Once Human review: "Like a crawling bus, its more original elements hide dull and generic ones"

2024-07-23

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros+Genuinely cool, strange monsters, with a scale that can make them frightening+Massive world offers a lot of variety in locations to explore+Some inventive gameplay scenarios, like getting lost into a Backrooms-like maze

Genuinely cool, strange monsters, with a scale that can make them frightening

Massive world offers a lot of variety in locations to explore

Some inventive gameplay scenarios, like getting lost into a Backrooms-like maze

Cons-Repetitive combat with stupid enemies-Generic gameplay systems add nothing to the paranormal feel-Thin story, often with simple, uninteresting mission design

Repetitive combat with stupid enemies

Generic gameplay systems add nothing to the paranormal feel

Thin story, often with simple, uninteresting mission design

Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.

The most iconic image to come out of Once Human is a mutated, insectile city bus. Instead of wheels, it has sprouted six huge, fleshy legs that carry it down the street like a giant insect, lifting the vehicle 15 feet off the ground. Except they’re not legs, they’rearms, so this thing is walking around on enormous hands with skin peeling back in places to reveal dark crimson gore, with the very air emanating from the thing twisting and warping reality around it.

The first time I saw one of those buses lumbering down the road, I turned my motorcycle right around and sped off in the opposite direction. But I was grinning the whole time, because a mutant murder bus walking on flesh arms was exactly the kind of thing I wanted out of Once Human.

The second time I encountered a bus with arms, I noticed a glowing yellow treasure chest inside, the kind I’d been looting in farms and suburbs and defunct factories for hours. When the bus didn’t react to me at all, I realized the truth: Its only function was to plod back and forth over that small stretch of highway, doing nothing but waiting for someone to jump aboard to claim some random loot.

The bus is Once Human in microcosm. Sometimes the game drops something delightfully unusual, fascinating, and strange on you. But you quickly find that there’s little beneath the spooky surface; a scary bus with hand-legs is just a weird-looking place to find a run-of-the-mill treasure chest. It was never scary at all.

Mad world

(Image credit: NetEase Games)

Once Human screenshot showing a dark and foreboding space

Fast FactsRelease date:July 9, 2024Platforms(s):PC, MobileDeveloper:Starry StudioPublisher:NetEase Games

Fast Facts

Release date:July 9, 2024Platforms(s):PC, MobileDeveloper:Starry StudioPublisher:NetEase Games

Once Human is a survival MMO set in a post-apocalyptic world that is, quite often, imaginative and almost horrific. 20 years ago, an interdimensional event called Starfall infected the world with cosmic horrors called deviants and a mostly lethal, sometimes mutagenic gunk called stardust that creates more deviants. These are often excellently gross or inventive combinations of organic and inorganic material — giant bugs with light bulb thoraxes, people with theater spotlights where their heads should be, a huge and lumbering hulk made out of birthday balloons crammed in a business suit. (The balloon guy is the deadliest thing I’ve encountered in Once Human, and easily the goofiest. He’s also my favorite thing in the game.)

Most deviants are homicidal monsters, but some are friendly and helpful, and some are justpeople. You meet a guy with a TV for a head who is obsessed with justice and gives you bounty missions, and when you finish them, you get a chance to talk to an imprint of the person who requested the bounty, magically saved within the TV guy’s mind. Other deviants are just random objects come to life, like a talking vending machine that considers bottles sold from it to be its missing children, or a six-foot stuffed dinosaur that loves gourmet cooking.

This variety of creatures that swings between the obviously horrific and the strange or even cute sets a tone for Once Human that really works. It feels delightfully different from just about any other game in the survival subgenre, even if the individual parts are all highly derivative — visuals and ideas harken back to Control, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Redfall, and The Evil Within 2, as well as films like Annihilation and even internet phenomena such as the Backrooms and artist Trevor Henderson’s Siren Head.

The deviants aren’t just characters in the story, either. Like in Palworld, you can capture a bunch of them to use either in combat or to leave in your personal base, where they automate some elements of gathering and crafting. The system for using them isn’t especially robust, so this isn’t quite like Pokemon with SCP entries. In combat, you can summon a deviant to attack enemies, but your only options for orders are to pick a specific target or let the deviant go wild, and they only last a few seconds regardless. But their presence, alongside creative enemy design, helps build on the exciting sense that you have to adapt to an alien world in Once Human, even if that world is born from remixing elements from a variety of well-known sources.

Despite all those otherworldly creatures to fight, though, Once Human’s third-person shooter combat is consistently bland and dull. That’s not because of the shooting, which uses familiar but solid weaponry like sniper rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols. All of them feel punchy and good to shoot, especially when aiming down sights, and each has its own strategic places in your arsenal. The enemies you shoot with them, however, are generally dim and unthreatening.

Even Once Human’s huge, twisted bosses never really put up much of a fight (apart from the last one), despite the fact the game recommends you group up with other players to take them on. There is a pretty simple, handy grouping system for quickly putting together teams of up to four players whenever you want one, and I did that for the first fight, but quickly found most of the bosses were so simple that I didn’t need the help. Despite being enormous, they largely feel like they belong in a game from 20 years ago, rattling off a few easily read, easily avoided attacks while I dump a huge amount of gunfire into their glowing weak spots.

Less than the sum of its parts

(Image credit: NetEase Games)

Once Human screenshot showing a weird TV-faced man in conversation

In the vast majority of situations, fights feel more or less the same.

It must be said, though, that Once Human offers atonof content, especially for a free-to-play title. The world map is titanic and sprawling, with a lot of fun locations to explore that range from flooded neighborhoods and swampy marshes to red mesas and collapsed skyscrapers. The live-game aspect also brings in new cooperative seasonal activities and rewards that change as often as weekly, giving the sense of a world that’s changing around you as time goes on. So while the actual gameplay can swing wildly between engaging and dull, you at least get a lot of bites at the apple to find something that’s fun.

And while Once Human is awash in the confusing menus, currencies, events, and rewards that tend to plague live-service games, its purchase options are purely cosmetic, and it doesn’t beat you over the head trying to get you to spend. Over 35 hours, I never once felt pressured to spend a dime.

There are good ideas in Once Human, especially in an interesting and unique-feeling post-apocalyptic world that is, often, weird in the best way. But like the crawling bus, its more original elements hide dull and generic ones. Some, like crafting and survival, feel tacked-on to a straightforward open-world questing experience. Others, like combat, are hollow and repetitive. Once Human has plenty of cool cosmic horror style, but it can’t hide the fact that there’s not much substance lurking underneath the surface.

Disclaimer

CATEGORIESPC GamingOpen WorldSurvivalPlatforms

Most Popular

Anbernic RG28XX review: “a tiny budget handheld that fits in my weird tiny jeans pocket”

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”

Razer Kraken V4 review: “an iconic headset, all grown up”

Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”

Meta Quest 3S review: “Maybe the best entry-level VR device ever created”

Glorious Series 2 Pro review: “comfortable and nimble, but not quite punching with the flagships”

Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

Bouiles Elite Series review: “The longer I sat in it, the more comfortable I became”

Azeron Cyborg II review: “One of the best gaming peripherals I’ve ever used”

Atari 7800+ review: “a retro console remake for the ‘80s kids”

Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”

GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension"2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package"3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure"4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years"5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths"1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show"2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie"3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action"4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien"5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite"1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat"2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses"3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist"4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands"5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”

GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

Nemesis board game models and tokens laid out on a board

1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”

Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”

4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”

5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”

Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”

1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”

Shadow brandishes a gun in Sonic The Hedgehog 3

1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”

2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”

Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”

3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”

Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”

4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”

5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”

Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”

1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”

Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Nicola Coughlan as Joy in Doctor Who Christmas special Joy to the World

1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”

Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”

2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”

Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”

3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”

Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”

4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”

Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”

5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”

Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Mad world

Less than the sum of its parts

Contents