Why I Quit Once Human: A Player’s Reflection on Way of Winter and Chaos Weaver Challenges

As an avid gamer, I’ve always been drawn to survival games. When Once Human came along, its unique blend of post-apocalyptic aesthetics, intense gameplay mechanics, and community-driven engagement hooked me. With more than 2,000 hours on my main account and a few hundred more across secondary accounts, I didn’t decide to quit lightly. However, after countless hours of battling through its challenges, particularly during the Way of Winter scenario, I decided to leave the game behind. Here’s why.

Way of Winter: A New Chapter, A New Problem

When Way of Winter launched, it brought refreshing dynamics to the game. The snowy landscapes, new resources, and chilling enemies created a stark and immersive experience. For a while, I enjoyed the heightened difficulty and the thrill of adapting my strategies to survive in this harsher environment.

But Way of Winter also introduced a significant issue: the Chaos Weaver. This monster turned out to be more than a mere challenge — it was a game-breaking problem.

The Chaos Weaver Dilemma

In theory, the Chaos Weaver was an exciting addition. A towering monstrosity capable of devastating attacks added a thrilling sense of urgency. However, its implementation left much to be desired, especially when it spawned near Thermal Towers.

Unfair Base Destruction

The Chaos Weaver’s proximity to Thermal Towers became a nightmare for players. These creatures could obliterate bases in mere moments, leaving little room for defense or counterplay. Losing meticulously built structures and resources became an unavoidable consequence of their presence.

Even more frustrating was the fact that Chaos Weavers could spawn even when players were offline. This design flaw meant that bases were left completely defenseless during an attack, turning hours of progress into rubble while you weren’t even logged in. Coming back online to find your base destroyed, Deviants gone, and resources wiped out was infuriating.

Exploitable Mechanics in a PVE Scenario

Despite being a PVE scenario, players quickly discovered an exploit involving the Chaos Weaver. Savvy players could lure Chaos Weavers to other players’ bases, intentionally triggering their destruction. This allowed them to loot the wreckage, including high-value items and tamed Deviants, without technically engaging in direct PVP combat.

This exploit not only violated the spirit of the PVE scenario but also highlighted a significant flaw in the game’s mechanics. It created an environment where the line between PVE and PVP was blurred, leading to frustration and distrust among players.

Irretrievable Losses

Adding insult to injury, the items lost during Chaos Weaver attacks often didn’t get transferred to the vault. Valuable gear, hard-earned resources, and even Deviants — key creatures painstakingly tamed — were wiped out with no recovery options. This lack of protection for offline players and the exploitation of Chaos Weavers by other players made the game feel unfair and unbalanced.

Lack of Bootable Recovery Systems

A significant flaw in Once Human’s design during this scenario was the lack of a robust recovery mechanism. The game failed to offer players the means to protect or reclaim their assets. Even a simple bootable system or improved vault mechanics could have alleviated the frustration of losing everything to a Chaos Weaver encounter. Instead, the absence of these features felt like a punishment for playing the game the way it was meant to be played: by building and surviving.

Why I Quit the Game

After more than 2,000 hours on my main account and hundreds more across alternate accounts, it’s fair to say I gave Once Human plenty of chances. I was deeply invested, not just in time but emotionally, as I built bases, tamed Deviants, and navigated the challenges of the game’s apocalyptic world. However, the combination of frustration, imbalance, and lack of adequate protective systems during Way of Winter eventually pushed me to leave the game.

Emotional Toll

Spending thousands of hours in a game only to lose progress repeatedly without recourse takes its toll. Survival games thrive on rewarding persistence and ingenuity, but Once Human often made players feel powerless against mechanics like the Chaos Weaver, especially when these attacks occurred offline or were exploited by other players.

Lack of Developer Response

What sealed the deal for me was the lack of meaningful response from the developers. The community voiced concerns about the Chaos Weaver’s destructive impact, the vault system’s inadequacies, and the offline spawning and exploit issues, but meaningful fixes or adjustments never came.

Better Alternatives

As a gamer with a passion for survival games, I’ve found other titles in the genre offering a more balanced and rewarding experience. Whether it was the polish of Valheim, the strategic complexity of ARK: Survival Evolved, or the engaging progression in Rust, these games reminded me that survival can be challenging without being punitive or exploitable.

Final Thoughts: Lessons for Once Human

I’ll always have fond memories of my early days in Once Human, exploring its apocalyptic world and forging connections with other players. But the Way of Winter and the Chaos Weaver’s issues highlighted deeper flaws in the game’s design and balance.

If Once Human wants to reclaim its place in the survival genre, it needs to address these pain points:

• Balanced Challenge: Introduce mechanics that challenge players without unfairly punishing them.
• Asset Recovery: Implement systems to protect player investments, such as improved vaults or recovery mechanics.
• Offline Protection: Prevent critical threats like the Chaos Weaver from spawning while players are offline.
• Anti-Exploitation Measures: Ensure mechanics like the Chaos Weaver cannot be used to exploit other players in PVE scenarios.
• Community Feedback: Actively listen to the player base and respond with timely updates and fixes.

Until these changes come, I’ll be taking my survival instincts to other, more player-friendly worlds.

Have you faced similar frustrations in Once Human or other survival games? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments — I’d love to hear your perspective!