Once Human (video game)
A free-to-play survival looter shooter set in a post-apocalyptic open world.
Starry Studio, a subsidiary of NetEase, created and published Once Human, a free-to-play survival game set in a post-apocalyptic world. Players explore an open world from a third-person perspective in this multiplayer title. It launched on Windows on July 9, 2024, followed by iOS and Android on April 23, 2025, and later on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 25, 2026.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Starry Studio
- Engine
- NeoX
- Platforms
- Windows
- iOS
- Android
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X/S
- Released
- Windows, July 9, 2024, iOS, Android, April 23, 2025, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, August 25, 2026
- Genre
- Third-person shooter, survival
- Modes
- Multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Once Human combines survival and looter shooter mechanics within a shared sandbox map in an open world. After a tutorial and early missions that teach survival systems and advance the narrative, players choose a scenario from the main menu. Scenarios are story-driven narratives based on the main scenario, Manibus. Players then select a server, each with a timed shelf life that ends with a wipe. They may join a newly created server for more play time or an older one that has unlocked timed content such as memetics—skills earned through quests and leveling up using ciphers. Player characters and high-end items, gear, and deviants are saved in Eternaland, an isolated island where players can store and carry items into new scenarios, limited by item rarity. In Eternaland, players can build anything they have unlocked using dust, a material created from inventory items not allowed into Eternaland. Survival elements include gathering resources, crafting, base building, eating, and managing a sanity meter. Hunger and hydration meters grant buffs when kept above thresholds. Spending time in supernatural areas lowers sanity, reducing maximum health; players restore sanity by consuming specific resources or resting in a bed.
Plot
The player awakens in an apocalyptic future with amnesia after the Starfall, an event where Stardust pollution mutated most living beings into violent Deviations. A mystical bird named V explains that the player is a Meta-Human, a biologically enhanced human able to control Stardust, created by the company Rosetta, whose reckless experiments caused the Starfall. The main storyline follows the Meta-Human and V as they uncover Rosetta's horrors and defeat the Deviations. The world is filled with abandoned towns to explore for items and lore. Players can collect friendly Deviations called Deviants that aid in battle or resource gathering. In September 2024, the Way of Winter expansion introduced a new scenario. The player meets Mitsuko, one of the first Meta-Humans, who senses a weakness in the dimensional plains and a presence outside her Eternaland home. The player investigates and encounters Igna, a Meta-Human with a charred, cindering arm, who tries to recruit the player but is refused. Igna departs, warning the player not to interfere, and Mitsuko deduces he came from the icy north, a previously locked and inhospitable section of the map.
Reception
Critics gave Once Human a mixed reception, with Metacritic scoring it as average and OpenCritic noting 54% of critics recommended it. IGN's Justin Koreis rated it 8/10. The game drew over 230,000 concurrent Steam players at launch, causing queues as developers struggled with demand. It hit No. 1 on Steam's Top Sellers on August 16, 2024.
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