Once Human is a free-to-play open-world multiplayer survival game from Starry Studio, a NetEase studio. Its Steam page lists a Windows release on July 9, 2024. A mobile version followed in April 2025, and the developers' own launch FAQ confirms PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions from August 25, 2026, with cross-play and shared progress across PC, mobile and console.
The setting: an alien substance called Stardust has contaminated the world, and you play a Meta-Human, an enhanced human who can control it. The game calls its monsters and collectible creatures Deviations, and its world Nalcott.
The hard part for a new player is not combat. It is the structure. Before you have fired a shot, the game asks you to choose a scenario and a server, and older guides describe rules that have since changed. This guide starts there.
Scenarios: the first choice you make
The developers describe the structure in one line in their August 2026 server announcement: each scenario "is a different world, with its own rules and gameplay content", and under each scenario there are many servers. You pick both after the tutorial.
That announcement lists seven scenarios and who each is for:
| Scenario | Type | Who Starry Studio recommends it to |
|---|---|---|
| Manibus (Novice) | PvE | "Recommended for any new player" |
| Manibus | PvE | Players with some survival experience |
| The Way of Winter | PvE | Players looking for a survival difficulty challenge |
| Endless Dream | PvE | Players who enjoy taking on powerful enemies with friends |
| Deviation: Survive, Capture, Preserve | PvE | Players who enjoy collecting Deviations and Deviation battles |
| Evolution's Call | PvP | Players who enjoy grouping up for team battles |
| Prismverse's Clash | PvP | PvP players who enjoy faction-versus-faction combat |
So the official answer to "where do I start" is Manibus (Novice). Game8's beginner guide says the same thing in different words, calling Manibus the introductory PvE scenario.
Three more things to know at the server screen:
- Prefer a recent server. The same announcement recommends that new players "prioritize the latest servers in the recommended list", because progress on older servers will already be ahead of yours.
- Console players see two kinds of server. Cross-platform servers have no tag and work from any device. Servers tagged "Console" can only be entered from a console.
- Worlds are a separate layer. Since the May 27, 2026 update, servers are split into Normal Worlds and Visional Worlds. Visional events only happen in Visional Worlds, and you can switch between the two at a Worldstone without changing server. Prismverse's Clash is the exception, with a single world.
There is also RaidZone, a separate PvP mode with its own servers in casual, standard and hardcore rule sets. The developers describe it as built around "a free, open, and fair PvP experience", with different combat abilities and resource rules from the main game. It is not where a first account should begin.
What resets and what you keep
This is the part most older guides get wrong, because the rules moved.
At launch in 2024, Once Human ran on short seasons. A Prima Games explainer from July 2024 describes servers wiping every six weeks, with players moving on to a new scenario. That is no longer the whole picture.
Permanent servers now exist. A July 2025 developer notice explains that when your scenario ends, your character is merged into a permanent server for that scenario, "preserving your progress". A September 2026 dev blog adds that Starry Studio is merging the permanent servers of each scenario into one per region, and that character level, supplies and Tech Level transfer "without loss" in those merges.
Signing up for a new scenario is what resets you. The same July 2025 notice is explicit: if you sign up to a different scenario, "your character's level and scenario resources (including gear and consumables) will be reset". Cosmetics, titles, social relationships and achievements carry over.
Blueprints are the long-term progress. Game8's guide, last updated in February 2026, lists what survives a move between scenarios: weapon and armor blueprints, mods, food recipes, furniture formulas, cosmetics, battle pass progress and the important currencies. It lists character level, Deviations, regular resources and crafted gear as the things that do not come along directly.
Eternaland holds the rest. Eternaland is a persistent personal space where items go between scenarios. Bringing them back out costs points from a limited budget. A December 2025 dev blog sets that budget on permanent servers at 20,000 Supply Points, refilled on the first of every month.
The practical reading: time spent unlocking blueprints is never wasted. Time spent stockpiling ordinary materials is.
Surviving the first hours
The survival layer is conventional, with one twist. The Steam page describes it plainly: Stardust contaminates soil and water, so "eating polluted food and drinking dirty water will reduce your Sanity", and when Sanity drops, your maximum HP drops with it. Clean food and water are therefore a combat stat, not just a meter to keep full.
Your base is called a territory. You place a Territory Core to claim ground and build on it, and the Steam page stresses that you can relocate the territory whenever you want. Nothing about your first location is permanent, so do not spend long choosing it.
Game8's beginner guide recommends following the tutorial quests and commissions first, since they introduce crafting benches, gear and the map in order.
Weapons, Tech and classes
Weapons come from blueprints. The Steam page counts about 100 gun blueprints in seven categories, plus accessories and perks you fit to a weapon. Game8 describes a Wish Machine where a currency called Starchrom is spent on blueprints from a rotating pool. Since blueprints are what you keep, this is the system the rest of the game feeds.
The skill tree is now called Tech. Older guides, and the game's Wikipedia entry, describe a tree called Memetics unlocked with ciphers. Starry Studio's 2026 dev blogs call it the Tech system. A March 2026 dev blog says Tech Points come from leveling up, from repeatedly researching facilities and items, and from defeating Elite enemies. The same post announced that the old specialization layer would be removed, with its effects moved into Tech nodes, enhanced crafting facilities and classes. If a guide tells you to pick Memetic Specializations, it predates that change.
Classes are a newer layer. A class system entered public test with Version 2.0 in July 2025. Patch notes through 2026 name Beastmaster, Gardener and Chef among the classes, and the September 2026 update reworked Beastmaster around riding and summoning animals. We could not find one official page listing every class and its abilities, so none is reproduced here. Read the in-game class screen before committing.
Deviations
Deviations are both the enemies and the collectibles. The friendly ones can be captured and put to work: the game's Wikipedia entry says they can fight alongside you or collect resources, and Game8's guide explains that captured Deviations are housed at your territory in an Isolated Securement Unit.
One scenario is built entirely around them. Starry Studio describes Deviation: Survive, Capture, Preserve as the place to "secure Deviations, assemble a team, and challenge the Deviation League". Remember that Game8 lists Deviations among the things that do not transfer directly between scenarios.
Free rewards and what the game sells
Once Human hands out redeem codes. According to the code trackers we follow, they appear mostly around livestreams and usually pay in Starchrom, the blueprint currency. Codes expire quickly, so use a list that is dated.
On money, the developers' console FAQ makes a direct promise: all game modes can be played free, paid features cover "cosmetics, Battle Pass, and other content that does not affect gameplay or fairness", and "we promise this is not a P2W game". Two facts to hold next to that promise. The Steam page discloses "chance based in-game purchases", and Starry Studio publishes probability announcements for its Lightforge loot crates. So there is paid randomness, and by the developers' account it is cosmetic.
Player reception is positive but not unanimous. Steam showed a "Mostly Positive" rating when we checked on October 12, 2026: about 79% positive from roughly 191,000 reviews in all languages. Wikipedia records a Metacritic score of 71.
Where to start
Create your character, finish the tutorial, and pick Manibus (Novice) on one of the newest servers in the recommended list. Keep Sanity up with clean food and water. Follow the quests until you have a territory and workbenches, then put your effort into blueprints and Tech rather than into hoarding materials. When the scenario ends, let it merge into a permanent server if you want to keep your level; sign up for a new scenario if you would rather start level with everyone else.
About this guide: it is compiled from official material and established community guides, not from first-hand playtime. Sources, all read on October 12, 2026: the official Steam store page and Steam review summary; Starry Studio's announcements on Steam (Console Launch FAQ and server opening announcement, August 2026; permanent server notices, July 2025, December 2025 and September 2026; Visional Worlds dev blog, May 2026; Tech system dev blog, March 2026; Version 2.0 and 3.0.x patch notes); Game8's beginner guide (updated February 5, 2026); Prima Games' seasons explainer (July 2024, used only for the launch-era rules); and the game's Wikipedia entry for release dates and the Metacritic score. The official news archive is at oncehuman.game.
