NetEase Games and Starry Studio officially launched Isles of Abyss for Once Human. This ocean-themed expansion is billed as the largest free expansion in the history of Once Human, and is now available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and mobile.
Through the Isles of Abyss, you leave the mainland behind and face the wild and strange Living Ocean. This expansion introduces highly flexible modular shipbuilding, an interconnected survival cycle spanning the open sea, islands, and the ocean floor, and server-wide progression to unleash the greatest horrors from the depths.
Read also: "Once Human" Is Now Available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
The Sunken Lord, the Living Sea
In the Isles of Abyss, the horror is the ocean itself—a giant, living, sentient organism known as the Sunken Lord. In these haunted waters, a desolate lighthouse pierces the fog like an eye that never ceases to watch your ship’s path.
There are also ghost ships wandering through the fog. These ships, which have forgotten how to dock, are depicted as organs that have broken away from an ancient titan.
Five hazard zones with closed ecological cycles
After learning the basics of sailing in the starting area, you’ll explore four deadly ocean sectors. Each region has a closed ecological cycle, in which the dangers of that region also serve as its resources.
Here are the dangers you’ll face:
- Mist of Deceit: a mist that robs one of sight
- Schwarze Flut: draining sanity
- Time Rain: damages equipment, but drastically accelerates plant growth
- Skyfire: a volcanic meteor storm
To survive, you must harness these anomalies to create the technology needed to deal with them.
Towers of Calamity and the Ghost Ship
Each region is guarded by Towers of Calamity—giant biomeccanical lighthouses with glowing tentacles. The crew must coordinate the ship’s cannons and firearms to target the towers’ weak points and bring them down.
Defeating the towers will unlock higher crafting tiers and the next region. In Phase 2, these towers will mutate into the even deadlier Abyssal Lighthouses.
In addition, there are five unique ghost ships roaming through the fog. You can disable their propulsion systems with cannon fire, climb aboard, and then defeat the corrupted sailors to loot blueprints and rare modules.
One server, united, awakens The Sunken Lord
Isles of Abyss features a single-server community rhythm in a 21-day cycle divided into two phases. To trigger the endgame, all players on the server must work together.
In Phase 1, the faster players conquer the five regions and the Towers of Calamity, the sooner Phase 2 begins. This phase features random Corruption Zones and bosses such as the Doom Owl.
Each anomaly that is cleared will fill a shared progress bar on the server to awaken The Sunken Lord. After that, a four-player co-op raid will open, in which the squad must pierce the leviathan’s skin and fight through the chambers inside its body to strike directly at its heart.
Modular Warships and Fleet Co-Op
Shipbuilding in the Isles of Abyss goes beyond just the rudder, anchor, and sails. There’s a special ocean tech tree that lets you make the following upgrades:
- From canvas sails to fuel-powered and electric propellers
- Multi-barrel cannon and harpoon turret
- Automatic fishing nets, smelters, generators, and workbenches right on deck
As a result, your ship can become a self-sufficient, mobile fortress, ready to face environmental hazards. This freedom is most evident in Fleet Co-Op, where cross-platform squads can combine roles and strategies to overcome crises at sea, storm the Towers of Calamity, and conquer endgame raids together.
Deviant Duet and the Halloween Event
You can also capture Duet, the first Deviant capable of manipulating the environment. By altering the rhythm of the music, Duet can change the weather and wind direction to make your voyage smoother.
In addition, there’s a public event featuring a floating greenhouse and a limited-time festival called “Halloween Meets the Abyss.” This festival features exclusive login cosmetics, a candy-loving anomaly, and a mutant pumpkin buff.
Once Human Kicks Off the Green Game Jam 2027
Along with the launch of this expansion, Starry Studio confirmed Once Human as the first game to join the Green Game Jam 2027. This annual environmental initiative is organized by Playing for the Planet, an alliance of more than 50 gaming industry organizations facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The kickoff campaign is called “Mr. Wish’s Driftpost,” which runs on Discord from October 21 through November 20. Each week, players are invited to read real-life stories of resilience from other players and then submit their own stories. Touching stories will receive in-game rewards from Mr. Wish, and the most popular stories will be featured in the community.
Lisa Pak, Head of Operations at Playing for the Planet, welcomed Once Human’s participation. “When enough players share their personal stories of resilience, and games like Once Human share them with their player communities, they can inspire one another to achieve more than they could on their own. One story can inspire one person, but hundreds of stories can inspire a community,” she said.
Availability of Isles of Abyss
Once Human: Isles of Abyss is now available for free on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and mobile. There’s also an additional launch bundle that can be claimed through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks.
For more information, check out Once Human official website, page Steam and Epic Games Store, as well as accounts X, Facebook, and Discord official.
For those of you who have long survived on the Once Human mainland, the Isles of Abyss offer a chance to build your own ship and unite with the entire server to fight The Sunken Lord. Watch the launch trailer below.
Isles of Abyss Launch Trailer
