The world created by Panache games is subtle yet interesting. The gameplay has to be hard for the game’s premise to work and if you don’t mind an awful lot of grinding you should really enjoy this game. The gameplay is hard, frustrating, and yet strangely compelling I want to go back and see what I can craft or expand my group’s territory and build connections to evolve, even if I know it’s going to take me days. Yet in spite of this the gameplay was enjoyable, I admit you receive very little at first for the seemingly gruelling amount of effort you put in but ultimately it’s worth it. I painstakingly crafted another stick for it to break again … then again … and again – you can imagine one’s frustration.Īlthough this sounds tedious and at points it can be the ultimate point of this game is survival, which doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being a thrill seekers dream. I then used this on one of the larger liftable rocks in the game for it to snap instantly.
![ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Iy6eCvvHOXk/maxresdefault.jpg)
It took several hours for me to get the hang of the game enough to pair these two together followed by several minutes actually crafting a ‘stick’. This however can be tedious, for example: I’m not sure whether to call this a spoiler here but you can hit a branch from a tree with a rock to make a stick. Technically, you should know all the steps, being an evolved hominid yourself, so you must think logically to figure out which tools do what and which items can be crafted.
#Ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay how to
The game however, gives you little to no explanation on how to acquire these items.
![ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KAk90c9dDrw/maxresdefault.jpg)
There is no inventory so to speak, you can only equip what you can hold, generally food, tools, or resources that can be crafted.
![ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KuQHB49pY2c/maxresdefault.jpg)
You can listen, smell and explore your surroundings to develop skills and grow neurons to pass onto future generations. The gameplay centres around using your ‘intelligence’ to understand and explore the landscape. However, when jumping there is a considerably noticeable frame drop. The movement in this game was partially redeemed by the freedom to jump in any direction you like, jumping from the trees within your reach as freely as in real life. Saying this, the movement system wasn’t great with awkward controls that became unbearable at points when, in a game about tree inhabiting apes, I was unable to climb down onto lower branches in trees seriously injuring my apes on an alarmingly regular basis. This game initially suggests using a controller I tried both this and a KB+M and admittedly the controller makes the movement significantly easier.
![ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay ancestors the humankind odyssey gameplay](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P9MvFNWathE/maxresdefault.jpg)
This is, however, the ultimate point of the game what is the ultimate survival game if not the endless battle between evolution and nature? The purpose of the game is to evolve as you learn and explore in the game you develop and strengthen ‘neurons’ (learned skills and abilities) which can then be passed onto future generations – simple, right? These sometimes take hours if not days to achieve and if you die you lose them. I lost my first Ape around 4 hours in, to a predator attack. This game certainly doesn’t hold your hand and death becomes an inevitability rather than an option. I started off as an ape called ‘Muk’ and learned extremely slowly how to forage, bond with others and even begin to craft and build a feat which took around 3 hours of gameplay. You start off as an ape living with their small family gathering, you must learn to communicate, move, walk and mate to help your colony of primates thrive and survive. The story, if you care to find one, is that of humankind’s evolution an idea that is supposed to help you throughout the game. Being a survival game there is no traditional story element to the game.