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A good enemy uplifts the game it’s in. A bad one drags it down. F.E.A.R. was released in 2005, but we’re still talking about its AI today. It elevated otherwise nondescript foes into thoughtful killers. They hunted you. They planned. Once Human, on the other hand, has some fun enemy designs, but one early-game monster misses the mark and hurts the experience. Before you can start defending your base like it’s sci-fi Rust, you need to kill a satellite-headed giant. On paper it’s incredible, but its execution makes me wish they’d cut it. Here’s what worked (and what hurt it).
Tuning In to Drama
Let’s call it Satellite Head, for obvious reasons. It’s a towering beast, dwarfing the trees outside the tutorial compound. Around the shoulders, its gray body loses coherency like a garbled signal. It’s fungal and mechanical; its head a mess of satellite dishes and spotlights. If Satellite Head has a winning quality, visual design is it. It makes total sense that Starry Studio would choose this monster to kick off the game’s beginning. Reminiscent of Siren Head without being too derivative, Satellite Head is a fitting opening act.
Then you fight it, and the fun falls apart. The creature poses almost zero threat, is clumsily introduced, and disappears with little fanfare when killed. I don’t mean there’s no dying cinematic. There is. I mean Satellite Head’s model winks out of existence like it was backhanded by Galactus, leaving an awkward pause before the cutscene kicks in. The brief fight brought a few such hiccups, which is a shame because it could’ve been fun if it were expanded and polished.
Once Human’s Scuffed Intro
Satellite Head gets its Soldier of Godrick moment: stepping onto the hero’s stage long enough to wrap up a tutorial on battle mechanics. Here, however, there’s almost no actual risk. The monster shoots milky bubble projectiles that fly at you like disoriented Lakitu, and it dies after taking a few bolts from a scrap crossbow. If Satellite Head is meant to teach players much more than “shooting enemies hurts them,” it’s a failure, which perhaps points to a deeper problem. Satellite Head can’t be justified as a purely tutorial enemy when a literal practice dummy would’ve sufficed.
No, Satellite Head shouldn’t be a Tree Sentinel, waiting to clobber unprepared players. It also shouldn’t be a paper target with two cinematics and minimal polish. Maybe Satellite Head offers a fun challenge if you’re trying to bash it to death with a torch. I’ll never know, however, because the game let me build a crossbow roughly 10 seconds before introducing me to that shambling radio tower. Satellite Head is a great design from a talented team, but compared to the other enemies in Once Human, it’s a brick on the brake. Hopefully, Starry Studio can find the gas again.
