Once Human, a free-to-play multiplayer survival shooter released on all platforms on July 9th and already there are multiple controversies brewing. It is a game developed by Starry Sky and published by NetEase. They have also published Naraka bladepoint, EVE echos, Knives out etc. Once Human topped steam wishlist charts while there are eager players who have been waiting to play this game there are those who have not forgotten the entire debacle of the “The Day Before.”
What is this New Game?
This is an open-world, multiplayer horror survival game featuring various kinds of eldritch monsters to riddle with lead to progress. It looks quite similar to Remnant 2 but where it differs is the open world setting, a base building system and major materials of any kind are gathered by defeating various monsters located throughout the map.
It looks and feels like PUBG at first but with way better graphics with the way the camera is positioned, how the UI is designed and how the character moves. The generic mobs faced on the other hand are very reminiscent of the mobs faced from Remedy Entertainment’s critically acclaimed Control. The enemies can combine and/or possess anything. By “anything” it can be from lamposts to buildings,cars, flood lights etc. This allows the developers to craft a number of unique enemies for players to deal with as they visit new unfamiliar areas of the map when progressing.
The map is fairly large with ruined city landscapes and a desert and some mountainous areas. The progression system is fairly straightforward and consistent. Players are dropped to a certain region of the map and are given a set of missions as to what to kill,gather and craft. These missions are spread across that particular section of the map with “Rift Anchors” at each area to activate which makes it so that the subarea is marked as clear.
A set number of Rift Anchors are required to progress the main story of the game so it is best to collect as many “Rift Anchors” as possible. After enough Rift Anchors are collected the game will point to the “Monolith” of that part of the map. Clearing that mission will mark the region as complete but of course to do that players must face and defeat the boss located at the Monolith. This is the basic gameplay loop of Once Human.
What Controversies?
It is already being review-bombed on steam due to various technical issues and what is being asked of players in their Terms of Service (ToS). The technical issues being server issues such as high latency in Europe and North America servers and the game not allowing players to create a new character shortly after creating their first. Although it was quickly fixed, there is no doubt the PTSD of the “The Day Before” players were certainly triggered.
In terms of ToS, it seems they ask for almost all of your information, Names (First and Last), title, prefix, email addresses, telephone numbers, Instant messaging accounts, postal addresses, Date of birth, age, gender, government issued IDs such as passport information.
There is nobody in their right mind willing to give up all that personal and private information for any game let alone another survival, looter-shooter. While they have responded about the government IDs, stating that they only collect for “local laws requiring us to do so, when the identity of a user’s parent has to be verified to obtain their child’s consent..”.
They went to state that they immediately delete the information of the IDs after the purpose is fulfilled. There is no way anyone would believe a corporation to say they delete users’ government IDs after whatever “task” the law requires them to do so. They have also stated that they are going to release a revised ToS soon.
Conclusion: Give it some time
There is no definitive way to know or to trust for that matter the success of this game. The videos that are out for the game like those showing gameplay or giving tips are mostly by creators sponsored by Starry Studios. Now this already brings into question the creators’ opinion of the game and whether or not the developers had a say in the content of the video. Unbiased reviews and critics are sure to release in the next couple of days which will give more insight and players will be better equipped to know whether to buy this game or not, until then its best to keep track of this game as it does look promising if nothing else.
