The 4X Humankind Game is Sega's New Innovative Challenger for Civilization

Humanity continues the civilization of Sid Meier, and she does not kidding. I watched a demonstration of the game last week and I'm excited about this epic 4X strategic, which should appear on PC. My main asset is that Sega's developer, Amplitude Studios, brings new ideas to a format that has long been dominated by the sure and constant sense of Firaxis evolution. The grand historic strategy is to get the reshuffle that it deserves.

The basic model is quite familiar, but the difference lies in the details. I start with a colonization unit on a hexagonal map dotted with hills, forests, rivers and special resources. I install a city, research technologies, create units, explore, build neighborhoods, fight enemies, expand, develop wonders and try to become the most impressive civilization in the world.

But that's where things get interesting. Instead of choosing to be a single civilization, such as the Aztecs, Germans or Zulus, I choose a variety of cultures across six ages of history. So, in the bronze age, I can be Hittite, Egyptian, Olmec or seven others. Each of these civs has a different emphasis in terms of units and traits. One could be better in technology, another in military.

So, if I choose Egyptian, I take advantage of the rivers and I build pyramids. My armies depend heavily on tanks. At the beginning of the classical era, I was still offered 10 new cultures, including that of Rome. When I make my selection, I keep all my Egyptian artifacts, but I attach to the works of the Romans, such as legions, old industries and efficient road works. Each of the six eras of the game features 10 cultures until the modern era.

Strategically, I choose cultures that meet my needs throughout history. If I have reached the beginning of the modern era and am late for scientific innovation, I must make a choice that improves my position. I also make personal and aesthetic choices. Perhaps my culture requires Mesoamerican influence or a taste of France.

As the game progresses, my cities, my culture and my army become a melting pot of different influences. My first coachmen survived until a later age, but were modernized and modernized en route, while keeping the same Egyptian feeling. Ancient wonders of North Africa rub shoulders with the beauty of medieval European cathedrals.

Amplitude / Sega

By the time I made my six choices, out of 10 options in each era, the nature of my culture is one of many possible alternatives. Of course, my enemies, whether they are human or artificial, also build their own cultures.

"The story is about the fusion of cultures and civilizations," said Romain de Waubert, Amplitude's creative director. "They mingle constantly". He cites, for example, the influence of the Greeks on the Romans and that of the Romans on the Renaissance and the three on the Enlightenment.

The game card is pretty in watercolor, almost realistically. Cities have a clean and pleasant look about them. Decorative creatures linked between meadows where military units pass from one hex to the other. And that brings us to HumanityThe fight.

Each of my armies is a combination of different units that I have organized throughout history based on their tactical benefits. So I could have medieval cannons alongside ancient warriors on horseback, supported by a classical phalange and perhaps by a unit of Renaissance pikemen.

On the main map, each army moves in the form of a single icon, but when enemy armies mobilize, the icon takes off on a map of the secondary battlefield. This reveals the unitary composition of each army. The terrain is also modeled in a more detailed and nuanced way than on the main map.

This brings us to a turn-based battle that seems influenced by X-Com. The Amplitude Gamescom demo is complete at the beginning of the fight, I do not know exactly how it will be, but I am told that each player has a maximum of nine laps to try to crush the enemy. This is certainly a change from Civ's single-card and hex battles.

Based in Paris, Amplitude is best known for the Endless Space series of 4X galactic games, but according to Waubert, Humanity is the dream project of the company. "Everything else we've worked on is a stepping stone to get us here," he said.

We will have more on Humanity in the coming months, including details on systems such as art, commerce, culture and religion.