HUMANKIND Review – A Different Breed

HUMANKIND is the next great historical strategy game. This is both a statement of his goals and my feelings about it. Honestly, if you are into strategy games and history the least, that will probably be reason enough to stop reading this and go buy it, assuming you haven’t already.

If you’re still around, let me explain things a bit more. HUMANKIND is Amplitude’s latest game which is famous for its “Endless” series which covers a few different genres, but generally emphasizes the strategic bent that continues here. The difference is, where a lot of their games have had sci-fi settings, Humankind takes a much more realistic approach that will see it compared to Civilization VI.

It’s not just the setting that’s familiar either. Most strategy games today share a similar game model of training your people, researching, and learning to deal with others, but HUMANKIND seems a bit more granular than Civ 6, while still managing to make it more accessible.

It’s up to you

You take control of what starts out as a small tribe of people. Your first objective is to travel the world, explore the landscapes, find food and sights, and gain more members so you can separate them and go on an adventure on your own. All of this allows you to explore faster and, most importantly, creates a pleasant home for everyone.

At this point, humanity shifts to what is effectively its true form: the pursuit of advancement. Well, that’s your overall goal anyway, but it’s not really that simple. Although your main goal is to reach the next age and keep moving forward, the means to achieve this are varied and the things that can happen along the way are endless.

As well as choosing which civilization to guide as you go, you’ll also need to manage how you interact with your own people. You will have to make decisions on what to do if the fights become popular or if someone gathers mushrooms and keeps that tribal knowledge. You will also need to decide what technology to research and how to expand it, keeping in mind that each decision has pros and cons, as well as short and long term implications.

It’s a lot easier than you might think

You also have to deal with how you are going to progress, what kind of civilization you are going to become, whether you should wage war with your neighbors or trade with them, and exactly how it should all play out. While this is all great fun, it is also many. The scope of this game is such that it would generally be too difficult to expect anyone other than regular players of the genre to find this fun.

However, one of the biggest things HUMANKIND has going for it is the outstanding tutorials. When you first launch the game it asks for your experience level and I implore everyone no matter how good you think you are to check out the beginners tutorial. It absolutely nails down the level of grip needed to help you get to grips with things.

It’s the simple things

It’s also in the little things, like how the “End of Turn” button will let you know if you have units you need to move, diplomacy to participate in, or a special event that needs your attention. HUMANKIND seems to understand that it’s not a straightforward game and 4X strategy isn’t a straightforward genre, so he goes out of his way to be accessible anyway, and it works. Plus, if you’re playing as a civilization that doesn’t work for you, you can just change it the next time you move into a new era.

I have no doubt that in a few months I will come back to how I play the game now with disdain and disgust, as I will have learned so much more about this game.