Key & Compass presents:
Homo Sapiens
by Garry Francis

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, CASA, IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Map

Walkthrough

Rainforest (northwest corner)

The rainforest is a three-location maze that is best mapped by listening and smelling in each location to tell them apart. Only the climbable tree that's right here is interesting, but don't forget about the ferns.

The rustling in the tree is a huge snake you should avoid until you're equipped to deal with it. (Except this game is exceptionally kind and never lets you get killed no matter what you try to do.)

> x me. i. (have nothing)

> listen. smell.

> x trees. x ferns.

> take ferns. (no: need a cutting tool)

> x leaves. x soil. dig. (only worms and crawlies)

> s. e.

Edge of Rainforest (near stream)

This is one of two locations called "Edge of Rainforest".

> s.

Bank of Stream

> x stream. drink water.

> x plant. x fruit. take fruit.

> n. n. n. e. n.

Rocky Terrain (near cliff)

There's three locations called "Rocky Terrain".

> x ants. x shell. x rocks. x glints.

> kill ants —or— take shell. (no: this many ants are too dangerous)

> drop fruit. (The ants take the fruit away, and abandon the shell.)

> take shell. x shell. (You just want the top half.)

> hit shell. (no: Maybe throw it from a height?)

> x cliff.

> u. u. s.

Edge of Chasm

Don't bother trying to reach the sapling. It's there to act as a landmark.

> x chasm. x sapling.

> put shell in chasm. (You hear it hit the bottom.)

You'll re-find that shell later. Return to the edge of the rainforest near the stream. There's more geography east from there to explore.

> n. d. d. s. w. s. e.

Edge of Rainforest (near stream)

> e.

Rocky Terrain (where you found the branch)

> x branch. take it.

Head back to the tree:

> w. n. w.

Rainforest (northwest corner)

> u.

In Branches of Tree

> kill snake with club. (done)

> take snake.

> x nest. x shells.

> d. s. e. e. n.

Rocky Terrain (ashy)

> x rocks. x ash. x slope.

> e.

Rocky Slope

> x mountain. x path.

> n.

Western Wall of Chasm

> x landslide. x chasm.

> d.

Central Part of Gorge

> x tiger.

> drop snake. (The tiger takes the snake north.)

> x rocks. e.

Rubble from Landslide

> search rubble. take obsidian. x it.

> w. n.

Northern End of Gorge

The tiger is in the cave to the north, obviously. You'll evict it later.

> take shell. x it. (top half)

> s. s.

Southern End of Gorge

> x wall. x crack. take debris. (can't)

> n. u. s. u.

Close to Peak

> x grooves. x metal.

> u.

Rim of Volcano

> x pools.

> d. d. w. s. w. s.

Bank of Stream

> take fruit.

> fill shell (with water).

> n. e. n. e. u.

Close to Peak

> pour water on metal.

> take metal. (Suddenly, a storm is coming.)

> x metal.

Head back the tree's nest. On the way there, note how the lightning is attracted to the rocks with metal glints.

> d. w. s. w. n. w. u.

In Branches of Tree

> put metal in nest.

> z. (Repeat waiting until lightning, attracted to the metal, strikes the tree. You fall out.)

Rainforest (northwest corner)

The tree is now on fire. The metal is gone and you won't ever be climbing that tree again. Also, now that the tree is ablaze, the lightning and rain soon stops.

> light club. x it.

> s.

Rainforest (southeast corner)

> cut ferns with obsidian. take ferns.

Time to evict the tiger from the cave.

> e. e. n. e. n. d. n. n.

Small Cave

The tiger flees when it sees your burning branch.

> x men. x bones. x fireplace. x snake.

> drop shell.

> s. s. s.

Southern End of Gorge

The storm cleared the crack of its debris, but it's still very narrow. You can only take one thing through at a time, and you also need to be slippery from the fruit. Ferry through the burning branch, the ferns, and the obsidian.

> rub fruit on me. (You're now slippery and toss away what was left of the fruit.)

> drop ferns and obsidian.

> s.

Grassy Valley

> x grass. x flowers.

> drop club. n.

Southern End of Gorge

> take ferns. s.

Grassy Valley

> drop ferns. n.

Southern End of Gorge

> take obsidian. s.

Grassy Valley

> take all. e.

Valley

> x dinosaur. x woman. x brambles.

> e. (no: dinosaur blocks you)

> burn dino. (no)

> hit dino. (not a chance)

> burn brambles. (no: That would burn the woman too.)

> hint. (Dinos don't like fire or smoke.)

> drop ferns. burn ferns. (The dinosaur trundles east.)

> cut brambles with obsidian. (The woman now follows you.)

> e. (You won't follow the dinosaur.)

> w.

Grassy Valley

> drop obsidian.

> n. n. n. n.

Small Cave

If the tiger is gone and you enter here with the young woman:

*** You have won ***

Extras

Characters

• You are a nameless and naked early homo sapiens.
• A huge snake, a python, lurks in the tree branches after plundering a nest of its eggs.
• Large ants in the thousands are crawling over a tortoise shell after they stripped it of all its meat.
• A sabre-toothed tiger is relaxing on a slab in the central part of the gorge, but it's a powerful beast, ready to pounce if you make the wrong move.
• A bipedal dinosaur in the valley, almost certainly carnivorous, is drooling at the young woman, but can't reach her because of the brambles.
• A young woman is trapped in the valley's brambles and threatened by the dinosaur. She's screaming quite a lot, understandably.
• A wizard briefly appears if you say XYZZY, PLUGH, PLOVER, or YOHO.

Found dead

• The remains of a tortoise is in the rocky terrain. You assume it wandered out of the rainforest and died in the heat before the ants devoured its flesh.
• The remains of some men in the cave were probably Neanderthals, based on their different skulls and builds, until the sabre-toothed tiger ate them.
• Some animal bones are also in the cave, leftover from the meals that the men ate.

Mentioned:

• The nest probably belonged to a pterosaur.

Credits

This is the response to ABOUT:

This game is an adaptation of the Italian adventure 'Antropos: Homo Sapiens' by Bonaventura Di Bello. It was originally written using The Quill and Illustrator and published by Edizioni Hobby S.r.l. on the cover tape of 'Viking', no. 10, November 1987 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

The data was extracted from the C64 version using UnQuill, translated to English and rewritten for a modern audience with the original author's permission. The new version includes many enhancements that weren't in the original. The coding was done using Inform 6 and the PunyInform library.

Original concept, game design and coding by Bonaventura Di Bello.
English translation, game redesign and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by BrownPants, David Etherton, Gianluca Girelli, Joel Burton, Pablo Martinez, Robert Eggleston and Rovarsson.

Endings

• You have won
• if you bring the young woman to the small cave when it's vacant of tigers.

Surprisingly, I could not find any other ending. You are never killed by the snake, ants, tiger, dinosaur, fire, lightning, drowning, falling, or poison. This game is completely merciful.

Inventory

• a gelatinous fruit. Take it from the strange plant at the bank of a stream. When you've used up a fruit, return to the plant and take a new fruit.
• You may eat the fruit if you like. You don't ever have to, though.
• At the rocky terrain where the ants are, drop a fruit. The ants tear the fruit apart and take it away, leaving the tortoise shell.
• Rub a fruit on yourself to make yourself slippery. When it rains, this slipperiness is washed off.
• If you are slippery, the python in the tree cannot crush you.
• After the rain, if you are slippery, and if are only carrying at most one item, you can walk through the crack at the southern end of the gorge.
• a tortoise shell. It's at the rocky terrain with the climbable cliff, but the shell is covered by large ants.
• Drop a fruit by the ants. They leave with the fruit, and you can take the shell.
• At "Edge of Chasm", put the shell into the chasm. It falls and breaks; the bottom half is lost. Pick up the top half of the shell at "Northern End of Gorge".
• At "Bank of Stream", fill the shell with some water.
• At "Close to Peak", pour the water onto the molten metal. Now you can take the piece of metal.
• a gnarled branch. It's at the rocky terrain closest to the stream. Feel free to call it a "club".
• In the tree, kill the snake with the branch. The branch is restyled as a bloodied branch.
• When the tree is on fire, light the branch (from the tree). The branch is now styled as a burning branch. The storm ends almost immediately.
• At "Small Cave", the tiger flees at the mere sight of the burning branch.
• At "Valley", burn some ferns with the branch. The smoke and fire together scare off the dinosaur.
• a dead snake. It's in the branches of the tree after you kill the snake with the branch.
• In the central part of the gorge, drop the snake. The tiger drags it into the small cave. The dead snake stays there for the rest of the game.
• a piece of metal. At "Close to Peak", create the piece of metal by pouring some water onto the molten metal there.
• When you pick up the metal, a lightning storm begins. Note that the lightning is attracted to the metal ores in the rocky terrain. so, uh, "logically", the lightning will also be attracted to the piece of metal.
• In the branches of the tree, put the metal into the nest, then wait for the lightning strike. This sets the entire tree on fire. You no longer care about the metal; you just wanted a source of fire.
• a piece of obsidian. Find it by searching the rubble at "Rubble from Landslide"
• Anywhere in the rainforest, cut some ferns with the obsidian.
• In the Valley, after the dinosaur is gone, cut the brambles with the obsidian. The young woman is now following you.
• a bunch of ferns. In the rainforest, cut some ferns with the obsidian.
• In the Valley, burn the ferns with the burning branch to scare the dinosaur away.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Allyson Gray, and Daniel Stelzer;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, Thomas Insel, Brian Long, and Andy Volk;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer, Lance Campbell, and DrkStarr;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Jennifer Rexrode, and Christos Dimitrakakis;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!