Have you ever wondered what would happen if you woke up one morning to find out that you were a dog? That you were burdened with leading the human race through a maze of nonsense, directing them all towards some unknowable, glorious purpose. Humanity dares to ask that question and, as one of the headline games of May’s PlayStation Plus offering (which also includes Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart), it’s perhaps one of the most essential and generous titles I’ve had the pleasure of playing via the service all year.
Humanity, from the off, is Kafkaesque. But it’s more like Kafka by way of Lemmings, The Beatles’ 1968 film The Yellow Submarine, and Takeshi’s Castle. It’s a baffling mix of weird, wonderful, simple, and obtuse. It doesn’t try to do a lot, but it succeeds in everything it does.
If you get yourself in the mindset of Tetris Effect (another game from publisher Enhance), but maybe with a smidgen of Pikmin, and you’ll have a vague foundation for what Humanity is trying to do. You need to shepherd the endless mass of people through architecturally impossible – but very aesthetically pleasing – levels. They can die, all life is expendable, but as long as a certain quota reaches the goal, well done. Level won. Onto your next ethical dilemma.