You might have missed whenOnce Humanquietly arrived on the gaming scene almost exactly a year ago. After all, in today’s crowded live service scene, it’s becoming easier for even solid multiplayer games to slip under the radar.

That’s a shame, because that makes it all too easy to miss out on gems likeOnce Human.Based on recent reviews, though, you might want to take note of thisopen-world survival multiplayer title, which isgaining traction for its unique premise and depth of gameplay. The best part is,the title is free on Steam—and by all accounts, it does “free” right.

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Once Human Is Free To Play On Steam

There’s Nothing To Lose From Giving It A Try

Once Humanis set in an odd post-apocalyptic world that seems to be succeeding where Remedy’sControl-themedFBC: Firebreakfailed. In this multiplayer title, players must work together with friends totake down terrifying enemies and rebuild the broken world,uncovering bits of the story as they go along.

The game juggles survival with staying sane, as eating polluted food decreases your Sanity, which causes your max HP to take a hit. If you don’t starve to death, you might be taken down by one of the many strange monsters and entities that roam the lands, some of which were once human and some of which areunspeakable horrors from alternate dimensions.

As if that weren’t enough,Once Humanalsoimplements base-building. This can take the form of anything from a basic roof and four walls tomassive creative structures. Between survival, fighting, base-building, and trying not to starve,Once Humanhas so much to do.

Players Praise The Game For Its Amount Of Content

The Game Has “Great Bones,” Say Fans

The reception forOnce Humanhas been generally positive, with manypraising it for giving players so much to do. A review byHazM4tton Steam, for instance, states that it’s a “fun free game with a tremendous amount of content.”

“[Once Human is a] fun free game with a tremendous amount of content.”

The free title from Starry Studio (a studio within NetEase) is seeing an influx of “Very Positive” recent reviews, contributing to an overall “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam across over 138,000 ratings. Steam reviews like this one fromNnamierarecallingOnce Human"extremely addictive," adding that it has “great bones.”

Many of the comments note that there’s still room for improvement, and that the game could do more to retain players for a longer time. That said, most reviews agree that it’s an excellent free game that doesn’t try to bleed players dry of their money and doesn’t promote pay-to-win, withthe only available purchases being cosmetic.

Despite arough start marred by privacy issues,Once Humanhas managed to emerge through the teething pains as a name to watch.