Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, by Panache Digital Games, is an incredibly interesting survival game that centers around you evolving your lineage throughout time, until you evolve through multiple generations. I am assuming that the goal here is to reach the ultimate evolution, which is presumably human? I am not too clear on what the end goal of the game is, as the game is truly massive. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey opens with the developers telling you, “We won’t tell you much.” And they really mean it. You are thrust into the world, filled with question marks and scary faces flashing across the screen, and it’s up to you to figure out how to advance to the “next level.” You are given controls, and that’s about it. It is up to you to climb up the trees, sniff, and explore. By exploring, you can remember things so that your world is filled with less question marks. So, the game, while it begins a little confusing, becomes more familiar as you go along. And after all, most of us know the basic survival skills that our species needed to survive, so you already have a leg up in the game of life.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey threw me through a complete loop with its unique entrance into the survival game genre. I think most of us have some sort of experience with this popular genre, as I do with titles such as The Forest. We all know the popular archetype when it comes to survival games, and I love how Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has managed to completely turn this on its head. After playing a lot of video games, many veterans find a lot of AAA titles to be incredibly familiar to one another. This game, however, is new and fresh and exciting. I hope that more developers in the future try and break the mold, just as Panache Digital Games have done wonderfully here. The game itself is beautiful visually, the sounds are incredible, and the landscape is incredibly immersive. The developers have also made a good use of the PlayStation controller here; the controls are very intuitive, and they also make good use of the touchpad. I find this to be an essential part of playing on console, so I always like to mention this as there is nothing more frustrating than confusing controls! There are also levels of help that the developers will give you, so you are able to opt for more help, or even get rid of your HUD altogether, if that’s your style.
All in all, I think that Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is beautifully designed, down to the parts that can even be frustrating. The game seems very long at parts, frustrating to understand, and seemingly impossible for me at some parts. But this is part of the beauty of the game. Real life is filled with question marks and fear, and we have no quest markers to help us get to point A to point B. You must figure it out for yourself, take risks, and hope that you will survive to see tomorrow. And it has taken us millions of years to get to this point. So, for that, I really appreciate Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey for the message it is trying to convey, and I think it is a real piece of art.
9/10
Check Out the Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Trailer:
For more information, please visit here: https://ancestorsgame.com/en/
PlayStation 4 Review
I am a senior studying History at the University of Michigan. I've been playing video games since I was very young and around age 16 I had become entirely obsessed with the medium. I hope to one day work in the industry in any way I can.
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