Patrice Désilets, best known for his work on the earlier Assassin’s Creed games, is back in the industry with his latest title, the first one he saw to completion ever since 2010’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.
The title, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, has announced a release date, and it’s not that far off. It will arrive first on PCs, exclusively on the Epic Games store, this August 27, which is three months from now. Versions for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will arrive later this year in December.
Along with the release date for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey comes another trailer, this one showing off some key features within the game. Check it out below.
According to Désilets, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is centered around three key tenets: explore, expand, and evolve. The title focuses on a lineage of apes, and your goal is to facilitate their survival in prehistoric Africa while facilitating their eventual evolution. In the words of Désilets himself, you have to “explore your environment, expand your clan, to eventually evolve into a new species.”
After looking at the game’s early alpha build, I must say I’m impressed. The title feels like something new and unique that we haven’t really seen before, and in an industry filled with constant rehashes of the same material released yearly with little to no improvement, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is certainly commendable. Désilets emphasizes that in the title, you will not take the role of a single character that will save the entire clan, rather that the entire clan is your character, and it is up to you to make sure that they survive whatever challenges may come in their way. Of course, in order to evolve, you also need to find other potential clan members from different, yet close, species, taking them into your fold.
Evolution also means successful adaptation, and your clan won’t adapt to scarcity once your jungle home runs out of resources. Therefore, you have to find new habitats once that happens, which will then trigger the fear mechanic, which is symbolic for a fear of the unknown. Overcoming this will make your clan stronger and ready to face more challenges that the world has in store for them.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is set for release on the PC via the Epic Games store on August 27. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions is due out in December.
