Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey - how to create and use tools

Eating fruit and drinking from waterfalls will keep you busy enough in Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, but wielding tools will help you become the apex predator in the jungle.

Alongside letting you carry two items of food, developing your Motricity neurons will improve your dexterity, let you walk on two legs and use tools more effectively.

There are all sorts of tools you can use and craft in Ancestors, but to get there, you'll need to handle everything you can get your mitts on.

Ancestors - altering items

Walking around holding items like rocks and sticks will help you unlock the Alter function, which lets you play around with items and even bash two of them together.

You'll be able to unlock skills such as hitting, sharpening and butchering using tools, as well as use them for killing predators, lifting rocks and fishing, so here are some simple combos to get you started.

When altering an item, listen out for a "ding" noise that lets you know it's time to release the Alter button and perform an action. If you hold in Alter for too long, you risk destroying the item and wasting time.

Remember to inspect items to discover new uses for them.

Ancestors: sharpened stick

First of all, strip the stick of any branches. Then pick up a rock, such as Obsidian or Granite, and slowly begin to sharpen your stick. You don't need to sharp your stick in order to lift up heavy rocks, poke holes for food or go fishing, but a sharper stick will be much more effective against enemies.

Ancestors: rock grinders

If you bash together two rocks, eventually you'll be able to make a grinder. This tool is effectively at bludgeoning enemies and butcher carcasses for you to eat, as well as sharpening bones.

You can also use these rocks to smash open coconuts, should skull bashing be unappealing to you.

Ancestors: bone clubs

You can use the likes of lion bones as a deadly weapon, as they act as a sort of club.

Ancestors: constructing a new settlement

Early on, you'll be able to collect an assortment of leaves that you can use to create a small sleeping spot or a new settlement for your clan. You'll be able to unlock an ability that lets you add things to a pile and Build a new settlement by stomping on the leaves.

Ancestors: become a predator

You can eventually become a feared predator if you manage to kill enough predators. The best way to do that is to unlock the mimic command neuron, as well as better dexterity. If you have a big clan, with each clanmate holding a weapon, this won't take you very long.

It also frees up your avatar's time to butcher a carcass and leave your clanmates to deal with other enemies, should you encounter a group of deadly giant otters.

Now that you've mastered some basic tools, check out our Ancestors' food gathering and hunting guide here, as well as our guides on how to evolve and master the combat system.