That postmodern Lemmings-like where a Shiba Inu saves humanity is getting a PC version and a limited-time demo
You’ve got a little over a week to get some hands-on time with Humanity.
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Remember that weird, Lemmings-like game from last night’s Sony State of Play? The one where you’re a Shiba Inu guiding a stomping throng of humans through a blocky, abstract landscape? I hope so, because if you don’t it means I experienced some kind of religious hallucination. Regardless, something Sony neglected to mention is that the game is bound for PC as well as PlayStation.Humanity has a Steam page, and a release date of May 2023 (the same as on console).
Humanity comes from the devs behind the excellentTetris Effect, and tells the tale of “a world where humanity is lost—without soul, without intellect, without a will of their own,” and their fate hinges entirely on “the wits and determination of a lone savior: you”. The “you” in this instance is a small, glowing Japanese dog.
It’s tough to overstate how Lemmings-y the game looks. Your job is to guide your human flock through a series of trials filled with “tricks, traps, and obstacles”. By barking you can issue orders—change direction, jump, fight—which your followers will obey “without question”. Your goal is to get the helpless masses to a pillar of light at the end of each level, avoiding inconvenient instances of mass death.
The devs are keeping schtum about what, exactly, is going on in Humanity’s story, but we do know one thing: Your followers have enemies. They’re called the Others, and they’ll harass and battle your humans as you attempt to get them to safety .
The Others “live according to entirely different principles,” like wearing black t-shirts and wielding red lightsabers, and you can choose to avoid conflict with them or “confront them head-on,” leading to someTotally Accurate Battle Simulator-style showdowns between huge numbers of people.
The PC game seems to be getting all the same level-editing and VR bells and whistles as the PlayStation version, too. You’ll be able to design your own labyrinthine puzzles to share with your friends, as well as “Immerse yourself like never before as you tower over the teeming, ant-like people!” which doesn’t seem like something a Shiba Inu who cared for his flock would say. The game will release in May, but you can download and playthe demo over on Steamright now. You might wanna hurry, though: The demo will go away on March 6.
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One of Josh’s first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he’s been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He’ll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin’s Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you’re all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.
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