After more than 2 years in early access, HumanitZ has finally released version 1.0. According to the developers, 18 major updates have been made to the game during this period. HumanitZ captured a pretty hardcore group of fans who played the game for hundreds of hours. Yodubzz Studios collaborated with its fanbase by taking player suggestions and requests to make the overall experience more polished and satisfying to play.
HumanitZ is an open-world zombie survival game. You wander the world gathering resources to help better equip yourself in this hostile, zombie-ridden environment. Zombies traipse aimlessly in the streets looking for their next meal. Sometimes you’ll see zombies trying to break into houses, or maybe you’ll see a group of zombies roaming together in the middle of the woods. You can find zombies in all sorts of dynamic situations, and it can be pretty cinematic at times. Zombies range from big, huge, fat guys, all the way to scrawny, crackhead-looking guys who are going to gnaw at your ankles. There are even zombies who crawl on all fours who will lunge at you from a distance – similar to the lickers from Resident Evil.
The world itself is also a pretty major character, in both good and bad ways. The dynamic day-and-night cycle shows how impressive the game’s graphics are. Wandering around at night with your flashlight can lead to some truly tense moments. I often found myself face-to-face with a threat in the middle of the night and had to talk myself into not running away. When day time rolls around I couldn’t help but feel a little bit safer, even though I definitely wasn’t. Being able to see everything allows you to better assess the situation, but it can also give you a false sense of security, making you feel overprepared. There’s also a temperature gauge that shows how warm/cold your character is. Depending on the weather, you might need to bundle up to avoid freezing or take a bunch of clothes off to avoid overheating. During my online time with the game, I had somebody rob me of my pants at gunpoint during the winter, and then I froze to death because I couldn’t find pants. Experiences like that make this game special in its own silly little way!
HumanitZ has a fairly simple crafting system that lets you make various articles of clothing, healing items, weapons, etc. You’ll find resources basically everywhere you go, so it’s very unlikely you’ll find yourself with an empty inventory. You can drive cars that you find in the wild, so long as you are also able to find all the necessary parts to get the vehicle working. Usually, if you find a car, its parts are not far away, which I found a little too easy for my liking. But at the same time, it would be annoying to have to lug car parts across the map just to get into a shitty, beat-up car. You can also find horses that can be tamed if you find a saddle. Having a horse instead of an armoured vehicle can be a poor decision, though, because horses aren’t very capable in combat. If your horse winds up getting noticed by a group of zombies, you’d better do your best to deal with them and fast, otherwise, you’re horse-less!
While there are plenty of things I like about HumanitZ, there are a few glaring issues. I do not like the way it handles aiming. While you are playing the game, you can only move your mouse up and down in a straight line. You cannot move your mouse off to the side; it is entirely up and down. This immediately makes the game feel clunky, and you’ll notice it the instant you start playing. You can turn your camera left and right with your mouse, of course, but you can only aim up and down. It’s clunky in practice and often will just result in shots not hitting. It’s way worse with melee attacks because often they just won’t register.
I’ve also noticed some bugs while playing that completely killed my immersion. After I had gotten my simple base set up, I saw that there were a couple of zombies who managed to get inside even though there were walls all over the place. There was also a moment where I found a zombie who just wouldn’t die. Didn’t matter how many bullets I filled him with or how many times I beat him over the head; he just wouldn’t die. I decided to let him chase me around for a bit for some fun, but ultimately, I just wound up reloading and walking in another direction. I mostly played HumanitZ in single-player, but I heard the multiplayer bugs are much more prevalent. Outside of these issues, the game ran pretty well. Also, maybe it’s not a bug, and maybe it was intentional, but all my save data from the previous patch was deleted, which was extremely annoying.
HumanitZ is a totally competent zombie survival game. I think it’s destined to be great, but it’s not quite there yet. What stands out about it is how accessible and easy to grasp it is. Compared to other games in the genre, it’s far easier to digest and get lost in. There are many mechanics and systems, but they are all laid out in a way that is easy to understand while simultaneously being deep and interesting. I feel like HumanitZ would be so much better with a group of friends who are all invested, but I had a very good time playing solo. The time I did spend playing multiplayer was marred by frequent lag spikes and performance issues. Hopefully, with enough time and server testing, they can iron out the issues and make it a smoother experience for everyone. If you are looking for a survival game to sink dozens of hours into alone or with some friends, then HumanitZ – much like its zombies – is a no-brainer.
