Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a generational survival sim, so while you're making sure your chimps are learning new skills that will help them fend off predators and find food, you'll also be ensuring that the next generation starts off with more advantages.
The final video in the 101 series digs into the RPG-like evolutionary system, which starts with individual chimp learning. You'll be able to make discoveries while controlling individual chimps, like figuring out that a rock can be used as a very simple tool, which will then unlock neurons in the development menu, as well as the abilities that come with them.
Ancestors takes place over millions of years, so expect some big leaps in time. You'll be able to make smaller generational jumps, too, where infants will become adults, adults will become elders and the things you learned in the previous generation will be passed onto the next, benefiting the whole tribe.
I like the sound of the learning-by-doing system, especially since it's more about discovery than repeating the same task over and over again until you get better. It's playing very fast and loose with evolution, but it gives some context to the upgrades your tribe gets instead of just doling out arbitrary improvements when you level up.
The skills we've seen so far are pretty basic, but I'm hoping I'll be able to use it to instil only the best qualities in my chimp pals, like being good at maths or having excellent comedic timing. There's more to life than crafting really sharp spears and smashing rocks together.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is due out on August 27 on the Epic Games Store, and elsewhere next year.
