If humanity as you knew it lost its sense of purpose, what do you think would happen? Would the world and everything within it, just fall apart without a care? Would everyone fall into this stage of uncertainty or do you think there would be a fraction of hope by someone…anyone that still believes in humanity? It’s interesting when you think about it and the possible outcomes that could result from such a fate were to happen. But does the developers, that ltd. & Enhance shows us the way toward the light. Let’s find out with HUMANITY for PlayStation VR2.
HUMANITY is a third-person with a unique blend of puzzle-solving and action-platforming that puts the fate of all mankind in your hands as you march crowds to jump, turn, push, float, shoot, and climb their way to salvation. So before you go trying to save all of humanity, there are a few things that you should be aware of. First, you will want to find your favorite place to sit. This is your relaxing time and one should be relaxed when trying to save lives. Second, if you have anything to help with your creative side, get it ready. Third, make sure those Sense controllers are charged. You don’t want to have to feel bad because all of humanity is falling off the ledges when you were mere seconds away from guiding them into the right direction all because you forgot to charge them now, do you? Fourth, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone. It wouldn’t be right and you don’t deserve to have anything spoiled for you. And finally, just have some fun as you deserve it. With all that said, let’s continue…
In HUMANITY, you play as a dog, a lone Shiba Inu, charged with commanding massive, marching crowds to jump, turn, push, float, shoot, and climb their way to salvation. You are a dog that has a powerful bark that can lead humanity when they lost all sense of purpose in life, but somehow, in some way, your bark gives them the hope that they need to get to the promised land of salvation. So let that sink in for a moment.
Now, of course, you can play the game either in VR or not. But we all know that playing in VR is better, so in the Options, make sure you select that VR mode. Once you are ready, you have three selections to select from. You have the Story Mode, User Stages, and Stage Creator. Yes, it’s the game that keeps on giving as there really is an unlimited amount of puzzles for you to try from those that have created to even creating puzzles yourself and sharing with the world. So it’s up to you how you want to play, but I would suggest Story Mode as it will give you the steps and tools you need in order to know how to play.
I will say, when you first start the game, even on the first level, that seeing people of different sizes and ages just walk through a door and here you are just minding your own business and getting interrupted now has a job of leading all these people to safety without any question of if they did anything worth saving in life or did they do everything in their power to make sure the world is a better place. We may never know as a massive crowd is headed in a direction and you have to start thinking how you will save them. It’s pretty simple for the most part, to get them from point A to point B. You do so by adding directional arrows and other ways to make sure everyone can get to the light pillars.
Don’t feel bad if an extraordinary amount of humans fall over and they can’t be saved. It will happen a lot. Hmmm, maybe those are the ones that made the wrong choices in life and it was meant to be. As the stages become more challenging so are the ways that you must think about how to get them to the different light pillars. I mean when you start adding a liquid that they have to swim through, walls to climb, floating, and jumping to different parts of the platform, there is going to be some misjudgment happening.
If you get stuck, and that will happen, there is no need to sweat it out. I mean, mankind is just falling to their deaths because of it. But thankfully, they won’t be for long as there are solution videos. All you have to do is pause the game and select the Solutions Video to see how to solve it. But even with the solution to your puzzle dilemma, the solution videos will not show you how to collect the Goldys, which look like larger figures, that are hiding throughout each stage. See, you need to collect these in order to unlock other stages, learn new controls, and gain new cosmetics.
Of course, the fun continues when you get to try your hand a creating your own levels and the levels that players have made. When creating your levels for the first time, make sure you view the tutorial videos as they are very helpful. Once you created your level, you can share your puzzle so that others can play them. Each puzzle has a title, rating, and level of difficulty to explore. You can even mark which on are your favorites as well as search for them.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. In looking at the graphics, it’s not so much the people that you will see a ton of detail. They are simple human shapes and the game is just not about individuals, but humanity altogether. But when you look at the design and creativity of the stages, the lighting that is used, and the colors that are used, you have this diversity that does look good in VR. With the sound and this being a game with Enhance’s name on it, you are going to have electronic music that provides all instrumental and ambient throughout thanks to Jemapur who composed the music and of course, your might barking sound which sounds really good with the Pulse 3D Audio headset.
There are a few things I would love to see. First, I would love to see even more objects that can be used when creating puzzles. You have your simple shapes and actions that you can use, but it would be interesting to see things added outside the box. Second, more story. The story is one that should be explored, I just wanted more of it and would love to see additional stories or maybe a way for players to help create the stories from within the tools. It might very well be an interesting concept, but who knows?
HUMANITY allows us to look at things from a different perspective. It gives us the puzzles and the creation of those puzzles to have an ongoing relationship within them. In life, we come across people of different sizes, shapes, and races every day. Some experiences could be better, while others can’t be matched. But when you really think about it and really take a look at it, we are in this together, we are all part of humanity, and we are all human and in this world, we are all connected.
HUMANITY is out now for PlayStation VR & PlayStation VR2 on the PlayStation Store and Steam VR. A review code was provided.
To learn more about tha ltd., please visit their site.
To learn more about Enhance Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some levels to go play.
