Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey is tough to master but fascinating to play, thanks to the freedom of its atypical open world. Every discovery becomes an exciting moment, although not always easily interpretable; in addition, the later release of the console version allowed the developers to improve it in all its features.

A game that not everyone will appreciate for what it really is: a raw and faithful experience of what the first steps of humanity really represented. It suffers from certain shortcomings, but we believe that the final product is a title worth giving a chance.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a very unique survival game, with many interesting ideas and a great atmosphere.

Ancestors is more than a survival game. Panache Digital developed some interesting mechanics about evolution, learning and neuronal development. But the game has technical issues and gets repetitive after a few hours.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a brave and original video game that seeks to surprise with a unique survival experience.

Patrice Desilets’ study of our primitive ancestors in the aptly named Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has come to consoles and brings with it a host of improvements, but still suffers here and there with some points of frustration.

Ancestors is a beautiful game that pits you against all odds in the simulated perspectives of our forebears. Go about through millions of years of evolution, but don’t expect your hand to be held throughout. It’s about exploration, survival, and learning. Curiosity and patience have to be your biggest drivers to get by. Aside from questionable AI choices and oftentimes monotonous tasking, it’s an interesting experience.

Ancestors is a large, fussy, and at times uneven survival experience, but it's also deeply gratifying once you sink your teeth in.

Ancestors has an intriguing concept, but its slow gameplay and the high degree of precision required to succeed make it a mostly frustrating experience. Worth a try, but you might want to wait for a discount.

The things that make Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey so appealing are the same thing that make it frustrating. Many things stand in the way of your progress, many of those things being mechanics, and rewards come sparingly. At the same time, there is something wholly unique here that, if you can properly sink your teeth into it, you could find yourself completely engulfed in it.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey aims to tackle the evolution of mankind from our animal forebears, a hefty task for any one piece of media. While the goal is incredibly admirable, Panache Digital Games puts too much on its plate. It attempts to break down the process of human development in a fascinating way, but the concept ends up being tremendously difficult to translate into typical controls and gameplay. The information conveyance and gameplay implementation are ultimately disappointing, given how much curiosity the game fosters and inspires. The game still offers interesting content, especially in the audio and visual departments. While the effort put into the game is certainly laudable, the result of Ancestors is ultimately middling.

While the slow-paced nature of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey was a bit too much of a slog for me, there are plenty of players who will be up to the challenge. An effective ‘Human Simulator,” the ambition of the game is seen in its graphics, audio, and overall immersive long-haul gameplay. Just be prepared to put in the time. After all, evolution didn’t happen overnight.

While the idea of being able to influence the evolution of your clan of apes seems novel and exciting the reality is that it’s a bit of a repetitive slog. Through bad decisions or sheer bad luck, it’s far too easy to wipe out your whole clan which means that you’ll have to start all over again from the beginning. It’s an interesting experience but one that’s tough to recommend to anyone but the most patient of gamers.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has some good ideas, but the slow pace and repetitive gameplay will wear you down quickly. Watch some gameplay footage before picking this one up.