Info about Once Human: Official game description: Join our Discord! ================= About the Game ============== **【Visional Wheel: Lunar Oracle】** ---------------------------------- Once Human has recently updated with a new season label system called "Visional Wheel: Lunar Oracle." In this post-apocalyptic world, your sanity will rapidly decline, and survival comes with high risks and high rewards. Under the ominous bloody moon, let’s go crazy together！ **Survive in the wilderness** ----------------------------- You wake up in the middle of nowhere. You'll have to brace yourself for the cruelty of nature (from monsters to lack of food); however, Stardust's influence does not restrict to living things, it also affects the soil and water. Eating polluted food and drinking dirty water will reduce your Sanity. When your Sanity drops, your max HP would drop accordingly. To eat or not to eat, it's a question. **Fight against monsters** -------------------------- Battle numerous enemies that are once human, and challenge bosses from another dimension to gain powerful items and ease Stardust pollution. You are not only fighting for yourself, but also fighting for the survivors. **Customize weapons** --------------------- With about 100 gun blueprints divided into seven categories for you to collect and craft, every loot grants you something new. Did I mention accessories and gun perks? Right, they are the heroes here. If our current weapon cannot satisfy your need, you can add different parts and perks, upgrade your firearm to your heart's content. **Build territory** ------------------- Use Territory Core to build a house of your own. You can keep a practical style, jamming everything needed in a small room; or you can design a townhouse with a patio, kitchen, garage… The best part is, you can relocate your territory any time you want! **Find out the truth** ---------------------- Delve into the truth of Stardust, find out where it came from, and what it wants. In the journey of seeking truth, you may feel alone, but you are never alone. There are several factions in the world, some can be violent and hostile, others might be friendly and helpful. Explore human settlements to learn their stories or exterminate bosses without leaving a name for survivors to praise, the choices are yours. Release date: 9 Jul, 2024 Categories: Survival, Open-World Exploration, Base Building, Looter Shooter, Cooperative Multiplayer, Crafting, Monster Collecting - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Fair, cosmetic-focused monetization (weight 0.68): The game is praised for its fair free-to-play model, focusing on cosmetic monetization and avoiding pay-to-win mechanics. Players appreciate that spending money doesn't grant gameplay advantages, ensuring a balanced experience. This fosters a positive environment where skill and effort are rewarded. - Intuitive, versatile base building (weight 0.31): The game's building system is intuitive and enjoyable, allowing players to construct and customize bases with ease. The ability to relocate entire bases is a unique and highly appreciated feature. This promotes creativity and strategic base placement. - Vast, detailed, explorable world (weight 0.3): The game features a vast, detailed open world with diverse environments, encouraging exploration and offering a sense of freedom. Players enjoy discovering hidden resources, abandoned shelters, and unique creatures. The dynamic weather and day-night cycles add realism and unpredictability. - Dynamic, engaging combat system (weight 0.22): The combat system is dynamic, fluid, and engaging, offering a variety of weapons, abilities, and strategies. Players appreciate the impactful feel of combat and the need to adapt to different enemy types. The game rewards experimentation and mastery of weapon mechanics. - Blends elements from various games (weight 0.15): The game blends elements from various popular games and genres, creating a unique and enjoyable experience. The game combines RPG, open-world, and survival elements in a post-apocalyptic setting. The game is a mix of the Secret World, Enshrouded, and Pal World. - Responsive, active development team (weight 0.15): The developers are responsive to player feedback and actively work to improve the game through frequent updates and bug fixes. This commitment to ongoing development and community engagement is highly valued. The developers listen well to the player base and respond relatively fast to requests. - Beginner-friendly, intuitive systems (weight 0.13): The game is beginner-friendly, with intuitive resource gathering, crafting, and building systems. The game includes resource location markers, and a beginner server that gradually increases difficulty over 6-day intervals. The building system is easy to use, allowing players to move their house anywhere on the map with a 10-minute cooldown and save blueprints to rebuild after server wipes. - Cooperative adventures, casual-friendly (weight 0.12): The game is designed for cooperative adventures with friends, similar to Sea of Thieves. The game does not pressure players to constantly log in for rewards or run specific builds. The game is genuinely free-to-play, with no mandatory purchases or DLC, and content is released for free. - Unique and bizarre creature designs (weight 0.08): The game features unique and bizarre creature designs that contribute to the eerie and captivating world. The monster and boss designs are particularly praised for being creepy and imaginative. The enemy variety is impressive, with a decent range of different creatures to fight. - Customizable weapons and gear (weight 0.07): Weapons can be customized with attachments found in hidden locations, adding depth to itemization. Weapons and armor can be modified with additional effects, adding customization options. There are lots of guns with nice variety, tons of mods for each type of gun, and surprisingly good gun-play. - Strong community, cooperative gameplay (weight 0.07): The game fosters a strong sense of community and encourages cooperative play. Many players are willing to help others, making the game more enjoyable when playing with friends. The game is good for making friends. - Good optimization, language support (weight 0.06): The game is well-optimized and runs smoothly on a variety of systems. The game has good graphics and optimization, running smoothly and looking appealing due to Unreal Engine 5, despite the presence of bugs. The game has Russian language support. Common complaints: - Frustrating server wipes/resets (weight 0.51): Frequent server wipes/resets erase player progress, including levels, items, bases, and map exploration. This leads to frustration, a sense of futility, and decreased motivation, especially for players with limited time. Low server populations and server instability further compound these issues. - Numerous bugs and optimization issues (weight 0.41): The game suffers from numerous bugs, glitches, and optimization issues, leading to performance problems like lag, stuttering, crashes, and long loading times. These technical issues significantly hinder the gameplay experience and immersion. The game's early access state contributes to these problems. - Poor enemy AI and combat (weight 0.4): Enemy AI is often poor, with enemies exhibiting unchallenging behavior, lacking tactical awareness, and acting as damage sponges. There is a lack of enemy variety, with the same enemy types repeating throughout the game. Combat mechanics feel clunky and unpolished. - Repetitive and grindy endgame (weight 0.27): The endgame content is lacking and repetitive, consisting of grinding the same missions, bosses, and dungeons for mods and gear. This leads to boredom and a lack of long-term engagement. The mod system relies heavily on RNG, making it difficult to obtain desired stats and upgrades. - Confusing and unintuitive UI (weight 0.25): The game features a confusing and unintuitive user interface with overly complex menus, numerous currencies, and vague tutorials. This creates a steep learning curve and makes it difficult for new players to understand the game's mechanics and navigate its systems. Quests are often unclear and poorly designed. - Unbalanced gameplay and PvP issues (weight 0.17): The game suffers from balance issues in both PvE and PvP, with some bosses being too easy or too difficult, and certain weapons and builds being overpowered. This leads to an unbalanced meta and restricts player choice. PvP is often plagued by exploits and cheating. - Lacking and uninspired new content (weight 0.12): New content is often lacking in substance, consisting of reskinned assets, minor tweaks, and increased difficulty without adding interesting mechanics. The "Way of Winter" scenario is often cited as an example of rushed and buggy content. This leads to player fatigue and a lack of motivation to continue playing. - Lack of account-wide progress (weight 0.08): Character progress and purchases are not account-wide, requiring players to start over when switching servers or regions. The seasonal system resets character level and skill tree, and only allows partial resource transfer to the new season, which is a questionable mechanic. This lack of persistent progress discourages long-term investment. - Poor solo play experience (weight 0.07): The game is not well-suited for solo play, with many aspects designed for group play. The online component feels limited, and it is rare to encounter other players in the game. Resource grinding and base building can become tedious when playing alone. - Complex controls and time-gated content (weight 0.06): The game's control scheme differs from other games, potentially requiring up to an hour to customize keybindings. The game is heavily timegated, with players completing all tasks in the first week within 10 hours and then having nothing to do until the next week. The game has a large learning curve. - Weak and unengaging story (weight 0.05): The story is often considered weak, generic, and unengaging, with bland characters and a disjointed narrative. The story often takes a backseat to gameplay. The reviewer doesn't care about the story. Gameplay feedback: - Genre-blending gameplay experience (weight 0.28): The game blends elements from multiple genres, including looter-shooter, survival, base-building, and MMO. It is often compared to games like The Division, Fallout, Rust, and Palworld. This hybrid approach creates a unique experience, but may not fully satisfy fans of any single genre. - Varied PvE and PvP modes (weight 0.19): The game features both PvE and PvP modes, with dedicated servers for each. Some PvE servers include PvP zones or events. Additionally, survival mechanics such as managing temperature, hunger, and thirst add another layer of challenge. - Scenario-based map limitations (weight 0.18): The game divides content into scenarios tied to specific map areas, limiting full map traversal in one scenario. This can make it difficult to play with friends and experience all content on a single character. New content is often added to new servers, requiring players to wait or move. - Accessible and deep crafting system (weight 0.17): Crafting is a significant element, allowing players to create weapons, armor, and base structures. The crafting system is generally easy to learn, with readily available resources. Dismantling found items provides blueprints for crafting. - Creature taming for assistance (weight 0.12): Players can tame creatures ('Deviants') to assist with combat, resource gathering, and base management. These creatures have unique skills and stats, adding a layer of strategic depth. This mechanic is often compared to Palworld or Pokemon. - Decent build diversity available (weight 0.05): The game offers decent build diversity with various weapons, armor, and mods. Players can customize their characters to suit different playstyles. However, some meta builds and gearsets exist, potentially limiting experimentation. - Complex mechanics, steep learning curve (weight 0.05): The game has a lot of mechanics that take a long time to understand. The game lacks explanations for many mechanics, leading to a steep learning curve. Players may need to rely on external resources to fully grasp the game. - Uninspired story and quests (weight 0.04): The main story quest is often described as trite and uninspired. Side quests are repetitive and consist mainly of fetch or kill tasks. The main quest serves primarily to encourage exploration rather than providing a compelling narrative. - Social interaction and exploration (weight 0.04): The game includes player interaction through trading and hidden collectibles scattered throughout the world. Map exploration, dungeons, and public events are enjoyable aspects of the game. The game has social interaction features with activities for groups and friends, encouraging cooperation through rewards for inviting friends or joining clans, and resource exchange based on crafting specializations. - Repetitive enemy and boss design (weight 0.04): Enemy designs are cool but lack variety, while boss designs are awesome with neat fights that aren't very complex. Boss fights often boil down to holding the left mouse button for extended periods. Enemy AI is dumb. - Cosmetic monetization, no P2W (weight 0.04): The game's monetization system focuses on cosmetics, with no pay-to-win elements. However, some reviewers feel the in-game store is overpriced. The game features a battle pass with both free and paid reward lines. Performance notes: - Frequent lag and server instability (weight 0.18): Many players report significant lag, rubber banding, and server instability, especially during peak hours, large-scale events, and in areas with many players or player-built structures. Some reviewers note improvements over time, while others find that lag has worsened with updates. These issues severely impact gameplay, particularly in PvP scenarios. - Responsive and fluid controls (weight 0.02): The game's controls are generally considered responsive and easy to use, with flexible options for both keyboard/mouse and gamepad. Some reviewers specifically praise the fluidity of the controls. - Noticeable pop-ins and LOD issues (weight 0.01): Some players have noted distracting texture pop-ins and limited render distances. Objects and NPCs may appear suddenly, which detracts from the overall visual experience. - Excessive loading times (weight 0.01): Several reviewers mention that the game suffers from long loading times. Some even report crashes and freezes during loading screens, which can be a major source of frustration. - Optimization improvements noted (weight 0.01): Some reviewers note that the developers have made efforts to improve optimization, resulting in reduced CPU load and better performance. This suggests that the game's technical issues are being actively addressed. - Overheating issues (weight 0.01): The game can cause PCs to overheat, even in areas with few objects. This suggests that the game engine is very demanding and requires a robust cooling system. - Problematic lighting conditions (weight 0.01): Lighting issues are present, with some areas being excessively bright and others being too dark. This can cause glare and make it difficult to see, especially in certain environments or at night. - Texture loading and degradation (weight 0.01): Players have reported texture loading issues and degradation of water textures after updates. These visual glitches detract from the game's overall presentation. - Lip-sync and translation issues (weight 0.01): While voiceovers are generally good, lip-syncing and English translations can be inconsistent and sometimes unintelligible. This detracts from the immersion and overall quality of the game's presentation. Recommendations: - Highly engaging and recommended overall (weight 0.94): Many reviewers recommend the game, praising its engaging gameplay, unique blend of genres, and immersive world. Some consider it a must-play title, highlighting its potential to become one of the best in the survival MMO genre. The game is often lauded for its ability to provide a fresh and rewarding experience, especially for fans of survival, crafting, and exploration. - Free-to-play and worth trying (weight 0.75): A frequently mentioned positive aspect is the game's free-to-play nature, making it easily accessible for players to try without any initial investment. Reviewers often highlight that the game offers a substantial amount of content and a quality experience without requiring players to spend money, as the monetization is primarily focused on cosmetic items. - Divisive seasonal reset mechanic (weight 0.71): The seasonal reset mechanic, while intended to provide a fresh start, is a divisive issue. Some reviewers appreciate the clean slate and the opportunity to progress again, while others find it frustrating to lose progress and earned content. There are requests for permanent servers without resets or options to carry progress between seasons. - Better with friends, stick PvE (weight 0.69): The game is often recommended for group play, with reviewers noting that it enhances the overall experience. While solo play is possible, some reviewers find it more challenging or less enjoyable. Sticking to PvE servers is recommended to avoid negative interactions. - Lack of confidence in developers (weight 0.06): Some reviewers have lost confidence in the developers and express concern about the game's future. They feel that the development team is not addressing key issues or listening to player feedback, leading to a decline in player population. These reviewers are unlikely to return to the game unless significant changes are made. - Scenario quality varies greatly (weight 0.02): Some reviewers suggest specific scenarios, like Manibus, for new players to try. Others caution against the Way of Winter scenario, citing issues with its survival mechanics and lack of content. This indicates that the quality and enjoyment of the game can vary depending on the chosen scenario. - Compared to Fallout, cosmic horror (weight 0.01): The game is compared to Fallout, with some reviewers suggesting it as an alternative for fans of the series. However, others caution against expecting too much from the game, suggesting that there are better options available. The game is also described as a post-apocalyptic cosmic horror experience. - Join new or late-season servers (weight 0.01): Reviewers recommend joining a recently opened server or signing up for a future server opening to avoid being bottlenecked. Starting on a server nearing the end of its first season is also suggested to avoid being stuck on the base waiting for the second season. Due to low player population, a private server is recommended by some. - Interface and immersion need work (weight 0.01): Some reviewers highlight specific areas that need improvement, such as the interface, immersion (sound, voice, story), and boss fights. They suggest waiting for fixes before attempting certain content. The game is also described as too ambitious for the number of bugs it has. Other player notes: - Free-to-play, cosmetic monetization (weight 0.13): The game is free-to-play with optional cosmetic purchases, avoiding pay-to-win mechanics. It features battle passes and various in-game currencies. This model is considered fair by many, though some find cosmetics expensive. - Varied reviewer experiences (weight 0.09): Reviewers' experiences and opinions vary, with some having played the game extensively and others offering initial impressions. Some reviewers have updated their reviews over time as the game has changed, and some have spent money to support the game. - Deep, cosmic horror lore (weight 0.05): The game features a deep sci-fi lore, blending cosmic horror with a post-apocalyptic setting. The story unfolds through exploration, environmental clues, and encounters with mutated creatures and eldritch horrors, drawing inspiration from SCP, Control, and other similar themes. - Responsive developer feedback loop (weight 0.04): The developers actively solicit and respond to player feedback through surveys and blog posts. They are generally responsive to bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements, fostering a sense of community involvement. - Russian language support added (weight 0.03): The game includes Russian language support, which can be enabled through Steam settings. An in-game translator has also been added to facilitate communication with international players. - Mix of familiar game elements (weight 0.03): The game blends elements from various other games and genres, creating a unique but sometimes uninspired experience. It combines survival, shooter, building, and MMO elements, drawing inspiration from titles like Fallout, Conan, and Death Stranding. - Multiple PvE and PvP scenarios (weight 0.02): The game offers multiple scenarios, including both PvE and PvP options, catering to different player preferences. Permanent servers are unlocked after the scenario phase ends, allowing for server merges and continued play. - Seasonal system, time-gated content (weight 0.02): The game uses a seasonal system that can time-gate content. Completing previously finished quests in the same scenario is fast-tracked, reducing the time to reach level 50. - International development, varied cosmetics (weight 0.02): The game's development team is international, resulting in a variety of cosmetic styles. Some translation errors exist, and the in-game store is standard for Asian games, with skins and sexualized characters. - Data privacy concerns exist (weight 0.02): Some reviewers have expressed concerns about data privacy due to the game being developed by a Chinese company. Others state that the privacy policy is standard for live-service MMORPGs. Emotions: No emotions}