5 biggest annoyances Once Human should fix

Once Human blends elements from various gaming genres into a unique and surprisingly cohesive experience. When this works, it’s brilliant, but at times, it feels like a genetic mutation — much like the Deviants in the game — where certain aspects go noticeably wrong. It's the standout moments that keep you coming back for more.

However, many players are beginning to wonder how long this honeymoon phase will last before the game faces a significant drop in its player base, potentially suffering the same fate as many of its predecessors.

Although the developer, Starry Studio, has made progress in addressing many of the issues players have encountered since the game’s launch, there are several glaring problems that remain. These issues are highly frustrating for many players and must be resolved quickly.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinion.

5 aggravating issues that Once Human urgently needs to fix

1) The process of obtaining your desired Calibration Blueprint

Finding your desired Calibration Blueprint can be an exercise in futility (Image via Starry Studio)

In Once Human, weapons can be calibrated up to Level 10 to improve their stats and unlock bonuses at certain levels. However, their default Calibration Attribute is rarely optimal for specific builds like Shrapnel.

For builds like these, you may want attributes such as Rapid Shot Style or Precision Style with double Crit Rate suffixes. These can only be obtained through Calibration Blueprints, which are acquired by disassembling Legendary weapons with the desired attributes.

For example, if you are aiming for a Precision Style attribute with double Crit Rate suffixes for your AR, you will have to disassemble a Legendary AR that has those same attributes. Unfortunately, these weapons are random boss drops in the endgame, making it impossible to target-farm them.

The only way to get the Calibration Blueprint you need is by getting lucky enough to find a Legendary weapon with your desired Calibration Attribute, disassembling it, and obtaining the blueprint.

The real challenge comes when you have to repeat this process. Even after 100 runs, you might not get a Legendary weapon with the right attributes. Worse, once you use the Calibration Blueprint, it's consumed permanently. So, if you need to craft a new weapon in a future season, you will have to go through the entire process again to obtain another Calibration Blueprint.

While player trading does offer some relief by allowing you to acquire the blueprint from others, it can be extremely difficult to get what you need, especially if you are using a popular meta build that’s in high demand.

Also Read: Once Human weapons tier list

2) Vehicle traversal

Once Human's vehicle traversal is less intuitive compared to those in open-world games from over two decades ago, like GTA Vice City (Image via Starry Studio)

Traversing the vast post-apocalyptic world in Once Human feels off due to how poorly vehicle traversal is designed. You frequently get stuck on rocks, and most vehicles struggle to get over simple obstacles. Collisions with barriers or objects have no real impact — aside from resource nodes — resulting in no tactile feedback when you hit them.

The whole system feels clunky and is one of the most frustrating aspects of Once Human. The issue becomes even more apparent, considering you are constantly exploring the huge open world from the start of your playthrough.

Even in the endgame, when you have unlocked all the Teleportation Towers, a few Once Human Prime War locations are so far from any landmarks that you have to rely on your vehicle. However, with the janky mechanics, traveling there turns into a tedious chore rather than an enjoyable road trip.

3) Building/housing

Building a base is both fun and annoying in Once Human (Image via Starry Studio)

Building your dream mansion amidst stunning post-apocalyptic landscapes in Once Human is both the most rewarding and frustrating aspect of the game. While the system offers a great deal of freedom and options for crafting the perfect home, it’s riddled with bugs that can turn the entire process into a headache.

You might spend hours troubleshooting why one object won't snap to another in the correct alignment, even though you have done the exact same thing successfully several times before. This often forces you to repeatedly break and reposition perfectly placed platforms and structures just to fix the issue and complete your build.

Although the new Grid Alignment system added in Once Human patch 1.1 has significantly improved the quality of life for base building, the system still suffers from bugs and jankiness that make the experience frustrating. It's something that the game urgently needs to address.

Read More: All active Once Human Redeem Codes

4) Getting stuck in reload animation

Prime Wars are plagued with numerous bugs that need urgent fixing (Image via Starry Studio)

The Prime War is the central feature of the current PvE Seasonal Scenario in Once Human, Manibus, where you can participate in a 40-player tower defense mode to defend a Staroid Restrainer from a powerful world boss. Unfortunately, the experience is often ruined by terrible performance issues, such as constant rubberbanding and lag, making it almost unbearable.

The situation is worsened by the infamous reload animation bug, where you get stuck in an endless reloading loop, preventing you from attacking the boss. Since Prime War rewards are tied to your performance, this bug can drastically lower your rating, causing you to miss out on rewards.

5) Missiles dealing no damage

Completing the Seasonal Objective with the missile bug is a nightmare on its own (Image via Starry Studio)

In Phase 5 of the current PvE Seasonal Scenario, you unlock the Nightmare mode Prime War boss, Manibus, named after the scenario itself, highlighting its significance. Your server must defeat this boss multiple times to complete the Seasonal Objective, which unlocks a large amount of Starchorm, the game's rarest currency, used to acquire Legendary weapons and armor from the Wish Machine.

While the performance issues and bugs mentioned earlier persist in this encounter, a new and even more frustrating problem arises — the missile bug.

For context, Manibus' arms are immune to damage except from Red Plasma Missiles, which require a lot of rare resources to craft. However, due to this bug, your missiles sometimes fail to register on the target, making you waste your entire stack without dealing any damage and ultimately leading to failure in the battle.

This bug is particularly egregious because it not only causes you to waste valuable resources that take a long time to replenish, but it also makes completing the Season Objective one of the most frustrating and unenjoyable tasks in Once Human.

Given that this boss is the centerpiece of the entire Seasonal Scenario, it's shocking that such severe bugs and performance issues remain unresolved, even after the first season has ended.

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Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh