Everything new in The Way of Winter – Once Human

The Prismverse’s Clash in Once Human has not been well-received by PvE players, and most PvP players agreed that Evolution’s call was better. Severe lag, major balancing issues, and poorly executed mechanics made it difficult to enjoy Prismverse.

Still, The Way of Winter is well on its way, promising a better experience for PvE players. Here’s everything we know so far, including how the scenario will work, and the new gear we’ll have at our disposal.

The Way of Winter has an all-new map

The first thing to note about the new Once Human scenario is that we’re getting a completely new map. We won’t be able to access parts of the old map. Currently, it’s unclear whether we’ll be able to access dungeons such as the old Securement Silos or LEA Labs.

We also don’t know whether we’ll be able to face off against the same bosses within Rift Spaces, but all of this will be revealed in time. The Way of Winter launches on 17 October.

Hives expanded due to the “difficulty of this scenario”

According to the latest Dev Stream 1.3, hives have been expanded to 16 players to help us cope with the difficulty of this scenario. The survival challenge is intended to be more difficult in this new scenario, according to the Global Community Manager, Sammy.

This initially sounds exciting, but after having been disappointed by Hard Mode and High-Risk Public Crisis Events, I remain skeptical. Once Human has failed to be challenging since those first initial stages when we didn’t yet know what builds were viable, or where to get food.

Dying is not punished at all in the game, and until some sort of penalty system gets added to the game, players won’t fear dying at all. It’s just a minor inconvenience at this point.

You will have to deal with temperature challenges

We’ve known about the temperature mechanism for a while, but it’s now confirmed. In The Way of Winter, your character will get cold or hot depending on the environment. So how will you manage your body temperature?

There are various ways, and the first of these is a new memetics system. It’s unclear whether the temperature buff memetics are found in the regular menu or within memetic specializations at this point.

Another way to regulate body heat is through various crops that we’ll be able to find in the world. We’ll also be able to craft torches, as well as build campfires to help us stay warm.

The final way is to build something called a Thermal Tower, which can also be unlocked via Memetics. The mechanics surrounding these towers are vast, and so it deserves its own section.

How do Thermal Towers work in The Way of Winter?

Thermal towers, first and foremost, will allow players to control the temperature in a region. They will need to be built collaboratively, so teamwork is essential in this scenario.

Thermal towers will also be able to generate oil fields, influence crop mutation rates and yields, and more. However, these towers will also be attacked by powerful enemies and players will need to work together to defend the towers to keep their region heated.

It sounds like they’re really leaning into the social aspect of the game, and as someone who has grown to like the Once Human community a great deal, I think this is a great move!

All-new Securement Silos for The Way of Winter

We’ll have two new Securement Silos to play through as well, with a vastly different feel from previous Silos. With the previous batch, all of these dungeons felt slightly similar (at least to me). These two new Silos look different from what has come before, and they’re also quite different from each other.

We’ll get new bosses to face, as well. This is a welcome change since I really wanted to see some new dungeons along with the new scenario. The Vultures also seem to play a bigger role in these Silos and in the scenario in general.

New Deviations in The Way of Winter

There are seven new Deviations in The Way of Winter, which we’ll be able to capture and use within the scenario. None of these new Deviations seem to be simple reskins, like we got in the Prismverse’s Clash, so these are all new.

There isn’t a great amount of information about these Deviations, except that the first of these — which looks like the Riddle Camera from the first scenario — takes pictures of enemies, causing them to take more damage.

New Gear in the Way of Winter

We’ll get at least two new weapons, including a Frost assault rifle and a Burn shotgun. The new rifle generates ice crystals, which can then be shot at to deal additional damage to nearby enemies. It appears to be a great weapon for crowd control.

We’ll also get an all-new armor set that helps to increase resistance to temperature fluctuations, among other things.

Other than this, I won’t go into too much detail, since the weapon effects are subject to change based on final testing, and we’ll just have to wait until Thursday to see what we actually get.

Dev stream 1.3 codes for Once Human

To claim 1000 free Starchrom, make sure to redeem the following codes — they are valid until 11 November.

• ONCEHUMAN1010
• JTA6DXDRYR

The Way of Winter is sure to bring a lot of players back to Once Human, and I personally can’t wait for the scenario to start. As soon as I know more, I’ll be bringing you build guides, location guides, tips, and hints to help you in the snow (and volcanoes), so stay tuned!

Also, remember to activate your reminder so that you get to claim your free cosmetic hat when The Way of Winter arrives.