I don't think a lack of tutorials is what drove the stake through the heart of this game, and I say that as one of possibly 15 or 16 people who bought it on launch day. In point of fact, a lot of the discussion that went on here and in other venues was that the lack of direct communication between player and designer is what brought about some of the most interesting aspects of the game; discovery wasn't just "Oh, if I combine X, Y and Z, I get P", it was, "I didn't even realize you could do X." That led to a lot of palm to forehead moments, yes, but it livened up conversations around the game, and may have been it's one redeeming quality: this is a social experience outside the game, even if it's somewhat isolating while you play. Having tutorials would rob players of those moments, but beyond that, having a bunch of tutorials doesn't fix the rotten core of the title. That would have to be the fact that the game was never fun, even when you knew how to play it.
I hate talking about fun in games, so I'm not going to harp on this much, but if you contrast the boring, monotonous or laborious tasks this game lays out in front of you with something like Death Stranding, there's a huge disparity in how fun the moment-to-moment actually is, with everything in Death Stranding reading on paper like it would be the videogame equivalent of pulling nails, it instead ends up being the most fun I've had this year in its minutae. Ancestor's on the other hand literally sells itself almost completely on how it reads on paper: it's ambitious, and endearing, and sounds like every moment will be an adventure. Then, when you get the game, and you're sitting there bashing rocks together, you realize: I'd rather be walking on a mountain somewhere chased by weird umbilical monsters. Or, rather, just playing something else.
Which is a shame. Because I really respect the unique, ambitious games, and success or failure I'll support them and want to see more of them, but Ancestors really misses the mark. And 70 tutorials might help players discover what it is faster, but I don't think they'll like what they find, and the mystery of what it could be will most certainly be robbed.
