Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a third-person open world survival game where you Explore, Expand, and Evolve to advance your clan to the next generation in this exhilarating new adventure from Panache Digital Games. Embark on the most incredible odyssey known to humankind: human evolution. Spanning from 10 million to 2 million years ago, begin your journey, before us, in Neogene period Africa. Explore a beautiful yet ruthless world, from swinging through tree branches in the jungle to stalking prey across the golden savannah grasslands. Decide what attributes to learn and hone in order to pass down knowledge to future generations, from crafting tools to enhancing evasive tactics against predators. Just like real life, make sure to eat, drink, and sleep to stay alive and have the energy to face any danger that may come your way. Grow your clan and find strength in numbers as you progress through critical evolutionary stages of human evolution. Your choices will write your clan’s story and determine if you can survive your evolution.
Steam User 586
Am monke. Monke become smart. Smart monke use tools. Snake bad.
Steam User 86
I'm a very picky buyer and I tend to check reviews thoroughly before buying, both good and bad. I was on the fence about this game and ended up just buying because it was on sale. I personally have ended up loving it and found a good portion of the bad reviews were either incorrect, didn't give enough information or had incorrect expectations. I'd like to try to address the main negative points to help any future decisions on whether to buy.
The controls - Yes, KB/M is not great on this game. I've tried it a few times and personally would not be able to complete the game with those controls. That being said, controller operation is amazing. There's quite a few AAA games that I wish would control this well. Short answer, if you play just KB/M this probably isn't your game, but if you don't mind controller don't worry about the controls.
"Game is repetitive" - It is a survival game and probably one of the most true to it's nature of the genre. Your main objective day to day is to stay fed, watered, and healthy so you will be addressing those issues constantly. It's also a game about evolution THAT YOU CONTROL. There are numerous methods to get food, get boosts, and stay healthy which make these tasks quicker and easier but you'll access none of them if you don't take the initiative. Basically, if you don't try new things and evolve, then yes the game will be incredibly repetitive.
"You don't actually evolve" - I'll keep this as spoiler free as possible, but some things you should know before buying. You actually do evolve both in abilities and appearance. Appearance is not a quick process and you won't ever evolve into a human. You will always be an animal utilizing senses, abilities, and dexterity while building/technology for the most part is not part of this game. That being said, I will say the abilities both inherited and evolved make a huge difference in game play and are quite amazing. They're also custom to how you play. I noticed in my second more experienced play-through, my tribe evolved completely different than in my first, locking out many abilities I had taken for granted until much later just due to very small differences in how I started.
Please understand what you're buying. This is not Ark, Conan, or Valheim. You can't build towns, fortresses, amazing weapons and you do not have unrealistic powers or physical ability.
You start at almost the bottom of the food chain with normal speed, jumping, and very few things you can eat. EVERYTHING wants to kill you and climbing is pretty much the only impressive thing in you're arsenal. You'll scrape and claw your way just to survive for the first part of the game. Very little is actually explained which actually is in line with the game design. You'll need to learn/examine basically everything before your monkey knows what to do with it. Through trial, error, and probably quite a few deaths you can evolve to become quite deadly and enjoy a huge beautiful map, but even at your strongest death is just a wrong button/decision away. If this level of survival appeals to you, then this is your game.
Steam User 497
This game gets lots of flak by people that are used to having a glowing arrow with a pathway to every important location, piece of gear, mission, etc. This is not that type of game. This is a survival game, designed to make you THINK. You have to place yourself in the ape's position and think as if you were an actual early hominid trying to discover the world around you.
That being said; it seems as is the designers intended you to fail and start over many times. There are a couple of ways to play, but for the most part the goal is to advance faster then we did IRL. In order to do this, there are CRUCIAL pieces of information that you could only know about if you have played through and noticed (or watched a TUT). In particular, something as simple as bringing your young with you to a meteor location to get the extra reinforcements for the next generation. However, every time your clan is decimated because you didn't do something right and you have to start over; you find that there was a better way, earlier in the game to progress faster then you did before. This definitely adds to the replay-ability factor, especially if you are trying to figure out most everything for yourself.
I have found myself rage-quitting for a month then starting back up again, wondering why I am putting myself through this again. But every time there's that "aha" moment and I make a breakthrough without help from the internet, it does add to that feeling of personal achievement.
Overall this game is challenging, but remember any game that gets released without a mini map, and a glowing trail to your next destination get negative comments from 90% of the gaming population upon release (remember Dark Souls).
Suck it up buttercup. If you need help, just watch a video ;-)
Steam User 139
Playing this game is like a Discovery Channel special on steroids. You start off as a helpless ape, trying to figure out how to use a stick, with nothing but your wits and a strong desire to survive. But within 30 minutes, you've discovered the magic of the sharpened stick and suddenly you're the alpha predator of the jungle, taking down everything in your path. It's like a real-life "Survivor" series, but instead of outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting, you're just out-stabbing.
It's like real life, but with less paperwork and more animal blood.
But the real highlight of this game is the sense of power and accomplishment you feel as you progress through the evolutionary stages. You'll feel like a god among beasts.
Overall, this is a good game, but it's not for the faint of heart. If you're looking for a game where you can unleash your inner savage and take over the animal kingdom, then this is the game for you.
Ancestors is not only a thrilling gaming experience, but it is also educational. The game is based on real scientific research, and the developers have done an excellent job of incorporating that knowledge into the gameplay. As you progress through the game, you learn about human evolution, and the different challenges our ancestors faced as they evolved. It's like getting a crash course in anthropology and archaeology without having to sit through boring lectures.
Additionally, the game also presents the players with a lot of information about the different species and ecosystems, so it is a great way to learn about the different animals and plants of the prehistoric era, as well as the dynamic of the environment they lived in.
Overall, Ancestors: A Human Kind Odyssey is not only a fun and entertaining game, but it is also an excellent way to learn about the history of our species in an interactive and engaging way.
Steam User 79
Chaotic, hard to play, without tutorial. But making a sharp stick after 10 hours make you very happy! Apes together - strong!
Steam User 151
Reject humanity, return to monkey
Steam User 124
An Absolute masterpiece.
no doubt you can see the high amount of negative reviews stating how hard the game is and how it Doesnt help you. But thats the whole point. The entire point of this game is to live the lives that our very early ancestors did, the whole point is to learn and adapt to the enviroment that you are placed in, to learn how to survive,protect and grow your species. because that is what actually happend, the funny apes you play as in this game, actually existed and if you go back far enough you have a decendant that was one of these apes. they lived what you experience in this game, they learnt everything that you have to in this game. the point of the game is to live it how they did, and if its too hard for you or you cant progress because you arent being helped, then the apes you play as in this game were smarter than you, because they prevailed, they learnt and they evolved. and if you cant do that, dont blame the game, take a look at yourself and ask yourself, how did these apes know more than me.