Once Human is a free-to-play survival game where the strange things are not just monsters. You capture anomalies called Deviants and put them to work: some fight beside you, some gather or produce resources, and others become odd companions around the base you build. That mixture of creature collecting, shooting, construction and shared-world survival is the reason to notice the game—not the fact that it now has console store buttons.

The console version is a good starting point for players who enjoy discovering bizarre creatures and improving a home as much as fighting bosses. It asks for more planning than a drop-in co-op shooter: a Scenario determines the rules and content of the world, while the region and exact server determine which friends you can reach.

This is source-checked guidance, not an independent performance review. We have not measured frame rate, controller latency or server stability on a retail PS5 or Xbox.

The monsters do not stay monsters

The most memorable designs turn ordinary objects into unsettling life. Publisher material shows a walking bus-like creature, enormous airborne forms and smaller Deviants that can be secured rather than simply killed. Once captured, these creatures blur familiar game categories: a monster can become a combat partner, a production worker or a reason to rearrange a room.

That changes the survival loop. You are still gathering materials, crafting weapons and building shelter, but the world keeps offering creatures that might solve a problem in an unexpected way. The appeal is closer to collecting a strange household than clearing a checklist of enemy types.

A home project interrupted by enormous problems

Once Human mixes several scales of play. A small group can explore, gather and build together. Larger public events such as Prime War combine boss combat with construction and defense. Personal territory gives creative players a long-term project, while the separate Eternaland space was designed as a place to keep building and meet players across seasonal servers.

The catch is structure. This is not one permanent world with one universal rule set. Scenarios can emphasize different environments, survival pressures or PvP rules. That variety gives the game room to experiment, but it also means friends should choose together before investing in characters and bases.

An animal is not another Deviant

Version 3.0.6 has moved Beast Riding from preview language into the published rules. Deviants remain captured anomalies with shelter or combat jobs; a Beastmaster animal is an adult ranch animal summoned through the hotbar or backpack. It needs more than 20% Energy, and every animal summon shares a 10-second cooldown.

The one-animal limit was temporary. The September 28 update (Version 3.0.7) raised the Beastmaster limit to three animals at once, while every other class stays at one. A single Beast Whistle now commands several summoned animals at once, and the same update added targeted breeding at the territory’s Youngling Hut, so a player can aim for a particular youngling instead of leaving the pairing to chance. A non-Beastmaster can still ride a saddled animal in the wilderness, but cannot summon one during combat or in a dungeon and cannot use its special abilities.

The supported riding list is also narrower than “any ranch animal”: Deer, Boar, Bear and Wild Buffalo are the four named types in the update. That makes the class decision concrete. Riding one animal for travel is broadly available; maintaining a small field group and issuing attack, defense or gathering commands is the Beastmaster role.

Two Once Human characters ride a buffalo and a deer in an official Version 3.0.6 Beast Riding image.
The official 3.0.6 image shows two of the four currently named ride animals: a Wild Buffalo and a Deer. It documents how the publisher presents Beast Riding; it is not evidence about handling, balance or console performance. Open the official update ↗

Ranching still serves a different purpose from collecting combat companions. Growth, breeding and production now revolve around Energy rather than separate tameness and hydration meters. Gardener combat uses deployable biomechanical crops, with durability as a cost. Those are three different decisions—managing livestock, commanding an animal and deploying a plant—not one interchangeable pet system.

This remains source-checked guidance. The update announcements establish the published rules, but we have not tested summon reliability, animal pathfinding or how three animals behave in a crowded fight. The next update is scheduled for October 21 at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. It adds the ocean survival scenario Isles of Abyss and the Isles of Abyss: RaidZone map; the publisher lists PC, console and mobile as supported platforms. The scenario is PvE, opens four North American and European servers at launch, and runs a core cycle of roughly 21 days, with a permanent server planned afterward.

A Chinese studio working inside a global genre

Starry Studio, under NetEase Games, is not using a traditional Chinese legend as decoration here. Its more interesting contribution is production design: it takes global SCP-style anomaly fiction, open-world survival and live-service seasons, then builds a highly visual creature-and-home loop around them.

That is a useful reminder that contemporary Chinese games are not defined only by historical costume or mythology. Once Human is a Chinese studio making a global genre game, with its identity carried by creature design, system mixing and the scale of its shared world.

The one decision to make before creating characters

PS5 and Xbox Series X|S players can play together. Compatible PC and mobile players can also join cross-platform servers. Everyone still needs the same region, Scenario and exact server. A console-only server will not admit the PC or mobile member of the group.

Put the group in the same world

  1. Check that both players selected the same region at sign-in. Stop if the regions differ.
  2. Finish the beginner stages; the server-selection route appears after that point.
  3. Ask your friend for the Scenario and exact server name shown for their character.
  4. Open Scenario selection, choose More Servers, then select that Scenario and server.
  5. Use a Special Invitation Code only when the target server is full. Your friend gets it from their character namecard after signing in.

The code is not a password, account-linking code, or general crossplay switch. If the server does not appear, recheck the region, Scenario and spelling before changing accounts or reinstalling.

A permanent-server merge can keep the character but reset the task

Version 3.0.6 also begins a staged permanent-server merge. Way of Winter servers entered the process during the September 16 maintenance. Deviation servers start with Southeast Asia on September 17, with other regions to follow in batches. The announcement says there are no current merge plans for Manibus or Endless Dream.

The important boundary is what “transfer” means. Character level, supplies and technology move to the new permanent server, but task progress does not carry over; it resets to that server’s current Scenario challenge and reward state. If a group is returning around a merge, compare the destination server and Scenario before assuming that everyone will resume the same objective. The announcement gives a rollout plan, not a guarantee that a particular account has already moved.

Do not treat account linking as a test button

Link the console identity to the game account that already owns the characters you want to keep. One official route uses the web Linking Entry; PC or mobile players can also use Settings → Account → Link Account. In either route, confirm the account details before completing the link.

The critical limit is simple: linking is not a merge. If both accounts already have characters, the process cannot retain both character sets in one combined account. Use an empty account, or contact official support before confirming a choice when both histories matter. The normal unlinking rule includes a 30-day security period; for a PSN-linked existing game account, the FAQ also says that unlinking does not let it bind to another PSN account. Treat the confirmation screen as a decision, not a quick test.

Who may enjoy it—and who may not

Choose with the live-service structure in mind. The official material describes seasonal Scenarios, several server types, account linking and changing world rules. Players who want a short self-contained campaign, an offline game or one permanent server may find that structure more demanding than the creature design suggests.

Free-to-play also does not mean every cosmetic, convenience or future offer is free. Inspect the live console store and in-game screen before spending. This guide does not convert publisher footage into a recommendation about performance or monetization fairness.

Solo players can still explore, build and collect Deviants, but the game’s most distinctive scale changes appear when a group shares a Scenario or joins a large event. Deviants are not merely pets: their combat, gathering and shelter jobs are part of the survival economy. The checked console list names PS5, PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S, not PS4, Xbox One or Switch. A Special Invitation Code may help with a full server; it cannot move friends across regions or merge two populated accounts.

Sources and scope

Updated October 20, 2026: replaced the temporary 3.0.6 one-animal limit with the confirmed 3.0.7 three-animal rule, added targeted breeding and the October 21 Isles of Abyss window. Existing crossplay and account guidance was not re-tested in this update. Confirm the live Scenario list and any account-specific prompt in game.