A dog guiding humans through a mysterious and surreal world
First Impressions - HUMANITY

Published on May 19, 2023 Review

HUMANITY 8.2

HUMANITY takes players on a thought-provoking and visually mesmerizing adventure as they control a dog guiding literal crowds of humans through a mysterious and surreal world. With its unique puzzle mechanics, striking visuals, and immersive atmosphere, this third-person puzzle game for PC and PlayStation offers an experience that is both challenging and captivating.

In HUMANITY, you control a dog from a third-person perspective, reminiscent of the control scheme found in the cat-themed game “Stray.” You navigate the levels by jumping around, riding crowds, and issuing instructions to the humans, one tile at a time. You cannot die, and there are no penalties for falling; you simply respawn at the top.

Without your guidance, the humans will fall into the chasms below and respawn at the starting point without consequences. As the shepherd dog, your role is to herd these human hordes through various challenging navigational puzzles and obstacles by providing instructions such as where and when to turn, how high and how long to jump, and many more commands and instructions that you can issue.

Throughout the levels, there are other interactive elements such as weight-triggered switches to activate devices or deactivate obstacles, movable blocks for the humans to push, and golden humans that can be awakened by the actions of regular humans. Successfully guiding these golden humans to the light rewards you with gold, granting extra abilities like fast-forwarding or pausing during puzzles. However, if these golden humans fall, they will not respawn, requiring a restart if you want to obtain the rewards, making their guidance crucial and consequential.

The heart of HUMANITY lies in its superbly designed puzzles, which range from intriguing brain-teasers to challenging navigational obstacles. Each level presents a unique set of challenges, commands, and mechanics in play, ensuring that players are consistently engaged and their problem-solving skills are put to the test level after level.

In the story mode levels, players are tested in a lot of aspects, with each level typically focusing on one or two specific skills such as planning, reflexes, physics anticipation, spatial awareness, logical thinking, and memorization. Every level I’ve played is engaging on their own and never felt boring to play.

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