Humanity Preview: Creative Puzzle-Solving With an Adorable Dog
I was curious what Humanity would feel like to play, with such an “out there” premise – “the player wakes up one day as a Shiba Inu puppy made of light, who must guide crowds of people into a strange pillar of light,” but going hands-on I’m happy to report it presents a delightfully puzzling diversion, bringing both classic puzzle elements and new ideas to bear in fresh and fun ways. I was drawn in instantly and had a blast reaching 100% in each new level I played during my preview.
Much like some of my favorite puzzle games, like Echochrome, Hitman GO, Catherine, & Monument Valley, to name a few, Humanity takes a single idea and cleverly iterates on it. That idea? Direct a steady stream of humans from their starting point all the way to the goal.
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Humanity asked me to run and jump across stages cleverly constructed of blocks, swim through floating cubes of water, and use commands like ‘Turn,’ ‘Jump,’ ‘Float,’ ‘Hit,’ and others to guide the humans to the pillars of light at the end of each level. Various hazards like pits, moving obstacles (which will push the humans in various directions), and more were added at a fantastic pace as I proceeded, and each new gameplay wrinkle had me carefully examining each map, rotating and inspecting it to find a way forward.
Stand on blocks and use commands to redirect and steer crowds of people towards the goal.
Although I found it fairly easy to get to the goal in most stages over my three hours with Humanity, engaging with bonus objectives was where it truly got its hooks in me. There is no punishment for letting the infinite stream of humans fall off ledges to their doom. In fact, there’s even a story justification for why it’s OK; that the souls of these humans return to the white gates and emerge once again, continuing to follow the dog’s directions until they are delivered to the end gate. That having been said, giant golden figures called Goldies are scattered across levels (some are even hidden until certain conditions are met), and gathering them on my way to the exit is, as Anakin Skywalker once said, “where the fun begins.”
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If Goldies fall to their doom, you’ll need to restart the stage to bring them back, which means you’ll need to think carefully before attempting to gather them. Thankfully, Humanity doesn’t punish experimentation, so it stays fun to iterate while working on solutions to these challenges. There are even two different Retry options specifically designed to make the process quicker and easier; Retry: Keep Commands and Retry: Clear Commands.
The latter starts the stage over from scratch, but the former is my favorite because it leaves all my redirects, jump commands, and everything else I littered around the stage. This makes it incredibly easy to keep what works and get rid of what doesn’t. Hit ‘Retry: Keep Commands’ and zoom the camera out, then watch the humans progress automatically, and it becomes easy to pinpoint the spot where things went wrong.
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I found it incredibly satisfying to sit back and watch as the humans followed my perfectly planned route, picking up Goldy after Goldy in a perfect ‘start to finish’ run. Pacing seems perfect so far, and that combined with its bite-sized nature and “just right” difficulty curve triggered the “one more level” drive some of my favorite games elicit in me.
Getting each Goldy in a stage is tricky, but incredibly satisfying.
The satisfaction of collecting all the Goldies in a perfect run was rewarding enough on its own, since they often required finding new paths, or made me to place commands at a specific moment, but Goldies also serve another function. Collecting more of them also unlocks new abilities, skills, and customization options.
Some early unlocks include the ability to fast forward (a godsend when you are iterating during Retry: Keep Commands), freeze time (to give you time to think about what to do, before a Goldy you’ve already collected plummets to its doom), free camera movement, new outfits and hats for the humans, and a whole lot more.
In addition to Goldies, each level also has a convenient Solution Video in the pause menu, so players needn’t worry about getting stuck. I was slightly disappointed these videos only showed how to get to the goal and not how to pick up the Goldies too, but having easy access to solutions means it will be easier than ever for players to enjoy more of the game, frustration-free. Humanity’s stat-tracker tallies how many times players consult Solution Videos, so keep that in mind if it matters to you!
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That Humanity is deceptively engrossing probably shouldn’t have surprised me, as Tetsuya Mizuguchi, one of the minds responsible for Rez and Tetris Effect: Connected, is also on Humanity’s development team. Also, much like Tetris Effect and Rez, the music adds quite a bit to the experience in Humanity. I frequently found myself bobbing my head to the bass revving up, or moving to the bizarre catchy rhythms of synthetic-sounding techno music as they played across my sound bar or in my headphones. The DualSense feedback is fun, too, and I enjoyed feeling the dialogue text plink across my fingers playfully, so hopefully that support is available to DualSense users on PC, as well.
The stage creator is easy to use and there are already quite a few creative player levels that have been uploaded.
Humanity also features a level creator and user-created levels, which function much as they do in Super Mario Maker. Players are given all the tools, building blocks, and available commands from the game (even ones they haven’t experienced yet in the single player mode) and can build out and upload stages however they please.
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Jumping into user-created levels was quick and easy, including tags displayed alongside the name, so you’ll know the difficulty level, whether they are auto-play, and other useful stats (as well as user reviews and how many times it’s been played) before you jump in. There are a range of developer-made levels available right away, but even during the preview period, other players had uploaded some fun stages. These ranged from easy, standard levels to one bonkers example where the player had no humans to guide, instead needing to engage in ultra-hard, pixel-perfect precision platforming to reach the goal. With creative ideas like this available before the game is even out, it will be fascinating to see what the community can come up with post-launch.
Humanity skillfully kept me engaged with the perfectly-paced acquisition of new abilities (and new obstacles).
While it may appear, at first, as 3D Lemmings, Humanity already feels like so much more. Between the relaxing vibe, simple (but effective) aesthetic, endless playability with user-creation tools, and a great blend of “easy to complete, hard to 100%,” Humanity is hitting all the right notes for me and I can’t wait to play more when it’s released on PS4/5, PSVR/2, Steam, and Steam VR on May 16th.
For more strategic fun, check out our review of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, as well as our feature on the Best Reviewed Games of 2023 (so far).
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on Twitter (@Ribnax), Backloggd (Ribnax) & Twitch (Ribnax) or check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Twitch & Apple Podcasts.
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