Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey Shows How Nature Is Cruel

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey — Experiences: The Anthropologist

A new video series for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey has kicked off to take us further behind the anthropology we will get to know in Ancestors

I hope by now that we all know the basics of what is going on Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and just how things will evolve as we play. Not just in terms of gameplay, but also the way that Panache Digital Games is going about sharing the experience with us and trying to stick close to the real situations that brought humanity to the place it is today. It looks like Ancestors is going to be much more than a game for us when it launches this year on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Now we get a little bit more of a treat to see just how that will all be. At least in a small way with the new video series that has started and will continue every three weeks until launch.

In this first video, we get a feel for the anthropology that had to go into building a game like Ancestors. To get it right and to go back to the right era, there had to be a lot of legwork to show how harsh the world truly was and how circumstances had to playout for the species to evolve to the state to actually be able to build this game. There is also a little bit more of the gameplay spliced in for those who are not here for a history lesson. You are going to fully get that when Ancestors launches, but not everyone finds these kinds of videos interesting. That is just a heads up for those few out there that are in that boat.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey — Experiences: The Anthropologist


Creative Director Patrice Désilets and Dr. Niobe Thompson discuss how unlikely our ancestors’ chances of survival were 10 million years ago. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is coming to PC exclusively through the Epic Games Store for the first year, at which point it will come to additional digital PC retailers on August 27 and PlayStation 4 & Xbox One in December 2019.

In the brand new Experiences video series, Patrice Désilets breaks down Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey’s unique concepts with experts outside of gaming. As scientists, athletes, and creative minds share about their own journeys, they come to see how similar emotions and experiences are created in the game.

In this first episode, Patrice Désilets meets Anthropologist turned Filmmaker Dr. Niobe Thompson from award-winning documentaries such as The Great Human Odyssey, Equus, Fast Horse, and more. With a shared passion for history and humankind, together they reflect on the difficulties of surviving and ultimately, evolving in Neogene Africa as they observe the exhibits at McGill University’s Redpath Museum. Dr. Thompson later discovers the art of game development at Panache’s studio and dives into the world recreated by the team which aims to transport players back in time to experience the unforgiving world in which our first ancestors evolved.

Were you expecting Ancestors to fully dig this deep in or did you think it was going to be a rough guideline they follow? Are you are all surprised that the world is going to be just as harsh as ever or did you think that somehow this being would be the biggest and best from the start? Do you think this is going to fall more into edutainment than entertainment or will we just be learning through osmosis with this game? Let us all know down in the comments and then feel free to discuss. When we have more to share for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, it will be here on the site. Just be sure to keep checking back in for that and much, much more.