Once Human
The apocalypse changed everything. Human, animal, plant… all are infested by an alien creature – Stardust. As a Meta-Human, you can survive the contamination and use the power of Stardust. Play alone or join others to fight, build and explore. When the world is in chaos, you are our last hope.
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.
Steam User 449
For a free game it is enjoyable, but none of your friends will wanna play with you even though it is free.
Steam User 296
Great game, but the monthly wipes kinda killed it for me. Should have some servers without wipe were we could just make communities and grind story together.
Steam User 236
Look—I was just gonna try it for a few hours. I blinked, and suddenly it’s 3 AM, my base has tripwires, I’m hoarding mushrooms like a feral raccoon, and I’m emotionally bonded to a rifle I named “Susan.”
This game?
Absolutely unhinged in the best way. It’s like Fallout, The Forest, and Stranger Things had a weird little apocalypse baby—and somehow it works. The world is rotting and glowing and horrifying and BEAUTIFUL. And I? I’m thriving. Screaming, but thriving.
✔️ Base building? Addictive.
✔️ Crafting? Endless.
✔️ Combat? Chunky, chaotic, and so satisfying.
✔️ Lore? Creepy as hell, and I need answers NOW.
✔️ Monsters? I love them. I fear them. I run from them and come back with a flamethrower.
Even the bugs feel like part of the chaos. I shouldn’t love this game this much—but it scratched an itch I didn’t even know I had.
10/10 — I’ve joined a cult, and it’s this game.
Come back to edit for one of the events:
Once Human – Nalcott Survival Review (Manibus Vision Permanent Server)
I’ve been exploring Nalcott for 11 days, bearing witness to both its beauty and brutality. The world feels alive, vibrant in its details and full of moments that genuinely pull you into its mystery. Every corner seems to whisper a story, and I’ve done my best to help shape it into something thriving and alive.
But I need to be honest: the Lunar Event has started to turn excitement into frustration. The Lord of the Night seems to appear far too often, sometimes what feels like every thirty minutes, interrupting exploration, crafting, and any real progression. When that event triggers, it doesn’t feel like a challenge; it feels like punishment.
The copy of yourself that spawns during the event is over-tuned and nearly impossible to defeat solo, especially for players who aren’t fully geared. At level 35, I should be able to handle level 19 mobs, yet even with steel AP arrows, I’m barely scratching them. By the time the event’s chaos unfolds, my HP is already low, and one unlucky hit can end it all in a single shot.
Being forced into participation rather than given a chance to prepare or opt out makes it worse. It gets to the point where I’m barricaded in my base, just waiting it out, which kills the pacing and fun of the game. And when multiple Lords of the Night trigger back-to-back...it’s pure burnout.
Still, I stay because of the community. The people I play with on Server Y0222 make the experience worth enduring. There’s something special about a world that can frustrate you to no end, but also bring together a group of players who refuse to give up.
Verdict:
Once Human has incredible potential, breathtaking world design, and a community that keeps its heart beating. But events like the Lunar Cycle need better tuning and balance... because no one wants to survive a nightmare that never ends.
Steam User 139
Game is really fun, but the grind after grind with resets will wear some people down very fast. After doing it enough, I've become burned out on the whole "rinse and repeat" process. A lot of folks I know love the game though, so all in all, worth a try at least.
Steam User 169
Old guy gamer here...
This game is a chill use of old guy gaming time. That's all some people need to know.
p.s. ( feels like a little bit of division mixed with destiny and not overtly pay to enjoy)
Steam User 116
solid "ok" game!
its like someone glued a bunch of stuff together without a vision and it turned out average!
you can shoot, and build, and drive, and technology!
there are bosses!
i spent $5 on this game, and played for 50 hours with friends. pretty good.
would i play more than 50 hours? No.
would i spend more than $5 dollars? No.
if youre friends pick it up, go for it. if they dont, read a book.
Steam User 142
After playing this game for 1K hours, here are my thoughts (sorry it will be all over the place):
꩜ The game itself is a bit dayz/rust vibes into it.
꩜ Survival wise - not too extreme as Dayz or Rust. You can survive just fine.
꩜ New players will get a little bit overwhelm as basically your mind will go "oh gun, oh armour" but the game doesn't give you much information that there are certain build that you can do, like certain blueprint armour to trigger set features. Guns that has elemental damage, bounce effects, vulnerability effect and much more. On top of that there are mods that you can attached on your weapon and sets to improve your damage, hp etc. So basically, if you are a new player you basically will be overwhelm but after a few days when you get hang of it you will be fine.
꩜ Good Community (in my opinion), i met a lot of good and nice people playing this game. Which they are the one who taught me on the sets, build and to the point they are sharing their skins as well to my base. There are good people in world chat that are happy to help you with information (of course not all servers has this kind of privilege, but in my opinion most the people i encounter are good to me).
꩜ A little bit grindy, but doesn't really punish you if you are a casual gamer. It is like you play on your phase type of game. Of course, this game is a scenario-based game. So every 4/5 weeks the scenario (which is the server you enter) will close down and you have to enter a new scenario.
꩜ Base Building is fun. You will see a lot of people's creative mind with their bases
꩜ Did I say that this game is not pay to win? if not, it is not pay to win. So cosmetics and the stuff you buy in game doesn't affect your damage or stats. It is completely cosmetics. So it is really up to you to spend. However, lootcrates (gatcha system of the game) and the prices of some cosmetics (I am looking at you Wilderness Fighter Set) are a bit too much for just a cosmetics. For example, the Wilderness Fighter Set - 2200 Crystin Crystal is too much don't you think, compare to the 2200 Crystin cosmetics that has particle effects? (sorry just venting out)
꩜ I have been in 5 scenario in total, and honestly I am that type of person who doesnt mind the server wipes and to level up again do the dungeons again. However, it is a bit "boring" as they keep resetting scenario but doesn't give players new contents etc. And when they gave player a new scenario, which is Way of Winter, feels like it is rushed and there are a lot of bugs that to the point it is not enjoyable and making us rethink our decision to go back to Evolution/Manibus - Which we have are in that map for 4 scenario. Doing the same thing.
꩜ Lags and FPS Drops are every where. I do sometimes blame my PC as I have a potato pc. However, when you play this game and let us say there are 10+ players in the area, you will experience lag. Devs did optimised it and before Primewars and Raiding bases was so unplayable where you cant reload you are rubber banding etc, they are still there but not as worst as before. But do put it at the back of your head that there will be lag, a lot of lag and bugs too.
Basically, I do recommend the game to new players to test out all the scenario - Evolution, Manibus, Prismverse and Way of Winter. However, after doing 1 or 2 scenario you will get that urge feeling of burn out and boredom as there's really no new content in game. It is more like new cosmetics each week.