Once Human is heading into a busy stretch. Starry Studio and NetEase Games have branded 2026 "the year of the monsters," a roadmap that promises more scenarios, more Deviations, tougher challenges, visual upgrades and a bigger share of story and PvE content, capped by the console release on PlayStation and Xbox players have been waiting on.
For a game whose entire identity is surviving a warped, monster haunted apocalypse, leaning harder into creatures and scenario variety is a sensible bet. It also makes clear the free to play survival title has no plans to settle into maintenance mode.
New Scenarios Are Still the Main Draw
The scenario system is what defines Once Human: self contained survival chapters, each with its own rules, themes and progression. The 2026 roadmap puts more of them at the top of the list, with new challenges and Deviations meant to stop the loop from going stale.
One of the first new chapters is built around islands. It spans several of them, each with its own themes and hazards, and asks you to survive the water, gather rare ocean resources and deal with the monsters spread across the archipelago. That fits a game which has always been at its best when it drops you somewhere unfamiliar and hostile.
A First Person Experiment
Once Human is also testing a different way to feel the apocalypse. A survival scenario called "Isles of the Abyss" entered pioneer testing on June 10, 2026, with the trial running about seven days.
The pitch is immersion: the apocalypse seen from a first person view, weapons held directly, melee threats right in your face, and supply runs into unknown regions with the pressure turned up. Here is what the 2026 push looks like:
- Island scenario: a PvE chapter across multiple islands, centered on ocean survival and monster hunting.
- "Isles of the Abyss": a first person survival test that began June 10, 2026.
- "Year of the Monsters": more Deviations, scenarios and PvE content across the year.
- Console launch: PlayStation and Xbox releases planned for 2026.
Consoles Open the Door Wider
The biggest structural change on the horizon is platform reach. Once Human is set to arrive on PlayStation and Xbox this year, opening the survival loop to a large audience that has so far only been able to watch.
A console launch is more than a port. For a live service survival game it means a fresh influx of players, new servers to fill and a broader base to sustain the scenario cadence the roadmap depends on. Pairing that with a heavy content year is a deliberate push to grow the game rather than simply keep it running.
The Takeaway
Once Human's 2026 plan is refreshingly concrete: more monsters, more scenarios, a first person experiment already in testing and a console release that widens the whole player pool. The island chapter and "Isles of the Abyss" show a team willing to vary the formula rather than repeat it. If you drifted away after the early game, the year of the monsters is shaping up to be the strongest reason yet to come back, and console players finally get their invitation to the apocalypse.
Sylvia covers live service games and the studios behind them for PerfoGames, from the US. We play, we test, and every guide or review comes out of real hours in the game.
