As far as my current-gen upgrade wishlist goes, the Xbox One animal evolution sim Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey certainly was not in my top three. But hey ho let's go, because the game is set to evolve December 8th on Xbox Series X|S.

Panache Digital Games has entirely rebuilt the game in Unreal Engine 5, and whilst this is essentially a new version, owners of the Xbox One release can upgrade for free. This remaster will also feature a proper photo mode and new "documentary-style narration", and spruce things up with a little bit of polish beyond the expected quality-of-life enhancements.

If like me, you hadn't heard of this one before, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey originally launched on Xbox One in 2019. The gist of it is to ensure the survival and evolution of humankind, making it essentially an open-world monkey survival game. Although the game scored 72 for Xbox One on Metacritic back in the day, I'm curious to see how it handles in 2026.

We'll leave you with an official description of the game as well as a few screenshots of the remastered version:

Embark on the most incredible odyssey known to humankind: human evolution. Spanning from 10 million to 2 million years ago, begin your journey, before us, in Neogene period Africa. Explore a beautiful yet ruthless world, from swinging through tree branches in the jungle to stalking prey across the golden savannah grasslands. Decide what attributes to learn and hone in order to pass down knowledge to future generations, from crafting tools to enhancing evasive tactics against predators. Just like real life, make sure to eat, drink, and sleep to stay alive and have the energy to face any danger that may come your way.

Did you play Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey on Xbox One? Talk to us in the comments below.