HumanitZ is a Steam Early Access game developed by Yodubzz Studios and published by Freedom Games. It is a top-down open-world survival game with a lot of similarities to Project Zomboid upon first looking at its trailer. In this first impressions review, I will see what makes HumanitZ unique from the other popular survival games out there.
Graphics & Presentation
Graphics-wise, HumanitZ looks similar to other survival games in the genre and looks decent for the most part. Although, I was expecting the world size to be similar to Zomboid, instead, we’re given a smaller map in our early access copy.
It could’ve been better if there were more game modes like generating our own random maps, so that the game has higher replayability. I was looking for a menu that was similar to 7 Days To Die where we could customize zombie spawns, day/night cycles, and the like.
Customizing your character’s stats is there but it lacks variety. There are a couple of roles that you can play in HumanitZ but to make it more challenging, I just chose to be Unemployed.
In terms of visually creating the characters, you can customize up to seven features including starting clothes.
Tutorial Experience
HumanitZ has a comprehensive tutorial that includes fighting hordes of zombies in the end. Getting familiar with all the mechanics overall feels like you’re inside a training camp in Call of Duty.
I think they need to improve the sound design a bit as well. For instance, whenever I chop down a tree, it sounds like I’m banging on a door for some reason.
There also weren’t any animations after cutting down a tree which slightly ruins the immersion. If you’re looking for a Valheim-like death-by-timber moment, this isn’t it.
There were also cases where I had a really hard time figuring out how to scavenge for food. Even the fishing mechanics weren’t that clear to me so I just ended up blindly exploring the map and looting random boxes and ice chests that I could find.
I also think they were trying too hard to make themselves unique, like renaming the zombies here as “Zeeks” which made me confused about what that meant.
Gameplay
HumanitZ reminds me of The Forest or 7 Days To Die made like a classic RPG. The gunplay and combat in general are respectable. I like that they added some realism when it comes to picking up the weapons that you need to load the ammo first before you fire.
The base building in HumanitZ feels like a breeze. The interface looks clean and I actually find it more intuitive than Project Zomboid.
Spending around 29 hours on Project Zomboid, I never experienced building because of how steep the learning curve is. Most of the time I just focus on being stealthy and escaping hordes of zombies.
At least for HumanitZ, I get to experience building something in this post-apocalyptic world. But again, looking for items here feels too much of a chore rather than an accomplishment and the Zeek spawn rate takes too long.
All the tools and weapons that you use in HumanitZ have their own durability meter. You need to craft Repair Kits if you want to use your items longer. This added a bit of realism into the game but I don’t think this won’t appeal to everyone because of how hard it is to craft in general.
I observed in my hours of playing on the Demo Map that the resources in HumanitZ are quite limited. There is a way to build a spawn location marker but I never found a way to skip time whenever it turns dark.
I couldn’t find the proper materials to craft a bed. Even trying to sleep on beds inside abandoned houses didn’t seem to work. I just mindlessly wandered around the map until dawn. After killing off plenty of Zeek hordes and outlaws in HumanitZ, it felt empty.
Where’s the RPG?
I’m going to be blunt on this one. I barely felt the RPG elements during my playtime. After hitting Level 1, I was puzzled about how I was leveling up. There was also no indication while playing in-game on how much EXP I was gaining after hunting Zeeks or even gathering resources. I was also looking for some other challenges that I could do after surviving the first day.
However, I never saw any new enemies after circling around the map for the next couple of minutes. It’s like HumanitZ is requiring me to die in-game for the enemies and resources to respawn.
The Verdict
As someone who’s casually playing games nowadays, I think that HumanitZ has the potential to grow and despite some of my disappointments with its current state, I find this to be an easier alternative to Project Zomboid.
I would give it at least a few months until they release more content. But nonetheless, it’s a game that I don’t mind picking up when I want to go on with a quick zombie-hunting session. At least they pulled off the graphics just right.
What did you think of our HumanitZ Preview? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This preview is based on the PC version of HumanitZ. The key was provided by Stride PR and Freedom Games.
