Games worth discovering

The best human-herding puzzler I’ve ever played - Humanity Quick Review

8K View2023-05-20

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it, especially if you like either dogs or puzzles! Humanity is perhaps one of the strangest and most strangely addicting puzzlers I’ve ever played. I could go on about the intricate puzzle designs that incorporate jumping, floating, shooting, moving obstacles, and weighted switches; or I could focus on how the game tested my spatial awareness, logic, reflexes, memorization, and planning. What really got me, though, was the absurdity of playing as a Shiba Inu herding the masses to the light. It really got me thinking about the nature of being a human, who we follow, what happens after we die, and what you would call a dog that herds humans. I have no idea if this was intentional, but I loved these unintended consequences all the same. Add to that a very cool customization element and you've got a damn fine puzzler.

TIME PLAYED

I clocked in around nine hours on Humanity on my PS4. At least, I think it was nine hours. Humanity is one of those special games that makes it really easy to lose track of time as you get deeper into the puzzles. The average puzzle took me around fifteen minutes to complete, but then there were the occasional puzzles that I kept at for an hour, trying to get the goldies— large gold people that offer a bonus in each stage—safely into the light.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• The puzzles. Of course, these are the heart of the gameplay in Humanity, and the game does a great job of finding unique ways to test you mentally. As the glowing pup, I had to guide people through bodies of water, help them jump across large gaps, up walls, over fans, and direct them to activate buttons in all manner of ways that never felt boring or tiring. There are even action stages and boss battles! For those who get frustrated, there’s also a solution video for each stage that you can use to figure out the answers, but using that is honestly just cheating yourself of the experience!

• Collaboration. Humanity isn’t exactly a multiplayer game, but that being said, I had a blast figuring out puzzles with my girlfriend. It felt great collaborating, testing, and even arguing about the best ways to lead the humans from point A to point B. I highly recommend playing this with someone who loves puzzles and figuring out the solutions together.

• Progression system. As I completed more puzzles, new abilities and goodies were unlocked, like cosmetics for my humans, and even new gameplay features, like pausing and rotating the puzzle screen so that I could look at the puzzle without having my herd fall off a cliff and into the abyss that surrounds each stage.

• Custom maps. One of the cooler aspects of Humanity is that you can create and share your own puzzles. In fact, if you wanted, you can spend the entirety of your time playing puzzles created by other folks, which means the thrills keep on coming in this one.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

• Controls. Using my Dualshock 4 controller, sometimes I placed a command on the wrong square and couldn’t guide my doggie to the exact spot I needed to place an order amidst the chaos of my marching humans. Even after hours of gameplay, it still seemed to be a factor. This is a very small criticism to an otherwise amazing puzzle game.

💬 Will you play Humanity or skip it? And what do you call a dog that herds humans? Let me know in the comments section, and we’ll chat more!