• Guide

Tips for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Tips to stay alive and progress through the early hours of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.

Bill Lavoy

August 26, 2019 9:00 PM

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Even with these tips, expect to die a lot in the early hours of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. The fact is, players are in control of very basic primates that don’t understand what we consider the simplest motor skills that humans take for granted, such as using both hands, and moving an object from one hand to the other. This can make survival difficult, as one might expect. These tips won’t give you all the answers, but they will put you on a path to growth through discovery.

Don’t sit in the trees

In my first run through Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, I spent a lot of time in the trees. There were many things on the ground that wanted to kill me, and not quite as many in the trees. Even though I knew I would have to face those threats in order to grow, survival instinct kept me safely in the trees where my would-be predators couldn’t reach me. Unfortunately, part of evolution is learning to deal with threats to your safety and hiding at great heights isn’t going to help you evolve. Even if it means losing a few clan members and dying, make your way to the ground where you can investigate and interact. This is the only way you can progress forward.

Inspect and experiment

One thing you will be able to do early on is pick items up in your right hand. Once you do, you might get the option to inspect that item, which you should do. If it’s something you can eat, why not eat it and see what happens? You might discover a new source of food, or you might find out that the thing you ate is quite bad for you. Either way, this is how you learn. It doesn’t just apply to food, though, you need to look at each item and see what you can do with it. Like a baby, you should be curious and getting into all the trouble you can.

Carry kids with you

In Ancestors, you can approach kids in your clan and pick them up, carrying them with you as you go about your daily routine and head out on expeditions. The thing is, performing actions while you have a kid with you is the only way to generate Neuronal Energy, which is how you can unlock cognitive enhancements by sleeping in a bed. A cognitive enhancement might allow you to use both your hands, passing an object back and forth between them while learning about how to alter it. While it may seem annoying to carry kids with you everywhere, it’s key to your early game progression and should be done frequently.

Eating, drinking, and sleeping

Those are the three core needs that you must address each day. You won’t see the typical status bars you might expect in most games, so it’s imperative that you pay close attention to how your primate is acting at any given time. A good rule is that when you wake up, you should find a source of water to drink and a source of food to eat. Get all of your needs topped off first thing in the morning so that you can spend the day focused on exploration and learning new skills.

Good job, now do it again

So, you’ve figured out how to strip the branches off that stick and you’re proud of yourself. Good job, but now do it again. Often you will notice that the game notes when you’ve done something twice, unlocking a potential cognitive enhancement. Why not catch two fish, strip two sticks, build two beds, or lift two rocks? Just because you’ve done something once, doesn’t mean you’ve mastered the skill or learned how to effectively repeat it. If you perform a task you feel should lead to a cognitive enhancement, and it didn’t notify you, try repeating the action a few times with kids hanging off you. Once you’re asleep in your bed that night, check to see if any cognitive enhancements have opened.

Trust me when I tell you that we’re barely scratching the surface with these tips, but they are designed for players that need a nudge but don’t want things handed to them. I could teach you how to fish (and might in a separate guide), but you are a human with a developed brain and can likely figure that out with some trial and error. Just remember not to get ahead of yourself. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run, and you should be fine. If you’re not, though, visit our Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey topic to browse through all our offerings.

Bill Lavoy

Managing Editor

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He made his mark early in his career through guide writing and a deep understanding of editorial SEO. He enjoys putting in the work to create a great content, be it a wild feature or grinding out an in-depth collectible guide. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his articles.