Once Human developers announced a technology system update

Once Human Developers Announce Technology System Update

The game studio Once Human says it's changing the technology system in a fairly large way. The old mechanic — mostly about unlocking abilities through upgrades — is being reworked so survival choices feel more consequential and the routes you take in a playthrough can actually diverge.

The tech tree itself has been rebuilt from the ground up; there are now four branches: Survival, Production, Combat, and Building. In certain situations, some technology tabs will appear only for those scenarios, which can make a run look and play differently than the last one.

Tech unlocks no longer hinge on seasons or character levels (lvl.). Instead, they come down to how much of the world you’ve explored. You arrive in Nalcott with only the basics; beyond that, there are three main routes to acquire new technologies.

First method — allocation in the technology tree. Spend tech points to pick and open the nodes you want. Some nodes remain gated behind earlier picks, yes, but you choose the path. Tech points come from leveling (lvl.), re-examining objects or items you’ve already found, prying open mysterious chests, or taking down tougher foes — elite enemies and the like.

Second method — reverse engineering. Everyone gets a research bench by default. Drop items with artifact markings on it and you can extract the exact formulas tied to those artifacts, skipping normal unlock order and lvl. limits. Doing the same object more than once will also yield tech points, so there's a clear trade-off between straight formula gains and point farming.

Third method — technological inventions. At the bench you can try mixing resources to invent new things. Results depend on what and how much you use, plus your tech lvl.; success isn't guaranteed. If it succeeds, you both learn the formula (no prereqs) and sometimes get a finished item. If it fails, you won’t learn the formula — but a portion of the materials is returned, so it’s not total loss.

No sweeping promises here, just facts: exploration is the currency now, and the research bench is both a shortcut and a gamble.