Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is the game I’ve always wanted

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is the game I’ve always dreamed about. It has you controlling a lineage of apes and early humans as your evolution and culture advances. And it is just as obtuse as that description makes it sound like, and I am really enjoying it. Developer Panache Digital is releasing it tomorrow for PC. It will hit console in December.

I’ve always wanted narratives that step back from characters. Films and novels are great at telling tales about individuals. But I crave a story that follows a more vague concept or set of ideas over hundreds of years (or longer) instead. Of course, I understand that is not something that would work well in most linear forms of media. Sure, Cloud Atlas works as a book, but Hollywood still wants to build the movie around Tom Hanks in prosthetics.