Once Human review

This Once Human review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. Starry Studio's free-to-play survival game, published by NetEase Games, has run on PC since July 9, 2024, came to the App Store in April 2025 and to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on August 25, 2026, with cross-platform play. Money buys Crystgin for cosmetics, loot crates with published odds, a Battle Pass and the $4.99 monthly Meta Pass.

What is Once Human?

Once Human is a free-to-play open-world survival game developed by Starry Studio and published by NetEase Games. Steam calls it a "Strange Worlds Survival Game" set in a post-apocalyptic future where a substance called Stardust has mutated living things and polluted food and water. You gather resources, craft from about 100 gun blueprints in seven categories, add weapon parts and perks, fight monsters and bosses, and build a territory that you can relocate.

Play is split into scenarios, each a separate world with its own rules and servers. NetEase's console launch notes list PvE scenarios such as Manibus, The Way of Winter, Endless Dream and Deviation, and PvP scenarios such as Evolution's Call and Prismverse's Clash. RaidZone is a separate mode with its own maps, and the newest one offers ocean PvP. Isles of Abyss, launched on October 21, 2026, is a PvE ocean scenario with islands, diving and ships on a cycle of about 21 days. Players can also rent custom servers.

Is Once Human free to play?

Yes. Steam, the Epic Games Store, the App Store, Google Play and the PlayStation Store list Once Human as free, and NetEase also offers its own PC client. On Steam, the Isles of Abyss Bonus Pack is a free add-on with a choice of one of seven Morphed Deviations, an ocean survival supply bag and 2,000 Starchrom, claimable once per account.

NetEase hands out items after most maintenance, such as 1,000 Starchrom and a purple-rarity Stardust Secret Crate, and the Isles of Abyss launch gift, claimable until November 8, 2026, includes a Legendary weapon blueprint, a Legendary gear blueprint, 10,000 Starchrom and a 30-day Meta Pass trial card. Since the September 28, 2026 update, reshaping your character's face and body and dyeing hair cost nothing, after NetEase withdrew the shop items that used to be required. Blue-rarity Stardust Secret Crates come from activities, and the Meta Pass screen offers a free weekly purple crate.

Is Once Human pay to win? What money buys

As of October 30, 2026, the US App Store lists Crystgin, the premium currency, from 60 for $0.99 to 7,880 for $99.99, the Battle Pass (Advanced) for $9.99, the Meta Pass for $4.99 and starter packs for $0.99, and Steam sells theme packs of outfits and furniture for $24.99. The Meta Pass is a monthly subscription that renews automatically; NetEase's notes say it gives a daily purple-rarity Stardust Secret Crate, rotating cosmetic trials and up to two Lightforge Ingots per purchase. The advanced Battle Pass adds cosmetic sets such as the Ace Under Mask outfit.

Random crates are central to the shop. A Lightforge Loot Crate costs one Lightforge Ingot, valued at 160 Crystgin, and gives cosmetics or Lightforge Gems. NetEase's probability page lists rates per crate, typically a 7.00% gem chance and 0.01% to 1.00% for the rarest items, with a gem guaranteed every 20 openings on crates from 2025 on. Its Stardust Secret Crate page says paid tiers hold cosmetics and currency, while only activity-earned blue crates include stat growth items.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as not pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

Once Human on PC, Mac, consoles and mobile

On PC, Once Human runs on Windows through Steam, the Epic Games Store or NetEase's own client, all linked from the official site. Steam lists it as Windows-only with full controller support, and its requirements include Snapdragon X processors and Adreno GPUs alongside Intel, AMD and NVIDIA hardware.

The mobile version is on the App Store, where it first appeared on April 23, 2025, and on Google Play. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions launched on August 25, 2026.

The official site says Once Human fully supports cross-platform play. Console players can join cross-platform servers or console-only servers with a Console tag, and NetEase's August 2026 notes describe syncing data across PC and mobile. There is no macOS version. Once Human: RaidZone, a separate mobile app, is a different product and is not covered here.

Once Human system requirements

Steam lists these PC requirements.

Minimum: 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-4460 or Snapdragon X, 8 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 4 GB, AMD Radeon RX 550 or Qualcomm Adreno X1 GPU, DirectX 11, a broadband connection and 100 GB of storage.

Recommended: 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i7-7700 or Snapdragon X2 Elite, 16 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB, AMD Radeon RX 580 2304SP, Intel Arc A380 or Qualcomm Adreno X2 GPU, DirectX 12 and 100 GB of storage.

Steam's notes say an SSD is highly recommended. Updates can be large: NetEase put the Isles of Abyss launcher update at about 26.28 GB on PC, 4.8 GB on Android and 5.7 GB on iOS. On iPhone and iPad, the App Store requires iOS or iPadOS 13.0 or later and lists a 4 GB download.

Games like Once Human

These games from our catalog also mix large worlds with combat, survival or long-term progression:

Where Winds Meet: Everstone Studio's free wuxia open-world action RPG, also published by NetEase Games, on Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, iOS and Android with cross-play and cross-progression; the publisher says spending is limited to cosmetics.

Chernobylite: The Farm 51's single-player sci-fi survival horror RPG set in a 3D-scanned Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, with base building, crafting and companion management.

Delta Force: Team Jade's free tactical shooter whose Operations mode is an extraction shooter against AI mercenaries and rival squads, on Windows, consoles, iOS and Android.

• Where Winds Meet
• Chernobylite
• Delta Force

Our ranked list: Games like Once Human