Once Human world boss spawns in the sky, players build stairway to heaven

Modified Jul 31, 2024 00:30 IST

Prime War in Once Human — A boss spawned in the sky when playing Once Human (Image via Starry Studio)

After spending over 150 hours reviewing Once Human, I was disappointed to find that the game's abysmal performance and endless bugs severely detract from an otherwise extremely enjoyable and immersive experience. This frustration was only amplified when I encountered a game-breaking bug during a Hard mode Prime War boss fight, which led all players, including myself, to futilely build a stairway to heaven in hopes of attacking the boss stuck in the sky.

Despite Starry Studio consistently releasing patches, listening to player feedback, and addressing as many issues as possible, one questions why Once Human was released in such a flawed state in the first place.

The debacle with the ambitious Seasonal Scenario system has many players bracing for a potential drop-off in player numbers as the ongoing season comes to an end. Now, with performance issues worsening, it remains to be seen how long it will be before this once-packed world becomes barren.

Once Human Shadow Hound boss refuses to fight, leaving players staring at the timer of doom

In a Prime War, the objective is to defend the Staroid Restrainer from the boss (Image via Starry Studio)

Prime War in Once Human is a 40-player tower defense mode where the objective is to defend the Staroid Restrainer from an extremely powerful boss. Players can freely build structures and barriers around the objective to protect it from incoming attacks, as well as construct their own offensive weaponry, like Gatling Turrets that shoot Biomass Missiles.

Preparing for a Prime War is a major undertaking, requiring you to spend many rare resources to craft the missiles and defenses. However, when everything works as intended, the rewards are worth the effort.

Clearing a Prime War for the first time rewards a huge amount of Starchrom in Once Human, the game's rarest currency, which is required to obtain Legendary weapons and armor from the Wish Machine.

Additionally, if you defeat the boss, you receive a performance rating based on your damage output, the effectiveness of your defensive structures in blocking incoming attacks, and healing abilities. This rating determines the quality of your rewards, which can include gold mods, weapons, and rare resources, making the endeavor highly rewarding.

Ignius Frontier is a Hard mode Prime War in Once Human (Image via Starry Studio)

On my server, we decided to attempt Ignis Frontier, a Hard mode Prime War. However, a game-breaking bug occurred during the battle, souring the experience.

After spending about 20 minutes preparing and setting up the turrets and defenses, I expected the fight to go smoothly. However, the battle began with intense lag, causing players to fly all over the place, with my character constantly teleporting and getting stuck in the reload animation.

Players build a never-ending stairway to reach the boss stuck in the sky (Image via Starry Studio)

Despite these issues, we managed to bring the boss down to 20% HP with the help of Biomass Missiles, and victory seemed within reach. At this HP threshold, the Shadow Hound transitions into Phase 2, where he is supposed to jump into the sky and spawn near the Staroid Restrainer, turning it into a DPS race to kill the boss before he destroys the defenses and the objective.

Trying to hit the boss, but to no avail (Image via Starry Studio)

However, during the phase transition, the Shadow Hound got stuck in the sky, out of reach of all players. In a desperate and ingenious attempt, we started building a stairway to heaven to reach the boss. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain. We were never able to reach the boss, and the timer ran out, ending the Prime War in failure.

Waiting for the timer to run out after failing to defeat the bugged Prime War boss (Image via Starry Studio)

Such game-breaking bugs are, unfortunately, quite common. If it weren't for the timer, the boss would have remained stuck in the sky indefinitely, making it impossible for my server to defeat it.

I'm among the players who firmly believe that Once Human has the potential to be a great, long-lasting live service game if the developer can quickly improve its performance and fix the bugs. However, the direction in which the game is currently heading is concerning.

Check out our other guides on this game:

Edited by Dinesh Renthlei