Play The Humans on Msdos Online

I first came across The Humans on a friend's MS-DOS machine back in the early 90s, part of that wave of puzzle platformers that felt both clever and a little bit cruel. It was released in 1992, developed by Imagitec Design, and it fit right in with the kind of games that made you think more than just mash keys. There was no grand story, just a simple premise that quickly got complicated.

You control a small tribe of cavemen, one at a time, guiding them screen by screen through a prehistoric landscape filled with dinosaurs and environmental puzzles. The main goal is simply to get at least one of your humans to the exit of each level, but that's easier said than done. Your cavemen can pick up and use tools like spears to defend against enemies, and perhaps the most memorable mechanic is the ability to climb on top of each other to reach higher ledges, often sacrificing one to save the others. The pacing is deliberate, almost slow, which makes every mistake costly, and the difficulty is unforgiving, demanding careful planning with every move. It feels like herding stubborn, suicidal relatives through a very dangerous park.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".