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Once Human

Once Human is an immensely playable, atmospheric and addictive third-person survival crafter with a huge world to go out and explore, alone or with others.
Once Human Game Cover
78%Game Brain Score
gameplay, story
grinding, optimization
79% User Score Based on 79,363 reviews
Critic Score 76%Based on 6 reviews

Platforms

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Once Human Game Cover

About

Once Human is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing shooter game. It was developed by Starry Studio and was released on July 9, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Once Human is a multiplayer open-world survival game set in a strange, post-apocalyptic future. Unite with friends to fight monstrous enemies, uncover secret plots, compete for resources, and build your own territory. Once, you were merely human. Now, you have the power to remake the world.

Genres & Tags
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Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
Once Human screenshot
+22
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79%
Audience ScoreBased on 79,363 reviews
gameplay2.9k positive mentions
grinding2.7k negative mentions
  • The game features a captivating and immersive story with themes of identity, humanity, and post-apocalyptic survival, supported by strong atmospheric world-building.
  • Graphics and visual design are widely praised for stunning, detailed environments, diverse biomes, and top-notch character customization.
  • Gameplay offers a solid blend of survival, crafting, base-building, and shooter mechanics with engaging combat, deep customization, and enjoyable cooperative multiplayer.
  • The music and sound design provide a haunting, atmospheric soundtrack that significantly enhances the mood and overall experience.
  • The game has replay value through seasonal resets, procedural content, multiplayer features, and branching story paths.
  • The story is often criticized as confusing, disjointed, poorly executed with weak dialogue and voice acting, making it hard for some players to follow or emotionally invest.
  • Frequent optimization and stability issues cause performance problems like stuttering, crashes, lag, and server problems, detracting from smooth gameplay.
  • The monetization system, while cosmetic only, is seen as aggressive and predatory with confusing currencies and heavy reliance on loot boxes, causing frustration.
  • Grinding and progression can become tedious, especially due to frequent seasonal resets that wipe player progress, leading to repetitive gameplay loops.
  • The tutorial, some gameplay mechanics, and building controls suffer from poor design and can be frustrating or clunky for new or experienced players alike.
  • gameplay
    7,736 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Once Human offers engaging gameplay by blending survival, crafting, base-building, and shooter mechanics in a rich post-apocalyptic world, with solid, responsive combat and deep customization options. However, the gameplay can become repetitive due to frequent seasonal resets that wipe most player progress, grinding-heavy progression, and occasional technical issues and clunky building mechanics. Despite these drawbacks, the game remains addictive and enjoyable, especially with cooperative play and regular content updates, while maintaining a fair, non-pay-to-win monetization model focused on cosmetics.

    • “After nearly 1,000 hours in Once Human, I can confidently say this is one of the few games that successfully blends RPG, shooter, and survival mechanics into something genuinely fun.”
    • “Once Human delivers a polished survival experience with exciting exploration, solid mechanics, and an engaging open world.”
    • “The core mechanics are genuinely solid, and it’s very clear the developers put a lot of detailed, thoughtful work into this game.”
    • “I'm a huge gameplay over graphics person and this game lacks solid gameplay.”
    • “Removing the gameplay loop, the grind to improve your gear and base, and any sense of achievement.”
    • “Gameplay is bogged down by some of the most atrocious controller support I have myself seen in a game.”
  • story
    7,386 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in this game is polarizing; while some players find it intriguing, immersive, and a key part of the experience, others criticize it as confusing, disjointed, repetitive, or poorly executed with weak dialogue and voice acting. Frequent seasonal resets force players to repeat the storyline, which detracts from long-term engagement. Despite its flaws, the narrative complements the gameplay and rich world-building, offering enough depth to keep many players invested.

    • “The story is the strongest aspect of the game, offering a captivating narrative with themes of identity and humanity woven into a mysterious plot that slowly unfolds through environmental storytelling, character interactions, and quests.”
    • “Once human is a fantastic blend of survival mechanics and rich storytelling, featuring well-crafted environments, engaging dialogues, plot twists, and nostalgic influences, keeping players invested as they explore a beautifully ruined world filled with secrets.”
    • “The gameplay balances combat, base building, exploration, and crafting seamlessly with a compelling story arc; the narrative gradually reveals a rich lore that immerses players in a post-apocalyptic world, combining intense gameplay with thoughtful storytelling that unfolds organically by exploration and interacting with the environment.”
    • “The story is a nonsensical, garbled, disjointed mess.”
    • “It was so bad I googled it and turns out the devs recently changed a logical, reasonable and well thought out story and just replaced the beginning of it with something that makes zero sense without even tying it into the rest of the quests or progression, resulting in this idiotic abomination that I had the misfortune of experiencing.”
    • “Trying to follow the main storyline is a mess; it's the same NPCs carbon-copied at every town, the quests start pushing you into areas that you cannot actually spend time in due to 'pollution', and some of the crafted gear required to go to polluted areas you are nowhere near obtaining without hours and hours of farming and leveling up your workbenches, gathering tools, trying to get that last ingredient... while there is little to no in-game explanation on how to achieve any of this besides asking in chat.”
  • graphics
    4,096 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Once Human" are widely praised for their stunning, detailed, and immersive visuals, with many noting the impressive environments, character customization, and atmospheric design that enhance the post-apocalyptic setting. While the game delivers exceptional art style and visual effects for a free-to-play title, users report some performance issues, optimization challenges, and occasional graphical glitches, particularly on lower-end systems. Overall, the game's graphics are considered a major strength, successfully drawing players into its eerie, richly crafted world despite some technical drawbacks.

    • “The graphics are stunning, especially in 4k, and the character customization is top-notch.”
    • “The graphics are gorgeous, with detailed environments and fairly diverse biomes.”
    • “Once human offers an immersive and thrilling post-apocalyptic experience with stunning graphics, engaging gameplay, and a captivating storyline that keeps players hooked from start to finish.”
    • “Aesthetically, the ugliest game I've ever played, between Nintendo DS, mobile...”
    • “The tutorial is awful, the graphics are 12 years out of date, the monetization is obnoxious and irritating, the server system is a confusing mess of nonsense that is impossible to parse for a new player.”
    • “The cutscenes and music are really high quality, but the game graphics itself is very 2016-ish; I don't know how this got released in 2024, pretty disappointing.”
  • grinding
    2,899 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in this game is extensive and central to the experience, with players engaging in farming, crafting, base building, and gear progression. While early and mid-game grinding is often described as enjoyable and balanced, the endgame and seasonal resets can make progression feel tedious and repetitive, leading to frustration as players must redo much of their effort every 6 weeks. The presence of automation options like deviants helps alleviate some resource gathering, but the constant grind for better mods, blueprints, and materials remains a significant time investment, especially for solo players.

    • “This game is the perfect level of not too grindy survival and accessory and customization-focused.”
    • “The resource nodes that you farm yourself such as logs and metal aren't grindy at all, the building works and looks good, you get a 'territory' which is a grid you can build in with a later expansion and within that zone you can build a fairly large house, garden, garage (one and multiplayer vehicles with upgrade) and at level 20 you get 'eternalland' which is a big open island you can build stuff in for between seasons.”
    • “Crafting isn't too grindy, bosses are sensibly difficult, player base leaving notes and tips about getting good gear is fantastic, and overall, extremely well put together game.”
    • “It's a shame they decided to full-on shoot themselves in the foot, ruining an ambitious, post-apocalyptic open world shooter with an interesting premise, a huge map, beautiful graphics, nice controls, tons of customizable weapons, vehicles, skills, tames, dungeons, events, challenges, bosses, farming, fishing, and even building in your own private pocket dimension.”
    • “Trying to follow the main storyline is a mess, it's the same NPCs carbon-copied at every town, the quests start pushing you into areas that you cannot actually spend time in due to "pollution", and some of the crafted gear required to go to polluted areas you are nowhere near obtaining without hours and hours of farming and leveling up your workbenches, gathering tools, trying to get that last ingredient, while there is little to no in-game explanation on how to achieve any of this besides asking in chat.”
    • “Players spend weeks grinding and collecting items, only for the server to reset and cause most of their hard work to be lost.”
  • optimization
    1,526 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Optimization in this game is widely criticized for poor performance, frequent stuttering, frame drops, and crashes even on high-end PCs, with issues exacerbated during large-scale events or in crowded areas. While some users report improved stability and smoother gameplay after patches and on certain setups (notably with the official launcher), server performance remains a significant problem, often resulting in lag and rubber-banding. Overall, despite promising gameplay and visuals, the game needs substantial optimization improvements to ensure a consistently smooth experience across platforms and hardware configurations.

    • “It's clean, well optimized and cross platform (I play on PC, Steam Deck, PS5 and my Android).”
    • “The game is really well optimized and simple to run; it can look really beautiful too. However, there are some odd textures in the environment here and there that you will definitely notice.”
    • “Performance has been solid on my system too.”
    • “The idea of the game is amazing, the combat, build system, everything but it is horribly optimized. I have seen games by indie companies or even solo devs do a much better job at that than this company.”
    • “If you have a powerful machine (4080 super 7900x3d) the stuttering in this game is awful (Linux isn't the problem as numerous people have the same issues on Windows).”
    • “Game is horrifically optimized which is ultimately why I cannot recommend it.”
  • stability
    1,305 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is widely criticized for frequent bugs, glitches, and performance issues including freezes, crashes, lag, and server problems, often making gameplay frustrating or unplayable. While it runs well on many systems and is considered fun despite issues, persistent problems with building mechanics, loading screens, AI behavior, and unaddressed exploits detract from the overall experience. Developers are actively patching and improving the game, but many players feel stability and optimization still require significant attention.

    • “The game is highly optimized and runs great on PC, and while it works equally well on mobile, it never feels like a mobile game on a computer.”
    • “For its PvE aspects, it is quite forgiving, but also challenging; the hitboxes aren't bad compared to most games, and it runs great on almost any hardware. I have a GTX 1650 and an i3 CPU with 16 GB DDR4 RAM.”
    • “Runs great, had some teething problems out the gate yes; but the devs have addressed things super quickly, with in-game compensation too.”
    • “Game freezes and crashes my PC; despite high-end hardware, it is unplayable.”
    • “Way too many glitches and crashes; my character freezes every five minutes, and reconnecting crashes my whole computer.”
    • “Every time I try to load the game, it freezes at 100% and is stuck on the loading screen.”
  • monetization
    1,136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization in "Once Human" is primarily cosmetic, with no pay-to-win elements, allowing players to enjoy the game without mandatory spending. While microtransactions are frequent and can be costly, especially for cosmetic bundles and loot boxes, they are mostly optional and do not impact gameplay progression. However, many users criticize the aggressive and sometimes predatory nature of the monetization strategies, including confusing multiple currencies, frequent resets, and a cash grab focus that overshadows content and bug fixes.

    • “All in-game purchases are strictly cosmetic, and honestly, the stuff you unlock for free is way cooler.”
    • “Generous free-to-play model: unlike many, this game does not pressure you to pay-to-win, focusing instead on cosmetic-focused microtransactions that are completely optional.”
    • “The game respects players by keeping monetization cosmetic-focused, letting you fully enjoy the mechanics without feeling pressured to spend.”
    • “Horrible RNG on purpose, basically a cash grab, worst gacha system ever.”
    • “Once human is so unbelievably blindingly generic and middling it circles back around to being frankly offensive that coupled with an frankly egregious amount of monetization and a poor co-op experience means that I cannot possibly imagine why anyone would want to play this.”
    • “After putting in 350 hours I realize that this is one of the cash grabbiest games I have ever played... all new weekly content is locked behind loot boxes and gambling mechanics that cost hundreds to open just to get repeats, super reliant on FOMO practices to keep you spending.”
  • atmosphere
    632 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Once Human delivers a unique and deeply immersive atmosphere, blending post-apocalyptic horror with sci-fi and Lovecraftian elements that create a haunting, eerie, and captivating world. Its detailed environments, creative creature designs, atmospheric soundscapes, and moody lighting work together to enthrall players, though some immersion breaks occur due to inconsistent art styles and player-built structures cluttering the world. Overall, the strong and distinctive atmosphere is widely praised as a standout and driving force behind the game's appeal, despite some technical rough edges and tonal inconsistencies.

    • “The world feels genuinely unsettling yet fascinating, with strong atmosphere, unique enemies, and a mysterious story that slowly pulls you in.”
    • “From the moment you step into its beautifully crafted post-apocalyptic universe, you're greeted with stunning visuals and a hauntingly atmospheric soundtrack that perfectly sets the tone for your adventure.”
    • “The atmosphere is both haunting and beautiful, drawing you into its desolate yet fascinating world.”
    • “Almost all the action takes place in such a dark atmosphere, you can't see any detail... just darkness... you get a 34 inch monitor to play in a circle from the flashlight, the rest of the screen being almost black.”
    • “The game nails the eerie, Lovecraftian horror atmosphere… and then throws in completely absurd skins that ruin immersion.”
    • “The world also feels cluttered with unfinished, abandoned houses, taking away from the intended horror and survival atmosphere.”
  • music
    458 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music is widely praised for its atmospheric, immersive, and diverse soundtrack that enhances exploration, combat, and overall mood. Players particularly enjoy the in-game radio stations featuring a mix of genres, including pop, metal, classical, and K-pop, though many request a larger variety of songs and more customization options. Despite some repetition and occasional volume issues, the music is considered one of the standout aspects, contributing significantly to the game's unique post-apocalyptic ambiance.

    • “The music, composed with a haunting elegance, perfectly complements the game's dark and mysterious tone, elevating the overall experience to new heights.”
    • “From the moment you step into its beautifully crafted post-apocalyptic universe, you’re greeted with stunning visuals and a hauntingly atmospheric soundtrack that perfectly sets the tone for your adventure.”
    • “The soundtrack fits perfectly; it’s moody, tense, and sets the tone for exploration.”
    • “The in-game music is terrible, and the gameplay is shallow and repetitive.”
    • “Unfortunately, the production of the game does not show much interest in renewing the story and creating scenarios but in selling consumables, skins, etc. Another bad thing is the music of the game, which remains the same from the beginning and does not give you the opportunity to put your own, but you are forced to listen to the same Korean shame for 450 days that I have been playing the game.”
    • “The only good thing about this game ends at the point where you name your character and the music, because the only artistic thing about this game is the music and the VFX, otherwise... meh... the shooter deforms the character, if you don't mind those things.”
  • humor
    348 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is widely appreciated for its quirky, absurd, and often unintentionally funny moments, including amusing bugs, awkward voice acting, and bizarre scenarios that create laughter, especially during co-op play. Players enjoy the game's blend of dark and light humor, silly glitches, and charmingly weird world-building, which adds a playful tone without detracting from the survival experience. While some find certain sarcastic or meme-like content less appealing, the overall comedic style and community interactions contribute significantly to the game's charm and replayability.

    • “The humor adds charm without breaking the survival experience.”
    • “One minute you’re building your base, the next you’re battling cosmic horrors with your squad and laughing through the mayhem.”
    • “If you're looking for a game that'll have you laughing, crying, and probably running from your teammates, this is it.”
    • “This game is so bad it's not funny.”
    • “It is as if the dev was not sure what sort of game they wanted to make. It's lucky this game was free; there are so many simple small things wrong with this game it's not funny.”
    • “Resource gathering becomes a cakewalk and more of just a time sink than others. Then you have the acid problem; late game needs so much acid for crafting it's not funny.”
  • emotional
    168 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game elicits mixed emotional responses, with many players forming deep attachments to their bases, companions, and the immersive, atmospheric world, often describing the community as notably wholesome and supportive. However, the story is frequently criticized as boring, shallow, or lacking emotional depth, dampening the overall narrative impact despite moments of genuine emotional resonance. Technical issues and seasonal wipes also contribute to frustration, affecting players' emotional investment over time.

    • “I booted this up thinking, “cool, survival game, spooky vibes, I’ll try it for an hour.” Cut to me twelve hours later, dehydrated, emotionally attached to my base, and fully convinced the environment is actively judging my building choices.”
    • “Once Human explores themes of isolation, hope, and resilience, delivering an emotionally charged experience that lingers long after playing.”
    • “From well-developed characters to engaging dialogue, every element contributes to an experience that goes beyond just a game - it’s an emotional journey.”
    • “The game has a good idea but fails in almost every aspect. Boring story, easiest early game I've ever played, everything worthwhile is time gated.”
    • “From the horrible optimization that causes the game to not properly load in enemies and areas for minutes at a time (while said invisible enemies are attacking you), to game-breaking bugs, to boring story, to voice deliveries that sound like they got random people to read lines instead of actual voice actors, this game has nothing to give you.”
    • “First you have a kinda sad tutorial area where the game is set on a linear path, but nothing fancy actually happens there, just a really boring story that is all over the place - you meet the aliens, there is a random anime girl, you shoot the aliens, you get to a random anime girl's house, and collect wood and stone, then a 50 meters high alien pole thing spawns and you defeat it by shooting in its head (which is a meta satellite dish) with a crossbow.”
  • replayability
    165 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability in the game is generally praised for its seasonal resets, procedural content, multiple scenarios, and multiplayer features that keep gameplay fresh and engaging. However, critiques include a lack of long-term content, repetitive mechanics, and limited map variety, which can reduce replay value after reaching endgame. Overall, the game offers solid replayability especially for players who enjoy base-building, cooperative play, and dynamic events, but sustained interest depends on future content updates.

    • “The multiplayer features add a lot of replay value, making it more enjoyable when played with friends.”
    • “There’s a lot of replay value with regular updates and new events that keep the world feeling alive.”
    • “Multiple endings and branching story paths invite replayability and encourage players to experiment with different choices and strategies.”
    • “Takes roughly 2-3 years to add content with any level of replayability at all.”
    • “Once you play through the PvE content, there is no replayability.”
    • “The core gameplay remains lifeless and devoid of replayability.”
  • character development
    130 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development and design receive widespread praise for their creativity, depth, and visual appeal, allowing extensive customization that enhances player immersion. While some users note complexity and initial learning curves, the unique and detailed character designs, along with RPG elements, are often highlighted as standout features contributing to a rich and engaging experience. However, a few critiques mention limited story depth and occasional design inconsistencies.

    • “The combination of RPG elements, character development, and structural/base development allow the player to customize to their suitable play style and creativity, which I vastly enjoy.”
    • “The character development and lore are also top-notch, making you care about the world and the people in it.”
    • “The voice acting and character development are top-notch, adding depth to the experience.”
    • “The character design feels like it was bought from an asset pack in Blender Market, because all characters feel randomly generated and placed as main NPCs. Character design was given zero attention by the developers; it's just there "to be there."”
    • “The plot can feel disjointed and the character development is minimal, which makes it hard to become fully invested in the world.”
    • “The story, animations, and character design leave something to be desired.”
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76%Critics’ scoreBased on 6 critic reviews
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38h Median play time
129h Average play time
10-120h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 592 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip Game News

Once Human Announces Details for Console Closed Beta Later This Month

March 13 on mmorpg.com

Next Month, Once Human Will Completely Overhaul the Tech System, Adjust Resources, Materials, and More

March 4 on mmorpg.com

Once Human Launches Huge Chinese New Year Event, Gardening Optimizations and More Changes

February 4 on mmorpg.com

Once Human has just dropped its Season 3 update for PC and mobile

January 23 on azurewebsites.net

Once Human's Next Visional Wheel Gameplay Mode, 'Aberrant Progeny,' Launches Tomorrow

January 20 on mmorpg.com

Once Human Unveils New Weapons, Gear and Mod Effects As Part Of Big January 21 Update

January 18 on mmorpg.com

Sci-fi survival game Once Human's got a new set of dangerous creatures, and one will haunt my nightmares for weeks

January 18 on pcgamesn.com

Once Human Introduces Three More Freaky Things As New Enemies In Next Update

January 16 on mmorpg.com
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Once Human is a open world role playing shooter game.

Once Human is available on PC, Phone, iPad, iPhone and others.

On average players spend around 129 hours playing Once Human.

Once Human was released on July 9, 2024.

Once Human was developed by Starry Studio.

Once Human has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Once Human is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Abiotic Factor, Dead Event, CryoFall, VEIN, DYSMANTLE and others.