Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is? Have you ever thought about the purpose of human beings? If so, developer Tha Ltd. has come up with an idea that will no doubt be unique to your thoughts on the matter, as shown by their latest game Humanity, a puzzle platformer , requiring players to lead dozens of souls to be redeemed as spirit Shiba Inu.
The idea of Humanity is similar to Lemmings. You have a group of humans who are mindless drones walking in one only direction with no intention of changing that, and it’s up to you to direct them and lead them down a safe path. To do this, you’ll need to wander, like this Shiba Inu character, through 3D levels where you can place specific commands that affect how humans behave. For example, this could be as simple as telling them to turn left at a certain point, or it could be more advanced and revolve around making the humans lighter to ensure they go farther before launching them into an open gap.
The point is that you need to be creative with your solutions in this game because Humanity is all about unique levels to beat the score, each level has its own challenges and mechanics, and as the story progresses, these levels will be iterated and recalculated expand. You start the game with very limited commands, but as the narrative unfolds, new commands and abilities let you lead and direct the flow of humans in different ways, and even allow you as the Shiba protagonist to move through levels in different ways.
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Each level in the story mode seems to have a very specific solution, but you can add flair to this to approach things in your own way. Humanity is not a game where creativity is paramount, but there are options to let your creative talents shine. The fastest solution will never require much of a thought process, but if you’re going to pick up collectible gold men along the way, you’ll need to use weird and wonderful methods to achieve your end goal – which is something you’re encouraged to do, Because these golden individuals are all tied to unlocking new stages and gaining new abilities, these just enhance the overall experience.
Whether it’s simple cosmetic additions (such as equipping certain people with hats) all the way to new and specific abilities that allow you to plan and tackle levels more easily (such as being able to pause human streams or determine the functionality of a switch without having to activate it first It), the Golden Guys in Humanity are more than simple collectibles and side objectives, even though the game will try to tell you otherwise.
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The mind-bending story mode – which teaches you the game’s mechanics – is just one of the ways to enjoy Humanity. Tha Ltd. also launched the game with a creation kit that allows players to make their own levels and puzzles for other players to solve. Essentially, thanks to the user-generated content feature, there are nearly infinite ways to enjoy the game, whether you want to build your own levels or just play with someone else’s creation.
The reason UGC content works so well in Humanity is that it’s a very simple game. Sure, there are times when the puzzles completely confuse you and leave you scratching your head looking for answers, but generally, the core game systems are so simple that you can always overcome the problems in front of you. That being said, if you hit a wall, the built-in solution feature can provide answers, though only for basic puzzles, rather than capturing any golden men in the process.
While Humanity is a fairly basic mind-bending game, I was more than surprised by how well it ran on PC. I say this because there are sometimes thousands of people on screen at once, but despite this, the game never seems to miss a beat in terms of graphics or performance. It never ceases to amaze me, considering how chaotic and crowded the levels can become.
All in all, Humanity is an excellent puzzle game that brings some unique challenges to a fairly saturated genre. Puzzling platforming mechanics keep the gameplay fresh from level to level, while the UGC focus means you’ll never tire of the levels and challenges to overcome. It’s also a bizarre and eerie lens that’s hard to get sucked into for a game that hopes to briefly explore the meaning of life and the purpose of Humanity. If you’ve been looking for a new puzzle game, this one is definitely worth checking out.