Humanity

Humanity is a real-time puzzle game set in a fantastical world where players embody a god-like entity commanding vast crowds of people through surreal, floating stages filled with environmental challenges. Using intuitive directives like jump, turn, and shoot, players orchestrate the masses to navigate obstacles, solve intricate puzzles, and progress toward ultimate destinations, blending strategy, creativity, and spectacle in a visually stunning 3D perspective.

Humanity: Review

Introduction

Imagine commanding an endless river of identical humans, marching them across precarious platforms, through laser grids and abyssal voids, all while embodying a ethereal Shiba Inu barking orders from the ether. This surreal premise isn’t the fever dream of a forgotten PS1 experiment but the core of Humanity, a 2023 puzzle-platformer that channels the chaotic elegance of Lemmings into a modern, meditative exploration of collective behavior. Developed by tha LTD and published by Enhance Experience Inc., Humanity arrives not as a mere revival of ’90s puzzle tropes but as a bold evolution, blending real-time strategy, action, and user-generated content in a way that feels both nostalgic and revolutionary. Its legacy is already forming as a beacon for experimental design in an industry dominated by formulaic blockbusters—much like Enhance’s prior hits Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect, it prioritizes sensory immersion and intellectual provocation over rote entertainment. My thesis: Humanity stands as a masterpiece of procedural storytelling through mechanics, using its crowd-guiding puzzles to dissect the fragile duality of human individuality and mob mentality, cementing its place among the genre’s elite while inviting endless creativity through its robust tools.

Development History & Context

Humanity‘s origins trace back to tha LTD, a Tokyo-based creative firm founded by Yugo Nakamura, renowned for blending digital art with public installations—most notably, the 2021 Tokyo Toilet project, which reimagined public restrooms as interactive art spaces. Nakamura, a veteran visual designer with roots in web and experiential media, envisioned Humanity as a technical experiment: “How many digital people can we put on a screen at once?” This sparked from a prototype demo showcased at Unity’s Japanese festival in 2017, where the challenge of simulating massive crowds on consumer hardware captivated judges, including Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the auteur behind Rez and founder of Enhance.

Mizuguchi, sensing untapped potential in Nakamura’s “core sensibilities,” brought tha LTD under Enhance’s umbrella as executive producers joined forces with Mark MacDonald, a localization expert known for bridging Japanese and Western narratives. Full development kicked off in 2018, leveraging Unity’s engine to handle procedural crowd simulation—a necessity given the era’s hardware constraints. Early PS5 and PC builds pushed the limits of particle systems and AI pathfinding, rendering up to thousands of agents without frame drops, a feat enabled by the PS5’s SSD and ray-tracing capabilities but optimized for broader accessibility via optional VR support.

The 2023 gaming landscape was ripe for Humanity‘s arrival. Post-pandemic, the industry grappled with themes of isolation and collective unrest—protests in Hong Kong, the Ukraine war, and AI’s societal infiltration all informed the project’s direction, as Mizuguchi noted in interviews. Amid a deluge of live-service giants like Fortnite and Genshin Impact, Humanity emerged as a counterpoint: a single-player, subscription-free ($29.99 standalone, day-one on PS Plus Extra) experience emphasizing introspection over monetization. Technological hurdles, like balancing real-time crowd physics without VR-induced motion sickness, delayed release from 2021 teases, but the result was a polished artifact of indie ambition backed by Enhance’s experimental ethos. It launched on PS4, PS5, and Windows in May 2023, with Xbox ports in 2024, timed perfectly to capitalize on the PS5’s maturing ecosystem and VR renaissance.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its heart, Humanity unfolds in a liminal “edge of the world”—a purgatorial realm evoking brutalist architecture fused with otherworldly voids, where lost souls manifest as uniform, marching humans stripped of agency. You embody a spectral Shiba Inu, appointed by a cryptic, god-like entity (voiced in ethereal whispers) to guide these crowds toward pillars of light, their path to salvation. The plot is abstract and non-linear, delivered through fragmented cutscenes, symbolic interludes, and environmental storytelling rather than dense dialogue. There are no named protagonists beyond the dog—your “character”—and the humans, who remain silent, faceless drones. Sparse narration, penned by Nakamura, Mizuguchi, Alexander O. Smith, and MacDonald, poses rhetorical questions: “What is humanity? What is human nature?” Dialogue is minimal, limited to the dog’s barks (adorable, contextual yips) and occasional monologues from the overseer, emphasizing themes over exposition.

Thematically, Humanity is a profound meditation on collectivism’s perils. Early stages portray humans as obedient flocks, mirroring real-world crowd behaviors observed by Nakamura at events like Comiket—organized yet vulnerable to chaos. As puzzles escalate, introducing “Others” (antagonistic rival crowds), the narrative critiques mob mentality: individuals are “good,” but groups flip a “different switch,” resorting to violence. This evolves into boss battles symbolizing ideological clashes, where your humans wield laser swords or form human bridges, echoing global conflicts Mizuguchi cited—the Hong Kong protests, pandemics, and wars. Spirituality and mortality weave through motifs of salvation (light pillars) versus oblivion (voids), with Goldies—golden, collectible giants—representing enlightenment or lost potential.

Critics like Polygon praised its interpretive ambiguity: “What the player should make of the infinite collective is left up to interpretation.” Yet, some, as in TheGamer’s review, found the story “pointless” amid obtuse symbolism, arguing puzzles outshine narrative intent. Still, the medium’s strength lies in mechanical allegory—guiding crowds feels godlike, forcing reflection on real-world guidance, from protests to AI ethics. It’s not preachy; the dog’s whimsical presence humanizes the abstraction, turning existential dread into playful philosophy.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Humanity‘s core loop is a hypnotic blend of puzzle-solving and real-time orchestration, where you dash as the Shiba Inu across 3D stages, placing command nodes (visualized as glowing circles with arrows) to direct an infinite human stream spawning from gates. Basic directives—turn, stop, jump—evolve into complex tools like float, dive, shoot, or phase-shift, unlocked via Goldie collection (optional objectives yielding XP for cosmetics and abilities). Progression spans seven sequences (90+ stages), each introducing mechanics in tutorial-like puzzles before layering them into multifaceted challenges.

Combat emerges mid-game as “Others” appear, demanding humans form armed squads for laser duels or defensive lines—shifting to RTS-lite, reminiscent of Pikmin or StarCraft‘s micro-management. Boss fights amp this: maneuver crowds to target weak points, like herding swimmers against a colossal entity. Later stages incorporate platforming (catapult via crowds) and stealth (diverting patrols), creating “everything” levels that genre-hop without jarring shifts. UI is intuitive—top-down camera with seamless zoom, pause for planning, and rewind for tweaks—though no undo button for commands adds tension, as errors cascade into mass wipeouts.

Innovations shine in crowd simulation: thousands of agents follow paths with emergent behaviors, like synchronized leaps forming bridges. The Stage Creator is a triumph—intuitive drag-and-drop for levels, assets, and logic gates, enabling shares via online hub. Flaws include occasional difficulty spikes (e.g., conveyor-belt mazes) and VR’s finicky controls with Sense controllers, plus no mouse support in creation mode, frustrating PC builders. Replayability soars via user stages, but base campaign’s 15-20 hours can feel grindy for completionists chasing all Goldies. Overall, it’s a deconstructed Lemmings: real-time yet forgiving, with solution videos averting frustration.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The setting is a fantastical purgatory of stark, low-poly brutalism—geometric platforms suspended in neon-lit voids, evoking Rez‘s synesthetic haze or Antichamber‘s impossible architecture. Atmosphere builds immersion through scale: humans as ants under your paw, emphasizing existential isolation amid multitudes. Stages vary from serene swims to frenetic battles, contributing to a rhythmic flow—early puzzles foster zen-like planning, later ones inject urgency via encroaching foes.

Visuals, directed by Nakamura, mix cel-shaded crowds with minimalist geometry, achieving hypnotic density without clutter. PS5’s performance shines: 60fps crowds of 1,000+ with particle effects like laser volleys or floating orbs. VR elevates this, towering over swarms for god’s-eye immersion, though optional—flat-screen holds up via dynamic camera. Art evolves thematically: early uniformity symbolizes conformity, later chaos with Others reflects societal fractures.

Sound design, composed by Jemapur, is a synth-wave triumph—clicky electronica and piano motifs sync with human marches, building tension like Rez‘s crescendos. Barks punctuate commands cutely, while boss cues swell into orchestral pulses. Haptic feedback (DualSense) vibrates with crowd steps, enhancing tactility. These elements amplify experience: visuals mesmerize successes, audio underscores failures, creating emotional resonance beyond puzzles.

Reception & Legacy

Humanity launched to acclaim, earning an 86/100 Metacritic (PS5) and 84/100 (PC) from 49 critics, with 95% recommending via OpenCritic. IGN’s 9/10 hailed it a “beautiful reimagining of Lemmings,” praising endless ideas; Edge (9/10) lauded genre shifts, calling it “bona fide original.” Shacknews and GamingTrend echoed this, comparing it to Portal 2 and The Talos Principle for challenge. Minor gripes included story opacity (TheGamer: 3.5/5) and late-game shifts from puzzles to action (Gamer.no: 6/10). Commercially, PS Plus day-one access boosted visibility, selling steadily at $14.99 (Steam/PC); user scores average 4.5/5, with praise for VR and editor.

Reputation has solidified as a cult hit—nominated for 2023’s Golden Joystick (PS Game) and Game Awards (Best VR/AR), plus 2024’s NY Game Awards (VR) and GDC (Audio honorable mention). Influence ripples: its crowd mechanics inspire indies like Gelatinous: Humanity Lost, while the editor fosters community akin to Super Mario Maker. In a risk-averse era, Humanity revives Enhance’s Dreamcast-era weirdness, pushing procedural narratives and UGC, potentially shaping VR puzzles and social simulations.

Conclusion

Humanity masterfully weaves innovative crowd control into a tapestry of philosophical puzzles, stunning visuals, and immersive sound, evolving from simple guidance to a genre-defying odyssey of human essence. Its flaws—sporadic spikes, editor clunkiness—are eclipsed by triumphs in creativity and depth, offering 20+ hours of core content plus infinite UGC potential. As a historian, I place it alongside Lemmings and Portal in video game canon: not just a puzzle game, but a mirror to our tribal souls, proving experimental design endures. Definitive verdict: Essential for thinkers and tinkerers—a 9.5/10 triumph that barks for replay.