 9 for Windows PC on Steam and Epic Games Store.
The game will be free-to-play.
