Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is coming in August

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will take us back to the days of monkeying around and fighting saber-toothed tigers via the Epic Games Store this August. To help prepare you for the hefty responsibility of leading your hairy clan across millions of years, developer Panache has put together a video explaining how you can survive and expand.

While you take control of one character, including adults and infants, you're also responsible for the health of the clan. You have to fight off predators, find food, help your buddies when they're sick and eventually expand the clan. Having kids passes on the things you've learned, eventually allowing your clan to evolve, and new characters can be recruited.

One thing holding you back is your fear. If you're an infant separated from the clan, or even an adult exploring new territory, you'll be assaulted by your own instincts, imagining all the terrible things lurking in the jungle. You can push through it, however, and as you explore an area you can conquer your fear, letting you expand your territory.

Andy Kelly stumbled around the jungle in April, so give his Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey hands-on a read. It's a bit opaque, he said, but that also makes discoveries more rewarding.

"When I did figure something out myself, the satisfaction was pretty immense. When I speared my first fish in a river with a pointy stick I felt like the smartest ape who ever lived. And when you achieve something like this, it contributes to your evolution via a scoring system, and you can try and advance to the next evolutionary epoch at any time—although you'll be held back for any mistakes you make. I fell off a cliff while trying to scoop honey out of a beehive, and I think that set my evolution back quite a bit."

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is due out on August 27 on the Epic Games Store, and elsewhere a year later.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.