ANCESTORS: The Humankind Odyssey (2015) was an interesting concept and a game I enjoyed playing, although it was rather challenging, especially in the beginning when I feel a game should generally be a bit more forgiving. This game was/is quite a challenge. I initially felt a lot of frustration with learning the controls and mechanics.
At the beginning, the player's Apes are quite vulnerable and thrown into the wild with very little tutorial, direction or assistance. Honestly, I found this kind of approach refreshing, as it assumes intelligence and capability on the part of the player rather than the general "assume-the-player-is-an-idiot" approach many other games tend to take. I think game devs often imagine a dumb audience and try to dumb everything down unnecessarily. Heavy tutorial sections often come across very demeaning to the player, in my opinion, as well as being burdensome.
Although, perhaps there is sound reason to do so. Sadly...
It seems many people will bash this game right off the bat, in part due to that initial frustration, difficulty and lack of explanation. Not a lot of people have the mindset, patience, skill (and the attention span, for that matter) to give a challenging game like this a fair chance. Although I was frustrated, I was glad for having given it a chance.
Mechanically (the ps4 version) was great, with very little issues or bugs, and has never crashed for me. I found that once I got the controls down the game became much more enjoyable. Of course, there is a very real sense of permanence to the danger in this game, as every choice can risk the extinction of your entire lineage. There is such thing as failure. High stakes.
Overall, this game was great and informative. It was visually and graphically appealing, while having subtle background music/sound effects and a fascinating premise. The story itself is rather forward and to the point. Although many scientists and critics alike have their doubts as to the accuracy of the Darwin Theory, it was certainly great to see what might have been. This was a great game, filled with challenge, adventure and potential. Glad I picked this little gem up.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
GRAPHICS: 8/10
ART DESIGN: 9/10
MUSIC: 10/10
OVERALL RATING: 8.5.
