Some of the Pals confirmed to be part of the crossover event are Cattiva, Chillet and Chillet Ignis. Along with this, there are also going to be some mystery Pals that are part of an event-exclusive island that will be introduced to Once Human when the update hits at the end of October. This announcement was made at Tokyo Game Show 2025 with a trailer, which you can check out below.

The trailer playfully teases what we can expect from the Once Human x Palworld collaboration. It starts off with a Pal being hard at work on mining a rock before being transported to the strange and horrifying world of Once Human.

The event-exclusive island coming to Once Human is described as being “full of surprises”, and will combine gameplay mechanics from both Once Human as well as Palworld. Players will get to explore Palworld-styled environments while also check out a unique ecosystem that involves Pals, Deviations and Meta-Humans somehow co-existing. One of the examples of this co-existence described in the announcement involves Wanderer and Chefosaurus Rex interacting with Pals in strange and unique ways.

Along with this, the collaboration event will also feature a new transformation system. Players can use special items to transform into Pals and explore the world with an entirely new perspective and set of abilities. The crossover will also feature several exclusive cosmetic items that can only be earned through the event.

Starry Studio has also announced that it has released the Lunar Revelry Visional Wheel update. As part of this, Meta-Humans can be affected by the Moonlight’s Gaze because of the Blood Moon anomaly. The Gaze hitting a certain threshold means that the Lord of Moonlight will manifest as a Meta-Human and start summoning Lunarspawn to protect itself as it tries to steal the player’s identity and escape. As a result, players will enter a Lunarspawn Transformation phase, and will lose their shadow, appearance, name, and all other identity markers.

Once Human is also getting ready for its Trial of Misfortune event, which is set to start on September 29. The event focuses on co-op gameplay, and players will have to team up and work together to beat the Lord of Moonlight and get their hands on the treasure it has been hoarding. The continent during the event is divided into Conquest Zones where co-op will be encouraged.

Earning Moonlight Essence through this event will allow players to spend on accessing Moonlight Trials, which can result in the altering of the Lord of Moonlight’s various abilities. There are six different types of Moonlight Trials, and using more Moonlight Essences will make the effects of these trials even stronger.

Once Human is a free-to-play game available on PC, Android and iOS. The title is also slated for release on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 in 2026.

It’s available to wishlist now on the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store, though the title is free-to-play. The former lists cross-platform multiplayer and co-op, which means playing alongside PlayStation and PC players, along with support for 4K Ultra HD and keyboards and mice on console. Interestingly, the PlayStation Store listing notes support for the DualSense and the Singstar Microphone, of all things.

There’s no release date, but in its press release, Starry Studio said that both versions are “nearing completion” with previews and “platform-specific optimizations” to be revealed soon.

Stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, PC players can look forward to Once Human: RaidZone on July 30th. It’s a PvP spin-off where you can collect materials and build bases while forging alliances – or backstabbing – other players.

The studio has also revealed what kind of content players can expect from the Dreamveil update, which includes a new PvE scenario, the public test of the new class system, the Dreamland Fantasia event, the ability to grab character rewards across platforms, as well as a host of other content, along with optimization improvements.

Headlining the update is the Endless Dream PvE scenario where players get to enter an ever-shifting dreamscape to hunt down the Original Entity that has been behind the nightmares. As part of the scenario, players will get access to all existing regions across Nalcott.

The scenario also revolves around what has been described by the studio as “layers of nested Dream Zones” that have been encroaching on the surrounding wilderness. This means that, as players get deeper in their fight against the nightmares, they’ll also end up facing more dangerously mutated fauna with constantly stacking and multiplying effects.

The scenario features multiple endings for players to unlock, with the Dream Zones and Deviants evolving as the scenario progresses. Eliminating Eternal Dreams, for example, will reduce the duration of Phases I to V, which in turn leads to higher difficulty across the scenario. In its entirety, the Endless Dream scenario is split into five phases: Aberrated Ascension, Strange Dream, Ominous Corrosion, Elusive Reality, and Endless Shadows. Along the way, players will also unlock additional content, including new hard difficulty dungeons and personal tasks.

The class system being introduced to the game will kick things off with three distinct options: Chef, Gardener, and Beastmaster. Each class will have its own unique abilities and talents, with the core ability having affects on fundamental gameplay for the character depending on the class and its role.

The chef can make use of their cooking skills to create dishes that can offer buffs for players. The Gardener, on the other hand, can graft crops with biomechanical parts to get dual-stat crops. The Beastmaster, as the name might imply, can befriend Beast Partners that can fight alongside them, or simply gather and mine for materials. Access to these classes opens up once a player has completed the tutorial. Those that would prefer to play without the class system can instead make use of the Freelancer class.

Check out the patch notes for some of the deeper things in Once Human’s latest update below.

Once Human Version 2.0: Dreamveil patch notes:

Optimizations

Endless Dream Optimizations

1. Optimized skill-related lag and visual performance issues during the Eternal Dreamer boss fight.

2. Adjusted the HP of Deviants in dungeons to align with Manibus and The Way of Winter, ensuring a consistent experience across scenarios.

3. Updated the mechanics of the Nightmare enemy. It’s now invulnerable by default and must be defeated using Phantasmal AP Ammo.

4. Adjusted the consumption rate of Nightmare Light Source when using the Nightmare Lantern. It now consumes one unit every 20s instead of 5 per minute.

5. Improved the visual effects of resource drops when ore is struck by lightning.

6. Extended the warning duration for lightning strikes during inactive periods.

7. Improved the item description for Lightning Orb.

8. Increased the area of the Dream Zone during Deep Dreamer battles.

9. Removed teleportation restrictions within the Dream Zone.

10. The following items can now be freely traded:

Items: Nightmare Lantern, Nightmare Light Source, Reality Resetol, Lumen, Lightning Orb, Lightning 18, Lightning 24

Fur/Hide: Dream Zone Deer Hide, Dream Zone Wolf Skin, Dream Zone Rabbit Fur, Dream Zone Wool, Dream Zone Cowhide.

Deviations: Dream Zone – H37, Dream Zone – Wish Box.

11. Adjusted the difficulty of certain tasks and added new ones to replace those that were too difficult.

12. Improved the available placement range for stalls in the Trade Zone.

13. Enhanced the visual effects of Dark Corrosion.

14. Increased the amount of resources obtained from trees and ores destroyed by explosions in Nightmare Specs explosive zones.

15. Changed the keybinding to open Dream Zone details from holding the Alt key to holding the plus key.

Once Human: RaidZone – Early Access Optimizations

1. Added a new Tactical Facilities tab under the Defense section in Facilities.

2. Renamed Gun Port Wall 01 to Shelter Gun Port and moved it under the Tactical Facilities tab.

3. New facilities:

1) Ladder: Can be attached to walls for vertical climbing.

2) Shutter Door: Can be attached to foundations or walls; Opens vertically and allows four-wheeled vehicles to pass through.

3) Iron Mesh Wall: Attaches like a wall. Useful for reconnaissance and allows shooting through the mesh.

4) Iron Mesh Floor: Attaches like a ceiling. Useful for reconnaissance and allows shooting through the mesh.

4. Meta-Humans can now directly build barricades and fence-type facilities in the wilderness. Completed structures of these types can also be placed from the Hotbar while in the wilderness.

5. Due to the arrival of Manibus, the disassembly function in Meta-Human territories has been affected by Realm instability. Disassembly Benches built within the territory can now only dismantle materials of Green rarity or lower, finished structures of Green rarity or lower, and some Green-quality gear. Disassembly Benches in the wilderness will be renamed Advanced Disassembly Bench. These can dismantle items of all rarities and operate at twice the efficiency of indoor benches!

6. Changed mineral respawn logic from fixed locations to random spawns.

7. Scattered Storage Crates along roads now have a chance to drop low-level Basic Realm Crate Access Cards. Deviants may also drop them.

8. Adjusted drop rates for Electric Chainsaws and Electric Drills to better reflect their rarity.

9. You can now occasionally find soda in abandoned cars and roadside Storage Crates, helping reduce thirst during exploration.

10. Optimized the item icon for Memory Chips.

11. Mining Platforms and Logging Platforms can now be repaired.

12. Optimized repair costs for weapons and gear. Weapon repairs no longer consume the weapon body.

13. Enhanced the visual effects of Realm Crates for better visibility.

14. Optimized the overall loot drop experience from crates inside strongholds, making it smoother.

15. Opening a Deviation Loot Crate no longer triggers a pop-up message that blocks your view.

16. Significantly reduced the weight of Memory Chip, allowing Meta-Humans to carry more of them at once.

17. New craftable Weapons:

1) R500

Weapon Stats:

l  Attack: 33

l  Fire Rate (RPM): 180

l  Magazine Capacity: 8

l  Weakspot DMG Multiplier: 75%

2) R500 – Medium Caliber

Weapon Stats:

l  ATK: 50

l  Fire Rate (RPM): 140

l  Magazine Capacity: 6

l  Weakspot DMG Multiplier: 80%

18. Removed Craftable Weapon: DE.50

The DE.50 no longer appears in Memetics, crafting, or exploration loot. We’ll bring it back in a future update after adjusting its role and performance.

19. New finished weapons available only through exploration:

1) Compound Bow

Weapon Stats:

l  Attack: 55

l  Fire Rate (RPM): 150

l  Magazine Capacity: 1

l  Weakspot DMG Multiplier: 65%

2) DE.50 – Jaws

Weapon Stats:

l  Attack: 38

l  Fire Rate (RPM): 220

l  Magazine Capacity: 9

l  Weakspot DMG Multiplier: 75%

20. Adjustments to Crude Ammo Unlocks in Memetics:

We removed the unlock nodes for Crude Ammo from the Crafting Memetics. Crude Ammo is now unlocked alongside its corresponding weapon:

l  Small-caliber Crude Ammo unlocks with the R500

l  Shotgun Crude Ammo unlocks with the shotgun

l  Medium-caliber Crude Ammo unlocks with R500 – Medium Caliber

l  Sniper Rifle Crude Ammo unlocks with SN700.

21. Weapon balance adjustments:

i. Shotgun

a) DBSG

Single pellet DMG: 10 → 13

b) S870

Single pellet DMG: 10 → 13

c) DB12 – Backfire

Single pellet DMG: 10 → 15

d) ACS12 – Corrosion

Single pellet DMG: 10 → 13

ii. Crossbow

a) Rustic Crossbow

Weakspot DMG Multiplier: 50% → 40%

b) Recurve Bow

Attack: 60 → 50

Full Draw Time: 1s → 1.2s

iii. Other weapons

a) G17

Attack: 17 → 18

b) G17 – Shattered

Attack: 18 → 19

c) SOCR

Attack: 16 → 18

d) KVD – Boom! Boom!

Attack: 16 → 18

e) M416 – Silent Anabasis

Attack: 15 → 16

f) HAMR – Brahminy

Attack: 60 → 66

g) RPG7 Rocket Launcher

Attack: 180 → 315

22. Deviation Acquisition Adjustments

a) New Deviation: Voodoo Doll

Battle Skill: Activate Blood Frenzy to instantly convert 45% of current HP into a temporary shield worth double that amount. While active, hitting targets with a weapon restores HP. Lasts 15s.

Ultimate: Unleash Voodoo Doll, dealing DMG to enemy units within a 20-meter range while restoring HP to you and itself.

b) New Deviation: Shattered Maiden.

Battle Skill: Summon the Shattered Maiden. As she advances, she will attack detected enemy units and reduce their Movement Speed.

Ultimate: You wear the Shattered Maiden’s gloves, interrupting and petrifying all enemy units facing you.

c) Removed Deviations

You can no longer acquire Butterfly’s Emissary or Mr. Wish. If you’ve already acquired them, you can still use them.

23. Deviation Balance Adjustments

a) Polar Jelly

Ultimate: Enemy units inside the mist’s range will also take damage.

b) Festering Gel

Battle Skill: Changed the Force buff from permanent to temporary. It will now expire when its duration ends. Reduced the Force buff from 60 points to 50 points.

Ultimate: Reduced the HP recovery speed from 6 HP to 5 HP per second.

c) Invincible Sun

Ultimate: Reduced the direct damage from 50 to 40. Reduced the ground flames’ duration from 13s to 10s.

d) Pyro Dino

Battle Skill: Reduced the ground flames’ duration from 13s to 10s.

Ultimate: Reduced Pyro Dino’s summon duration from 30s to 25s. Reduced Pyro Dino’s direct damage from 40 to 35. Reduced the ground flames’ duration from 13s to 10s.

e) ZapCam

Battle Skill: Reduced the duration of the see-through effect on enemy units from 10s to 6s.

Ultimate: Reduced the duration from 30s to 25s. Reduced the duration of the see-through effect on enemy units from 10s to 6s.

The Way of Winter Update Test Optimizations

Reduced the Chaosweaver’s shield value and increased the cooldown of its summoning ability.

Art and Visual Optimizations

1. Optimized character visual effects.

2. Optimized certain animations for female characters.

3. Optimized the lighting effects in the wilderness.

4. Optimized the lighting effects in dungeon scenes.

Monetization Experience Optimizations

A new furniture item, the Fashion Mannequin, is now available. Meta-Humans can purchase its blueprint from Weber at Deadsville. Go to Build Menu → Facilities → Function to build it. You can place outfits you already own onto the mannequin and display them in your territory.

Construction

1. Optimized alignment accuracy when placing complete house blueprints in your territory.

2. Optimized the interface to accidental full-resource conversions in the Transit Storage.

3. Added structure upgrade and downgrade options using the G key in Construction Mode. After entering this mode, you can quickly upgrade or downgrade targeted panels. A confirmation prompt will appear before downgrading to avoid mistakes.

4. Added territory construction permission settings in the Territory Terminal.

Vehicles

Optimized the steering responsiveness and drift stability of coupes and off-roaders at high speeds.

Tasks

1. Added vehicle drift and airtime-related tasks to Manibus, The Way of Winter, Evolution’s Call, and Endless Dream.

2. Added a feature allowing veteran accounts to skip the tutorial when creating new characters.

Camera Mode Optimizations

Added grid guides and aspect ratio options to Camera Mode. Improved overall shooting experience, with support for action pausing and speed adjustment.

Social Feature Optimized

1. Streamlined the Whisper creation process. You no longer need to enter a title or tags. For high-quality Whispers, the system will automatically generate them using AI.

2. You can now comment on and reply to Whispers. Support the ones you like with warm messages. If you don’t want others to comment or reply, go to Settings → Game Settings → Gameplay → Whispers (scroll to the bottom) to adjust who can interact with your messages.

3. The Discover tab on the Whispers interface now includes Trending and Nearby sections for easier access to popular messages.

4. In the My tab, you can now view all your likes, saves, comments, views, and messages you’ve posted.

5. The Notifications tab has been updated. You’ll now get alerts when your Whispers receive likes, comments, or saves. To turn off notifications, go to Settings → Game Settings → Gameplay → Whispers (scroll to the bottom). We’ll also regularly review Whisper content and reward high-quality contributors. Whether it’s guides, tips, or personal sharing, all are welcome. Keep an eye out for upcoming community events!

Eternaland

1. Added character coordinate display to the Eternaland map.

2. Streamlined the Eternaland tutorial task flow.

3. Added new Eternaland Journeys.

4. Added quick-display for personal island Namecards.

5. Added a new island bookmarking feature. Meta-Humans can now save their favorite islands on the Island Namecard and fast-travel to them via Island Roaming.

6. Island Namecards now support copying island codes. You can also tap a message author’s avatar to view their character profile, and receive alerts when new messages are posted.

Mobile-Specific Optimizations

1. Optimized the camera composition when aiming over the shoulder.

2. Optimized character movement controls.

Other

1. Increased the stack limit for Asterism Crates from 100 to 1,000.

2. Combat notifications now appear in the System tab (bottom-left of the chat window) when you knock down or defeat hostile Meta-Humans, or when they do the same to you.

Bug Fixes

Once Human: RaidZone – Early Access

1. Fixed the issue where the construction cost of certain half-structures was significantly higher than that of full structures.

2. Fixed abnormal construction costs for portals.

Shop

1. We’ve found an issue where defeating Super Anomalies wouldn’t complete certain challenges. These tasks have now been removed from Meta’s Bounty

2. Fixed an issue where Eternaland orders weren’t granting Battle Pass Exp.

3. Fixed an issue where the recommended Eternaland Exp sources in the Battle Pass were displaying incorrectly.

4. Fixed an issue where some weapon skin effects didn’t display correctly on mobile devices.

Events

Fixed an issue where iOS users couldn’t claim desktop widget event rewards.

Build

1. Fixed an issue where floating panels couldn’t be wallpapered.

2. Fixed an issue where wall or ceiling textures would jitter when rotated and the mouse was slightly moved.

Trade

Optimized render distance for some buildings in the Trade Zone and fixed disappearing visuals.

Dungeons

1. Fixed rare cases where Meta-Humans would fall through the ground while teleporting in dungeons.

2. Fixed occasional disappearance of the boundary oil film in The Prime War.

3. Fixed an issue where Sennacherib could take Elemental DMG in Securement Silos – EX1.

Eternaland

1. Fixed incorrect coordinates for certain tasks on the Eternaland map.

2. Fixed an issue where The Prime War Battle Passes in Eternaland would permanently take up backpack space without any way to discard them. These passes can now be sold in Eternaland.

According to a press release, players can adjust numerous settings, including the weather, the rate at resources spawn, experience earned, day/night cycles, and even building requirements. They can also switch between scenarios, invite friends or just about anyone to join the server, and more. Starry Studio will also add mods and Custom Server-dedicated scenarios in the future.

However, they’re not free. You must purchase a subscription to use Custom Servers, which varies based on capacity and duration.

Once Human is available for PC, iOS, and Android. Stay tuned for more details on Version 2.0, which goes live on July 3rd, and the PvP spin-off, Once Human: Raidzone, next week during the showcase.

For PC players that might want to play on the iOS or Android version of Once Human, they would be perfectly fine if they were to login to the smartphone versions of the game with their Loading Bay account, or linked Steam or Epic Games account.

Players for whom the primary platform is iOS and Android, however, will be more restricted in terms of cross-platform progression and the accounts they can use. For players that started the title on smartphones, only the Loading Bay account is seemingly supported for carrying over progression to PC. Steam and Epic Games accounts aren’t yet supported for the feature.

Cross-platform progression will be coming to Once Human through a free update slated for April 23. The update will be coming to all versions of the game across PC, Android and iOS.

A major update was released for Once Human back in March, which brought with dedicated trading zones to the game. Thanks the update, players now no longer have to worry about other players’ vending machines cluttering the various hub areas in the game. Rather, the update added the Harvesters’ Markets, which acts as the official trading zone for the game.

“In Nalcott, trading plays a crucial role in fostering social connections,” wrote the studio when it announced the update. “Not only does it help you acquire new items, but it can also spark friendships with people you might never have encountered otherwise.”

The dedicated market zones were added to the game after the addition of permanent scenario servers in March. While the game automatically shut down the scenario servers after players had completed the scenarios in the past, the update brought with it the ability for players to stay in the scenario server longer.

March also brought with it another major update that started allowing players to share their various resources between different players. Thanks to this update, players now no longer have to grind up materials for their characters individually. Rather, players can simply share their resources between all of t heir characters.

“Aggregating these resources would create a significant and insurmountable gap between players who focus on one character and those who play multiple characters,” explained the studio. “Using the data of the character with the highest Blueprint Collection level ensures that all other characters on your account will enjoy an increase in Blueprint Collection level, allowing you to create and use new characters more freely. If you have invested in multiple characters, we will offer Starchrom compensation based on aggregate Blueprint Collection levels of your other characters.”

Once Human is a free-to-play multiplayer game available on PC, Android and iOS. Check out our review from back when the title launched for more details. While you’re at it, also check out our interview with the studio.

“In Nalcott, trading plays a crucial role in fostering social connections,” wrote the studio. “Not only does it help you acquire new items, but it can also spark friendships with people you might never have encountered otherwise.”

The studio has explained that, before the addition of dedicated trading zones, players would place their Vending Machines in zones like Blackfell so that they could be seen and used by the most number of players. This, in turn, caused a host of problems, including lag, as well as obstructions that players had to figure out a way through.

The dedicated trading zone, dubbed the Harvesters’ Market, is now available in Once Human thanks to today’s update. The Harvesters’ Markets will be available in the Manibus, Evolution’s Call, and The Way of Winter scenarios. Prismverse’s Clash, however, will not be getting the market owing to the scenario’s faction-based gameplay.

These specific scenarios were chosen for the Harvesters’ Market thanks to a variety of factors, chief among them being low player density. In these zones, players can put down their own Special Vending Machines that can then be used by other players for trade.

Players affected by the positioning of these new Harvesters’ Market due to the borders of their own territories will have to relocate. These players will get in-game notifications to let them know, however. Players that weren’t able to relocate before the market went live won’t lose anything; their territory will simply be recalled automatically, and can be placed down again in a new area.

To use the new Special Vending Machines, players will have to make sure to unlock the regular Vending Machine through the Memetic system. Players can also customise their Special Vending Machines by using the same skins as the ones used for regular Vending Machines. These Special Vending Machines will also not require a power connection.

As for the potential clutter from unused and inactive Special Vending Machines, the studio has stated that these will be recalled automatically. The player that owns one of these Special Vending Machines will automatically get refunded the building materials for it. Previously-listed items will automatically be for sale once again when the player puts down a new Special Vending Machine.

It is also worth noting that each player will be restricted to only being able to put down a single Special Vending Machine. This decision was made in order for the Harvesters’ Markets to be able to accommodate as many players as possible.

Regular Vending Machines are also getting a new feature in the form of the freezer. This new feature will allow players to list food items for sale for longer stretches of time without the food going bad.

Along with the Harvesters’ Markets, Once Human‘s latest update also brought with it new permanent scenario servers. For more details, check out our coverage of the studio’s update roadmap for the near future.

One of the biggest new features coming to Once Human is the addition of permanent servers. Coming to the game on March 13, the feature will allow players to have, as its name might suggest, permanent servers for their scenarios. Currently, Once Human‘s servers automatically shut down when a player completes a scenario, transferring their player back to Eternaland where they can sign up for the next scenario.

This leads to some players being unable to experience all the content typically available in a scenario. Players that get disconnected also can’t resume their progress since the servers close down automatically. Once the update is live, scenario servers will not shut down automatically. Instead, it will turn into a permanent server after around 2 hours.

It is worth noting that players who have not logged in for the scenario can not load into the new permanent server. This was done to reduce the overall load on Once Human‘s backend. Because of this, characters that haven’t been played for 30 days or more will not transfer to the permanent servers, but the studio plans to ease up on this over time.

Permanent servers for the same scenario type and Visional Wheel will also be merged into a single world. Players can freely switch between Worlds to interact with players on other servers, and worlds with smaller player counts can be merged with higher-population servers for a better player experience.

Another major feature coming to Once Human will be the new Endless Dream PvE scenario. While the studio hasn’t confirmed when this feature will arrive, the scenario will include a fully accessible map that players can explore. The new Endless Dream scenario revolves around the Sleeper’s influence over the surrounding wilderness, turning things into a dreamscape with unpredictable changes.

In gameplay terms, players will feel the effects of the Sleeper’s influence by getting new vulnerabilities, like weakness or becoming flammable. Deviants and resources will also be affected in strange ways by the Sleeper.

On March 27, Once Human will also be introducing a major quality of life feature in allowing players to share their resources between their characters. This means players won’t have to grind up alternate characters to experience Once Human‘s several scenarios. Check out all the resources that can be shared through the Cross-Character Asset Sharing feature below.

The studio has also detailed why some assets, like Stellar Stairway progression, Starchrom, and blueprint data, are shared in this manner rather than being an aggregate progression tracker that applies to the player’s entire account. According to the studio, these assets are tied more to character play time than any other aspect of the game.

“Aggregating these resources would create a significant and insurmountable gap between players who focus on one character and those who play multiple characters,” explains the studio. “Using the data of the character with the highest Blueprint Collection level ensures that all other characters on your account will enjoy an increase in Blueprint Collection level, allowing you to create and use new characters more freely. If you have invested in multiple characters, we will offer Starchrom compensation based on aggregate Blueprint Collection levels of your other characters.”

Along with these new features, Once Human will also get optimizations for its resource allocation, Deviations and construction systems. It includes giving players better control over water and production management and territory relocation.

Once Human is a free-to-play game available on PC. For more details, check out our recent interview with the studio. Also check out our review from back when it launched.

How big of a jump was the seasonal label system for Once Human in terms of development time and planning?

Before addressing this question, it’s important to clarify the difference between our “scenario system” and a traditional season system. In many games, a season requires all players to achieve certain fixed goals within a specific period, with progress reset at the season’s end.

"Before fully committing to the scenario system, our development team conducted research, multiple rounds of testing, and collaborated with players to make the decision."

In contrast, Once Human offers multiple scenarios featuring different themes and storylines that players can choose from. After completing a scenario, all of the players’ resources are stored on Eternaland, and they can carry those items forward based on the resource transfer rules when starting a new scenario.

Before fully committing to the scenario system, our development team conducted research, multiple rounds of testing, and collaborated with players to make the decision. The key reasons were:

• “Unrestricted Gaming Experience”: We found that many survival games tend to focus exclusively on either PvP or PvE, leaving some survival game enthusiasts’ needs unmet. A parallel scenario system provides a richer range of choices.
• “Fairer Gaming Environment”: In both PvE and PvP, as players’ stats inflate over time, the gap between new and veteran players can widen, potentially disrupting the server’s balance. By offering scenarios of different lengths, certain stat-based progressions are renewed after a scenario is completed, while accumulated resources are retained—allowing new players or friends to start the next adventure on a more level playing field.
• “Easier Return Experience”: Our research showed that players who return after a hiatus often feel overwhelmed by the volume of updates and the growing stat disparities, which can discourage them. Our scenario design lets returning players start fresh, reducing the anxiety of trying to catch up.

What can you tell us about plans for future seasonal content?

At our annual streaming event last December, we unveiled the 2025 development plan. This includes the upcoming Visional Wheel S1 version launching in April, along with three additional Visional Wheel themes later in the year:

• Code: Purification: One of the major PVE scenarios for 2025. In this scenario, the pollution ravages Nalcott, Metas must work to decontaminate the wilderness and eliminate Original Entities to restore balance to the world.
• Code: Broken: A PVP-focused scenario where players will experience higher-intensity player-versus-player combat.
• Code: Deviation: Another major PVE scenario for 2025. In this one, players take on the role of experts in deviations, capturing and researching them, as well as fusing them in their territory to create stronger deviations.

"Gameplay details will differ between scenarios, depending on the experience each scenario aims to provide."

Will seasonal content bring sweeping changes to Once Human‘s status quo in terms of gameplay features?

In general, no. The main reason is that Once Human was originally designed with the scenario system, where gameplay includes scenario objectives, achievements, and different endings, so players can experience unique gameplay in different scenarios.

Gameplay details will differ between scenarios, depending on the experience each scenario aims to provide. For example, in The Way of Winter, players need to focus on how temperature affects survival. In some PVP scenarios, we have opened up more raiding permissions and combat modes for competitive players to enjoy.

How important do you believe is balancing between PvE and PvP combat? Does one affect the other?

A fair game environment is one of the most important aspects for both the development team and players. This is why we use the scenario system to avoid unfair mechanics often found in survival games.

Fairness in PVP is self-explanatory—stat balancing, build balancing, and social dynamics all impact the player’s combat experience. Our team continuously optimizes the stats and engages with the community to enhance the fairness of the experience.

In PVE, we focus heavily on “stat overflow,” as we don’t want the game to become a grind. We aim to maintain consistent combat pressure by regularly introducing more difficult content like master-level dungeons for advanced players to challenge.

In Once Human, key currencies, such as Starchorm, carry over across scenarios. We also focus on “currency fairness” to ensure that both PVP and PVE players experience fair time investment and reward outcomes.

"In PVE, we focus heavily on “stat overflow,” as we don’t want the game to become a grind."

Are there any plans to bring Once Human to PS5 and Xbox?

Yes, absolutely! While our current focus is on mobile development, the mobile version will be available in April, so don’t forget to pre-register! We will provide updates on console versions as soon as we have more information.

Now that Once Human is following a seasonal content cycle, are there any plans for major content releases through bigger expansions?

This is an interesting idea. From the developer’s perspective, large expansions or major scenario updates are just different forms of content release. The specific format will depend on the scale and content of the update. What we care most about is the content itself—engaging and fun gameplay is key to attracting players. Of course, I can assure you that all our updates will be available for free!

When the iOS and Android versions of Once Human are released, can we expect to see crossplay?

Definitely! Once Human’s PC and mobile versions will feature cross-platform data synchronization, so your progress will be shared between both platforms. We look forward to more players joining us on the Nalcott continent to meet new friends and embark on fresh adventures!

You can use up to three each season, and they’re also tradeable between players. These Specializations will disappear when the season ends and won’t transfer to the Eternaland Depot either. Other changes and optimizations include a new route for Highway Pursuit in the Chalk Peak region and increased Sproutlets and rewards.

Vehicles have also seen some improvements, including lower-tier motorcycles receiving faster acceleration and a higher maximum speed. This should ensure faster transportation when the player first gets their own. Off-Roaders and Coupes also had their acceleration and max speed increased “slightly.”

Check out some of the patch notes below and full details here. Once Human is available exclusively on PC. You can read our review of the launch version here.

Patch Notes (August 1, 2024)

Optimizations

I. Memetic Optimizations

• Added a new item drop: Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments
  – After using a Memetic Specialization Memory Fragment, you will gain the corresponding Memetic specialization effect.
  – Up to three Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments can be used per season.
  – When the in-game item Controller is used, there is a certain chance of obtaining a random Memory Fragment.
  – All Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments will be destroyed at the end of the season, and they will not be sent to the Eternaland Depot.
  – Memetic Specialization Memory Fragments can be traded between players.
• Adjusted some display elements on the Memetic Specialization screen
  – Optimized the stacking of certain metal ingots in the Backpack.
  – Optimized the display of Memetic specializations in the gear details pop-up.
  – Production output of regular Ammunition can be increased by 50%.

II. Gameplay Optimizations

• Enriched the Highway Pursuit game mode
  – Added a new Highway Pursuit route to the Chalk Peak region.
  – The event starting time is now fixed to 9:00 PM, server time.
  – Rosetta trucks now automatically drop Sproutlets even if the player does not attack them.
  – Increased the quantity of Sproutlet and reward drops.
  – Optimized the item storage quantity and subtraction rules of the Cargo Scramble game mode.
• Optimized the ease of checking certain display elements
  – After opening the Map, you can now click on Monolith, Securement Silo, Public Crisis Event, Cargo Conquest, and other icons to open their details screen.
  – Added a combat invitation function to Public Crisis Events. You can now send invitations to other players via chat channels.
  – There is no longer a countdown timer for pressing Ready when entering a Monolith or Securement Silo solo.

III. Vehicle Optimizations

• Increased the acceleration and maximum speed of low-level Motorcycles. Slightly increased the acceleration and maximum speed of Off-Roaders and Coupes.
• Fixed an issue where after boarding a vehicle, the player would need to press a movement key once before being able to operate the vehicle.
• Added a function where if a vehicle is stuck on terrain, you can hold down the accelerate key to free the vehicle.
• Added a setting for auto-centering the vehicle camera. You can now choose to enable or disable auto-centering while operating a vehicle.
• Optimized the vehicle repair and modification procedure. Heavily damaged vehicles must now be repaired before they can be modified.

2024 has been a year of odd hits – heck, even Nexon’s The First Descendant was making waves, crossing 10 million players in a week. When Once Human finally arrived on July 10th, it faced excessive backlash on Steam and other forums. There were complaints about optimization and not being able to make characters in other servers, much less delete or move them, which became especially irritating when playing with friends and getting sorted into different worlds.

However, many negative user reviews focused on the Terms of Service, which cited the need for ID and other personal information. It was quickly clarified that this only applied to countries mandating the same, not North America, Europe or any other places. Otherwise, its Terms of Service and privacy policy are similar to many other online titles. The narrative quickly spread, though, and Once Human seemed destined for Steam’s notorious “Mostly Negative” rating.

Then something crazy happened – more people started trying the game. And liked it.

It started with 4491 positive user reviews and 3324 negative reviews on Steam within the first 24 hours of launch, bringing the overall rating to “Mixed.” The negative reviews continued, but they were quickly overrun by the positive. In a little over two weeks, Once Human now has a “Mostly Positive” rating on the platform, with 70 percent of its 49,104 user reviews positive.

Of course, regardless of the initial backlash, it was putting up some serious numbers, crossing 200,000 peak concurrent players on Steam within the first day. This climbed to 231,668 by July 14th, with Starry Studio confirming over 300,000 concurrent players across all platforms on July 16th (and celebrated by doling out free stuff). Even now, its player numbers continue to hover close to 200,000, going higher whenever the weekend rolls in.

As someone who had mixed feelings about the title, going as far as to give it a 6 out of 10, Once Human’s success has been fascinating to watch. It’s been a year where Palworld blew everything out of the water one month, followed by Helldivers 2 the next. Big blockbuster live service games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Skull and Bones have completely lost the plot, while games like Content Warning come out of nowhere and become surprise hits.

What is it about Once Human that’s earned it so much praise from its player base? You could argue that it’s the free-to-play element, but that only goes so far (ask MultiVersus players how their player counts look). Getting over the initial negative backlash and ToS confusion, what has many players returning, day in and day out? Why are they so keen on the title to the extent of wanting to spend money on it?

It all starts with the very nature of the game itself. A comment on the closed beta trailer from December succinctly said, “Somehow manages to look unique and completely generic at the same time.” Sure, it sounds like a knock against the game, but it’s also fitting. Once Human fuses so many mechanics from different titles, including The Division, Fallout 76, Days Gone and even Pokemon, while adding its own flavor of cosmic horrors. Sometimes you’ll encounter enemies with briefcases and searchlights for heads – defeat them and their craniums become weapons. You may run into a massive wandering boss one second that can be shot in the knees and encounter a bus with legs the next.

The gunplay is also admittedly enjoyable, and even if you’re not keen on building, being able to select presets (or copy other players’ blueprints, with their permission) to create good-looking bases, is a nice option. This brings up another positive thing about the resource collection. While Once Human has survival elements, including Sanity that reduces your max health when venturing into polluted areas, weight gain and loss, and more, on top of ammo, weapon and gear crafting, it’s not trying to bog you down with the resource collection.

They’re readily available, fast-tracking many of the slower elements of the genre while getting you into the action quicker. For all my issues with collecting Blueprint Fragments, having loot drops with limited shelf life (but not that limited), causing you to prioritize crafting gear and weapons, is pretty innovative.

Another aspect the community has brought up is how quickly Starry Studio has addressed various issues. It enabled multiple characters across different servers on launch day itself. Alongside working on server issues and optimization, numerous bugs have been addressed, from buffs not working to disappearing Energy Links and improving the spawn chance of some Deviations.

Perhaps the most notable aspect is the studio sticking to its guns and not implementing pay-to-win mechanics. There’s a gacha machine that requires Starchrom to dole out weapons, gear and Blueprint Fragments, but you can also buy the Blueprints directly. Starchrom is earned entirely in-game by completing various goals, challenges and activities. You can’t even get any from the paid tier of the Battle Pass (which is also as pay-to-win-free as possible).

In a title where PvP is available, it’s pretty refreshing to see a studio stick to this stance. The general handling of microtransactions has also been praised for not being too in your face, to the extent that locating Seasonal Goals can be annoying since it’s in the same section as the Battle Pass. Compare this to a game like Suicide Squad, where the Store and Battle Pass have their tabs when trying to access your inventory. Such is the positive response to Once Human’s handling that some players are spending money to thank the developer.

This isn’t to say there are no problems – it drew some mixed reactions with its approach to seasons, which only last six weeks and resets your level, though several aspects like unlocked Gear Blueprints, Fragments, Starchroms, main and side story progress, etc. carry over. The base building still needs fine-tuning, like when snapping roof panels into place. Nevertheless, Starry Studio is working hard to address various problems while ensuring a smooth experience and developing new content. New PvP and PvE scenarios are coming in September, the latter offering a new region to explore with fresh monsters to fight.

Like The First Descendant, you could call it a flash in the pan – a trending title that will fizzle out when the next shiny thing comes around. However, it’s clear that Once Human is making the right moves to cater to both genre fans and newcomers. The long game is where the challenge begins, but for now, it’s become an endearingly addictive experience for its player base.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.