You may have heard about NetEase’s eagerly awaited free to play open world survival game Once Human , which launched last week. You may also have heard about its controversial seasonal wipes , the backlash over its paid cosmetics , and its (now changed) policy of players not being able to switch servers or create more than one character per account . Our own Harry Alston says the game is pretty good in his review-in-progress, but all in all the game has opened to a Mixed review rating on Ste

At the time of writing, about a third of Once Human’s 23,539 Steam reviews are negative. Players are highlighting a number of issues, including seasonal wipes , poor optimisation , lack of difficulty in non-PVP servers, and not being able to join servers . There are also a lot of reviews saying that Once Human’s Terms of Service are too invasi

If you read through the Terms of Service, you’ll find that the policy says the developers may collect "first and last name, title, prefix, email address, telephone number, (instant) messaging account, postal address, date of birth, age, gender, country/region, and government-issued ID, such as passport information". The privacy policy also says that NetEase can collect location information from your IP address and Wi-Fi connection. This is a lot of information to take from play

A post on the game’s Steam page also says that the developers will "only use personal data if we have a legitimate legal basis" and "will only use your data lawfully and reasonably and in accordance with local legal compliance requiremen

I’m a little surprised there’s been so much backlash to Once Human’s ToS, because almost everything on the internet has some weird, shady stuff hidden in that document that nobody ever reads. As pointed out by PCGamesN , you’ll find similar clauses in the privacy policies of Blizzard’s Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and World of Warcraft, and ZeniMax Media’s policy as w

nAt some point after completing quests in Deadsville, Lowe (the guy with the glasses sitting by a table) will offer a quest called Deviation Expert , where he'll ask you to find a Digby Boy in Throughville. You can find it sitting on the ledge of one of the buildings, marked by a quest marker. Bring 30 Copper Ore to the Digby Boy, and it'll turn into a bubble — interact with the bubble to capture The Digby Boy , then return to Lowe in Deadsville

There is nothing special about Once Human’s privacy policies, but that doesn’t mean players don’t have a right to be upset about it: in general, companies taking your information and not having full transparency and accountability as to how that data is used is a bad thing. But this isn’t a NetEase problem, it’s indicative of the wider ethical issues around what it means to be a person who, unless you live entirely off the grid, has to use the internet to do thi

Whispers can be written with a lot of detail. In addition to the title and 150-word body text, you can select pre-defined category tags and upload screenshots taken by your camera. Since any screenshot can be attached from your album, not just the one taken at the time, you can manually copy all sorts of images to the local folder and upload them with Whispers. All screenshots taken by the camera are saved in the following folder: steam\steamapps\common\once human updates|https://oncehumanverse.com/ human\documents\res\

Season Goals are often tied to the story or theme of the scenario. Finding them is easy – just access the in-game menu with the Esc key and look for the section dedicated to Seasons . There at the top bar, you'll see a list of the current goals , along with their descriptions, and the rewards you'll get for completing them.

There are different types of Deviations that you can encounter on your travels. Each type of Deviant has a special ability, and you can utilize them by capturing the Deviant. Some can be captured by chance when you see them floating in the world. Others can be found by completing quests, defeating Deviant bosses, and performing certain activities.

The developers’ (NetEase subsidiary Starry Studios) statement in the game’s official Discord server says that the company only collects government-issued IDs when necessary, such as if a player’s parent has to be verified to allow their child to play, or if a player changes their age information. The developers claim that the information is deleted immediately once it’s been used for its intended purpose. NetEase also says that social media information is given to the company voluntarily through user surveys, and that players won’t have to provide that information if they don’t want

In Once Human, Seasons are an experience in the game. Each Season features a distinct theme with new objectives, mechanics, and storylines. These scenarios can take place in various locations across the map, including previously unexplored zones.

You get Special Part the same way you get Refined Parts — by dismantling junk. The only difference here is that Special Parts can only be obtained from items that drop in higher-level areas. Specifically, you can start getting these items once you start exploring Chalk Peak (Lvl. 32+) and beyond. You'll want to look for electronics and appliances, which you'll find plenty of in residential areas, rec rooms, kitchens, and even Securement Silos. Holt Town and Furnace Lair in Chalk Peak are great places to start.