Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey Monkey Being
Starter’s Guide
An actual starter’s guide for being a monkey in 10,000,000 BC Africa.
SURVIVE
Choose full HUD. Even WITH the HUD you’re gonna be confused, so don’t handicap yourself further.
You enter the world as baby monkey. You’re introduced to movement and sense perception in this part, so get comfy with these things and try to locate a hidey hole. Gamepad 100% recommended.
You will then be big monkey and the game properly begins. Realize that though you only play as one monke, you can switch to being any monke (in your clan) you interact with. A.I. will take control for the rest of your tribe, but it is mostly limited to following/mimicking your behavior. It’s up to you to lead and coordinate the monkes.
Food, water, and sleep. That’s all monkeys need. Also, try not to let monkes freeze, get eaten, fall to their death, etc. This is not de way.
Fresh water is easy to locate. Early food is also easy to locate: berries are an obvious choice, but you can eat pretty much anything food-like that you’re brave enough to put in your mouth.
Try to smell/inspect food before eating it, especially if it doesn’t look right. It’s easy to get sick. If you are ill, drink lots of water to flush your system.
If you slip or fall, desperately try to grab anything you can: vines/branches/leaves/rock walls/etc. You can withstand very large drops, but use your common sense. Monkeys aren’t gods.
Some injuries heal on their own, some don’t.
EXPLORE
Bring babies with you everywhere you go. Babies grow your XP pool (neuronal energy). Keep ’em safe tho. Children are the future.
The world beyond your oasis is full of treasures and terrors. Move slowly, cautiously, and use your senses!
Stay in the trees! Most predators live on the ground and cannot chase you into the canopy. Trees also offer better visibility while exploring.
There are three senses: smell, hearing, and intelligence. These are your best tools cuz they provide information about EVERYTHING in the world. Use them all and use them often.
Solo exporing is easy (bring a baby!) but you can also ask fellow monkes to follow you (bring more babies!). When you’re alone, avoiding threats is quite easy but you cannot confront many challenges. With more monkes, you can face threats as a pack. With atleast 3-4 monkes, you can intimidate many things. Fighting can be difficult to learn, so rely on intimidation in the early game.
You may find lone monkes in the jungle. Instead of savagely tearing them apart and beating them to death with their own limbs, try to help them with whatever their trouble appears to be.
Most predators won’t fear you early on. If one of your tribe has been grabbed/attacked, climb a nearby tree and howl at it/intimidate it. More monkes howling = better intimidation. Ape together strong.
EXPERIMENT
All of the resources you’ll find can often be altered or combined in some way. For example, smacking a stick with a rock enough times will sharpen it. Experiment constantly. The “f*ck around and find out” method has worked for our species for millions of years, it’ll work for you.
Really tho, pick up everything. Sniff everything. Inspect everything. Hit stuff with rocks, poke at it with sticks, etc. Whatever you’re thinking, it probably works.
The more you perform an action, the more your monke learns about it.
Side Notes
Breeding is not automatic, it seems. You must pair any male with a fertile female. Once they are bonded, have one of them go to a bedding spot and lie down. You’ll see an option to “Call Mate”. The rest should be obvious. Females can have up to 2 children.
(a) Neuronal upgrades are used very often. These control your immediate abilities. Unlocked abilities apply to all monkes. Check it regularly to keep pushing them neurons!
(b) Generation upgrades are used periodically. They allow you to reinforce the abilities you want to keep (i.e. making them permanent) and also allows a fresh generation of babies. # of babies = reinforcement points. Additionally, monke babies have a chance to develop random mutations.
(c) Evolution upgrades are the last step and get used the least. Its purpose is to gain benefits from those random baby mutations. That baby must have matured into adulthood and still be alive. You’ll also start in a new location (or possibly returning to some previous settlement).
Unknown areas/the scary places beyond your clan’s settlement range will drain your dopamine and cause you to panic. These places must be “conquered”. Enter this area, identify enough resources (use your senses), and you will gain the option to “conquer your fear”.
