"I awoke one morning to find I was a dog." Not exactly your typical opening line, right? This piece of text is what greeted me after selecting Humanity’s Story Mode option from the unusually quick-to-reach main menu screen. Upon booting up the title, it immediately becomes apparent you’re dealing with something special. There are no elaborate game studio logo animations to be seen, no lengthy introductory cutscenes forcibly drilling as much exposition into your skull as possible before you’ve so much as pressed a button.

Instead, you’re simply dropped onto the previously mentioned central menu with zero context or explanation of what Humanity is about, or what it expects from you – your only companions an almost ominous background hum and the image of dozens of people slowly floating through the air. We already know what happens if you go ahead and pick the Story Mode option, so let’s talk about that dog for a while.

This review contains moderate gameplay mechanic spoilers.

In Humanity, you take control of a glowing Shiba Inu compelled by a series of strange voices in its head to guide a never-ending wave of people to their apparent safety in each level or map. Every stage is comprised of a series of blocks forming various structures, completely suspended in mid-air, and often littered with traps and other hazards. A steady stream of humans continuously spews forth from either one or multiple shining doorways placed around the environment, and - being a magical dog - it’s up to you to clear a safe path to the giant pillars of light that serve as the end goal.

You’ll overcome the many trials and tribulations that await you by making careful use of a series of directional gifts bestowed upon your fuzzy form, placing arrows on the ground in real time to direct the winding path of humanity, employing a jump pad to aid in clearing a large gap in the terrain, or activating a floating effect that removes fall damage. Each ability takes up one terrain block and cannot occupy the same space as another power.



Some maps may contain switches that need to be stepped on to reveal hidden walkways, or multiple blocks the humans will have to push to continue onward. Thankfully, your canine mobility is of huge benefit when it comes to planning ahead – your small form ensures you’ll never drastically disrupt the ever-growing people-snake you’re corralling, and your jump height allows for easy access to almost all tiers of verticality. When a platform is just out of reach, literally jumping into a member of the crowd actively scaling a wall and passing from one body to the next can do the trick.

Every stage is comprised of a series of blocks forming various structures, completely suspended in mid-air, and often littered with traps and other hazards.

If this whole Lemmings-esque affair sounds like an absolute breeze to you, I have some fantastic news. While there are no penalties for allowing your tiny followers to perish, and getting everybody from one end of the map to the other intact is top priority, the true challenge lies in the collection of Goldys along the way. These are large, golden figures positioned in numerous hard-to-reach or otherwise off the beaten path locations within each map. In order to nab these majestic giants, the crowd must make contact with the Goldy(s), allowing it to join the throng, before making their way to the exit.



A reward system incentivises going out of your way to grab as many Goldys as possible - unlocking cosmetics for the masses and, when you’re just getting your bearings, major game mechanics like pausing or speeding up time, allowing you to tell what device or blocks any given swich will activate, and keeping any placed markers on the field even after a restart. Additionally, the final level of each sequence or chapter has a Goldy requirement that must first be met to progress further.

Every map locks you into a particular set of usable abilities and, especially later on, how many times each tool can be implemented. Even with these limitations, Humanity’s difficulty never really reaches levels that would incite true anger on my part. After restarting a particularly challenging ordeal after the umpteenth attempt, I was still feeling that same sense of motivation I had when originally loading up the field for the first time and surveying it from every angle with the built-in free camera mode - before tentatively beginning to direct the flow of people.

Humanity’s difficulty never really reaches levels that would incite true anger on my part.

If you accidentally send a crucial piece of an environmental puzzle over the edge of the map, the game is also kind enough to inform you of your grave error, which is a godsend. A big contributing factor in Humanity holding my interest for so long lies in just how effectively and consistently the title manages to subvert the expectations of the player.



The first sequence of levels will hold your hand and lead you down that sweet alleyway of satisfaction, lulling you into a false sense of safety. By this point, Humanity already has its hooks buried deep within your flesh, and you’re fairly confident in your fundamental understanding of the way things work around these parts. With the first group of trials behind you, you rush headfirst into the following chapters with almost zero hesitation.

Before you know it, your crowd-controlling toybox has expanded and you’re juggling multiple brand-new concepts at the same time. Movable obstacles, giant fans that send your beloved humans flying off-course, maps that become un-interactable after hitting the “go” button requiring meticulous foresight and perfect path charting, and having to race a rival AI-controlled crowd known as “The Others” to capture the Goldy first are just some of the hurdles that get thrown at your feet. These evolutions of initially simple-to-grasp systems keep Humanity feeling exceptionally fresh, as you’re never able to quite predict what new madness is lying in wait around every corner.



As you transition from one string of themed levels to the next, you’ll be transported to a sort of hub area known as the Training Grounds. There’s not a whole lot to do here besides replaying maps or customising your little buddies, although it soon becomes apparent that the clusters of people that populate this desolate plane increase in quantity in direct relation to your overall story progress.

These evolutions of initially simple-to-grasp systems keep Humanity feeling exceptionally fresh.

Approaching a chapter entrance also results in every human being pulled together to form various gargantuan shapes. These centrepieces are quite the sight, hundreds of bodies held together in place by some unseen force. The mysterious hovering orb responsible for the voices in your head I touched on earlier calls this hub its home as well. There’s some more to be said about our spherical friend here, but that’s best left for you to experience yourself.



The silky-smooth performance of Humanity on PS5 is truly impressive, considering the sheer amount of people flying all over the place at any given time or running around the Training Grounds. No stuttering, no lag, no frame rate dips, and no crashes to speak of was just the cherry on top of my time spent with the game. I recommend cranking the camera sensitivity a bit higher than the default setting, however, as it can save you a few seconds of frustration in larger maps where speed is often an important factor.

Maybe lower the BGM a tad, while you’re at it. The soundtrack is great and a fantastic match for the minimalist visuals of the game, but the repetition in some tracks can really start to drive you nuts after hearing it for almost twenty minutes straight. For those adventurous types out there, an optional VR mode also comes packaged with the game, as does a feature-rich level creator. Even after you’ve completed the story levels, your journey never truly ends - with the unbelievable amount of user-created content already out there, Humanity is a gift that keeps on giving.



Overall, Humanity is an incredibly addictive blend of puzzle-solving and obsessive collecting, tied neatly together with a distinct aesthetic ribbon, that I wholeheartedly endorse. While you could make things easier for yourself by viewing the included in-game solution videos, nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction after finally breaking through that brick wall you’ve been slamming your head against for the past half-an-hour. If possible, drag a friend into the room with you while you play for some good old-fashioned collaboration that will inevitably descend into a full-on fist fight over correct directional arrow placement, or where that tower of blocks should be pushed to. To be clear here, there is no multiplayer. Your companion will have to throw advice at you from the couch. Right beside you. Into your earhole.

You don’t have to be a puzzle game god to enjoy Humanity. The folks over at Enhance and THA Limited have imbued this game with the power to attract and convince even the most uninterested party to grab a controller and just give it a try. Nobody can resist the allure of being the one who figures out the correct solution to these mind-bending puzzles, the one who helped the doggie save the people. Humanity is, quite simply, a damn good time.



*PS5 Review code provided by Enhance

*Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius