Sometimes, exploring certain points of history can fit perfectly into video games. The slew of World War 2 shooters, countless RTS titles and even the odd RPG. It’s one thing to oversee the battle of Cynoscephalae and another to guide a clan of apes on the path to evolution, yet here we are.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Developer: Panache Digital Games
Price: $40
Platform: PC via Epic Games Store
MonsterVine was supplied with PC code for review
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, is a curious game that puts you in the furry feet of our primate cousins. To be more accurate, a whole clan of them. This is where the instant reaction of ‘that monkey game’ will begin to echo out among the masses. In truth, it’s at least an accurate reaction, but not one that truly reflects on what is going on within the game.
Survive, explore, nurture, progress, repeat. It’s the beating heart of the entire experience. There’s no story, no scores to beat or combos to master. Your only goal is to see your clan survive, learn and flourish. This comes with all the expected process of ensuring they’re fed, watered and cared for. Admittedly, boiling the game down to a few key beats does little to represent the true magic sprinkled across this curious creation.
Most games reward skillful and calculated play. You’re equipped with weapons, abilities, and knowledge. Ancestors effectively turns the player into a toddler, driven by curiosity and identifying things by shoving them into their mouth. Left to your own devices in the harsh realities of Neogene Africa, there’s little to nothing in terms of instructions or objectives beyond short tutorials on how to use the only tools at your disposal, your senses, and intelligence.
Each member of your clan can use their sense of smell and hearing to track down and identify points of interest in the surrounding area. Food, sources of water and even other living creatures all carry their own scent or sound. Intelligence allows points of interest to be marked out and displayed, even while traversing the world. Each system provides a function that feeds into another aspect of the game, creating a cohesive mechanic that builds the foundation of the experience. However, it’s not the most important element of Ancestors.
Freedom is just as important as any other element neatly weaved into the game. Picking things up and feeling them out is the only way to learn and progress your clan. Figuring out what the world is filled with and how it can be used is arguably the game’s best, and most vital, feature. With no real guidance, the onus is purely on the player to discover and learn. While it may not be as expansive as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there is a similar attitude of letting the player simply play in order to learn more about how the game works, producing its best moments.
There’s a sense of satisfaction and giddiness uncovered when swinging from tree to tree. Witnessing the sheer joy overcome a chimp’s face as he/she fashions a spear for the first time is undeniably charming. Ancestors’ charm doesn’t stop at pointy stick fuelled smiles. The animation work on the various chimps is wonderful, filling them with life and personality. With no dialogue or character development to speak of (they are chimps after all), the ability to make the cast endearing is truly a feat worthy of note.
Ancestors run a veiled (surprisingly old school) RPG system behind the scenes. Neuronal Energy acts as experience points, earned through in-game actions such as communicating, inspecting and frankly everything else. This energy can be used to unlock nodes that allow your clan to perform actions split into communications, motricity, senses, and intelligence. Though the name may be fancy, the entire system is most easily described as a typical perk system.
Evolution is the primary goal, with the Neuronal system playing directly into this process. Once enough nodes have been unlocked through player actions, the clan can progress 15 years into the future. Babies will grow to be adults, elders may die and things previously learned may be forgotten. Nevertheless, the clan will be smarter and more equipped for the brave new world ahead of them.
Embarking on conquest through the game world, whether alone or with a clan, tends to be a mixed bag. Playing very much into the notion of ‘curiosity killed the cat (in this case, the chimp)’ the game world is filled with just as much danger as it is a wonder. Snakes, crocodiles, ancient big cats, and the elements can all make short work of any clan member. Evasion is the only method of defence, at least at first. Evolution allows a clan to produce tools of the pointy kind, perfecting for stabbing a number of predators.
The biggest issue Ancestors suffers from tends to be based in this area. Combat is janky, rarely feeling ever satisfying. Unfortunately, AI can be suspect. It’s not rare to witness a friendly clan member to happily sit in front of a predator, becoming an easy meal in the process. Enemy AI doesn’t impress either, tending to act in predictable patterns. Of course, combat is not a core part of the game, but the issues do have a habit of breaking any true sense of immersion and leave an unwanted aftertaste.
That break in immersion rears its ugly head between the genuine moments of satisfaction. For each moment of the concept being realized, there’s a reminder that the game is weak in one key aspect, gameplay. With the foundations laid early on supply promise, it never truly expands in scope. Repetition may be too strong of a word, but the undeniable reciprocate motion at play niggles away at enjoyment during long periods of play.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey looks and sounds the part, but the concept is more interesting than playing the game. The freedom granted to the player is commendable, providing the finer moments. Being left to learn, survive and thrive is a strong selling point, but falls into the same pattern of using senses to identify, inspect, learn and then repeat.
The Final Word
Flashes of greatness, but too often a slave to a repeating process, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is an interesting title, but ultimately fails to truly capitalize on its concept. Packing all the aspects of the survival genre you’d expect, there’s something here to enjoy, but it never matches the ambitious concepts. Curious, interesting, but repeating, there’s not much here to evolve the genre but still plenty to chew on.
– MonsterVine Review Score: 3 out of 5 – Average
