“Traditional survival games are often just about killing anomalous creatures,” remarks Vincent, producer for the 2024 survival game Once Human in an exclusive deep dive for PlayStation. The game is self described as a “Strange Worlds Survival Game set in a strange, post-apocalyptic future.” In this future, players must “brace themselves” for the “cruelty of nature.” All resources, including food and soil, has been taken over by mutated monsters, and the only goal of the game is to survive to the end. Once Human was originally released for PC in 2024, but was picked up by various companies for mobile gaming in 2025. Now, it is being adapted once again, this time for the console.
While designing these adaptations, the development team continually asks the question of “Besides combat, can we create a deeper connection between players and these anomalies?” They answer that question in the base design of the game. Everyday objects laying around have the potential to explode into anomalies, killing or injuring the player. “What you explore,” says Vincent, “is not just a vast map, but the diverse anomalies themselves.” Once Human‘s visual design is believed to be helpful too, since the “weirdness and fear” give the “most direct visual impact.”
The gameplay mechanics for console are fairly similar to the game’s previous iterations. There are still trash can monsters, bus monsters, and frigid temperatures. For the PlayStation 5 console version, players are able to “switch seamlessly into the First-Person View and step into pitch-black abandoned buildings, where the fear of the unknown becomes incredibly real.” The main change, at least for this console, is the controller. The team has “deeply adapted the combat experience for [the] controller.” Now, players are equipped with the ability to “feel the distinct adaptive trigger resistance with every short ranged weapon, recoiling “right into your hands.” Additionally, these players can “experience nuanced haptic feedback that delivers true recoil right into [their] hands. The full trailer is available to be viewed below, prior to Once Human’s console release coming up on August 25, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox series X and S.