Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

In Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, survival is easy once you decipher the basic mechanics of evolution and sit through the cutscenes, but the journey is full of moments of discovery.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is an unfulfilling survival game, one that never provides a compelling reason to see its journey all the way through.

Ancestors is ambitious and clunky and not much fun - and it's often quietly thought-provoking too.

A novel premise wrapped in an awkward and repetitive survival slog.

Equal parts baffling, frustrating, and thrilling

A bright idea made dull by constant repetition and diminishing rewards.

Moments of beauty and distantly spaced moments of sublime discovery are separated by hours and hours of tedium and frustration

I wrote most of this review, then felt maybe I was being too harsh. So I took a break and went back. I wanted to enjoy it.

Ancestors feels wilfully stubborn.

Ancestors is a large, fussy, and at times uneven survival experience, but it's also deeply gratifying once you sink your teeth in. Make it through the wringer, and you'll come out wanting to share stories about your run-of-the-mill open-world exploits to anyone who will listen – no small feat in 2019. The console versions are smoother than their original PC counterpart, so if you've been curious, now's the time.