Once Human review
What is it? A free to play open-world MMO survival game
Expect to pay: Free to play, with cosmetic items for purchase
Release date: July 9, 2024
Developer: Starry Studio/NetEase
Publisher: Starry Studio/NetEase
Reviewed on: Windows 10 Pro, Intel i9-10920X, 128 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
Steam Deck: Unsupported
Link: Official site
To be honest, I didn't expect to get into a NetEase survival MMO, initially shrugging it off at as another mobile-first game that would keep me busy for about as long as it took for my fast food order to arrive. I could not have been more wrong.
Once Human is far from perfect, but it is good. For a free-to-play game, it is stunningly good. Does it break new ground? Not one bit. It's like a less cartoony, more fully-fleshed out version of creature collector Palworld, in that it throws everything people like from other games into one giant bucket. Am I here for that? Absolutely.
Once you're done with the detailed character creation (hairline sliders, anyone?), you'll jump into the game as a «meta-human,» a new mutation of homo sapiens that have adapted to alien «stardust» which has turned most of the planet into monsters. The people who remain are either plucky rebels and pioneers, or evil guards working for the folks that unleashed this plague to begin with.
Blasting through an entire room of stardust monsters is satisfying, but not remotely difficult, at least during this first «Novice» season. Right now, the item collecting and crafting are what makes Once Human engrossing for long stretches.
Almost immediately you'll begin crafting, using basic resources that are lying around in huge quantities. I had a house up and running in no time, which was incredibly easy to do, minus the proper adjustment of roof pieces, which were so finicky I impatiently went with a Sydney Opera House-on-acid approach and just got the danged thing covered with something to keep out the rain.
Like every system in Once Human, building is deep and complex, and
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