When the world cries out in pain, the universe must answer and in Too Many Humans, the response is gruesome.
Our earth is resilient. Suffering through centuries of wear and tear, countless species living upon it, and other cosmic events, one would believe it would last forever. In Too Many Humans by RealityZ, it cries out in pain. The human race mutilates and pollutes Gaia for their own end and in turn, it lets out a cosmic cry for help. Thankfully, you take the role of someone able to remedy Gaia’s pain and begin the long healing process.
You are Phthisis, the little brother of Gaia and the only one able to ease the pain of your ailing sister. While Gaia proposes a peaceful and nonviolent solution, as she cares for all life that inhabits her being, Phthisis prefers more direct methods of purification. Meeting his sister halfway, you’ll use his powers of necromancy to raise the dead as your agents of righteousness who will bite, claw and maim their way through the humans that ail her. This means that while you may violently murder many innocents, you will ultimately be repurposing them and to Phthisis, that’s a win-win scenario.
Your campaign of cleansing takes you from humble land-bound beginnings to the big city and the high seas. You’ll begin each level with a small number of zombies you can control. You’ll command your forces with a small construct called a Screamer, which your zombies will follow without question. Your zombies can follow your screamers in one of two ways: aggressively and in a closely bundled together stealth attempt.
Too Many Humans sees you use your horde to complete various missions across the world to help your ailing sister. You’ll search facilities, destroy buildings, and more to stop humanity’s flow of pollution. The humans won’t take this lying down, however, and anyone who isn’t a pedestrian will attack your zombies on sight. You’ll fight everything from the military to gun-toting rednecks on your necromantic conquest, whose deaths only add to the strength of your zombie hordes.
Each kill will give you the flesh from your enemies. This flesh will fuel your zombie army from spawners you activate across each level by helping you not only grow your forces but upgrade them as well. Upgrading zombies mutates them into new and powerful forms, such as a self-destructing bomber-type or a radioactive super-mutant, and will help you crush any kind of human in your way.
Mutations also help to deal with the world around you. Human forces will eventually fortify themselves against your zombie armies, so breaking their front lines becomes a must. While you’re able to stealth around barriers in some missions, in most of them you’ll be using your wall-breaking Brute zombies or self-destructing bomber zombies to annihilate the walls, your enemies, and their pollution-creating facilities.
The early access campaign of Too Many Humans is a bit short but offers a satisfying difficulty curve and engaging gameplay. Hardcore RTS fans may find themselves trying to micromanage their horde, splitting them up between screamers to deal with specific tasks. While the depth is there for a more hardcore audience, most missions can be won by massing up zombies and making well-calculated pushes against the enemy to overwhelm them. These missions are split up with boss fights and puzzles that force you to maneuver your zombies in creative ways, keeping gameplay feeling fresh throughout the playthrough.
While there is a lot of fun to be had, Too Many Humans is far from perfect. While the gameplay is fast and furious when it gets rolling, certain stages drag on a bit before this happens. Zombies will also get stuck on things in the world easily since you control them in a crowd Pikmin style rather than individually. The screen also doesn’t scroll when you move your mouse to the edge, forcing you use your arrow keys to scroll. This makes the controls feel a bit clunky, which isn’t good during big battles.
Too Many Humans also has a wholly forgettable soundtrack and a gameplay loop that doesn’t satisfy long gameplay sessions. There’s also no multiplayer or sandbox mode to go wild with your zombie hordes, which feels like a missed opportunity.
Too Many Humans is an interesting experience. Pikmin-inspired gameplay makes feeding on the flesh of the living fun and easy levels that showcase many different ways to solve them. Phthisis is also a surprisingly engaging and funny character. His wit and cunning make him brutal on the battlefield, while his soft-sided blunders in exchanges with his sister Gaia offer some laugh-out-loud moments.
This does nothing to save the gameplay loop when it gets stale, however, nor does it make the soundtrack any more memorable. These flaws, combined with depth that ultimately feels shallow, undercut the charm Too Many Humans. Combined with no map editor, sandbox, or online play, the experience ultimately feels one-dimensional. This is a shame, since the game makes an excellent first impression. While Too Many Humans has a ton of charm and a fun premise, its flaws make it ultimately forgettable.
Pros
-Fun story and premise.
-Exciting combat.
-Varied levels and puzzles.
Cons
-Clunky controls.
-Shallow gameplay.
-Forgettable soundtrack.
3 out of 5
Review key provided by Honest PR. Too Many Humans is Out Now!
