Humankind Platforms, what we got? It's not every day that we get an entirely new 4X civilization-building historical strategy game with near endless outcomes, and that's precisely why we're so excited about the prospect of Humankind on the PC. This exciting new turn-based strategy is being made by none other than Amplitude Studios - the makers of the Endless franchise. This means that the dev team working on the game has ample experience in the genre. Can they tackle this new semi-historical niche, too?

If you were lucky enough to have been given access to one of Humankind's several Betas, then you'll know - this is a hell of a game. Even in its early pre-production build, Humankind's gameplay has proven itself to be quite the beast. From Ancient Times to the Modern Age, Humankind is your Story Face historical events! Your chance to build the remarkable creations of humankind! Down below, we've assembled a hefty chunk of pre-release information for you to check out.

Civilization comparisons, gameplay details (and videos!), system requirements, and heaps more. Give it a skim, and have a good one!

Pre-order Humankind via 2Game for a special pre-release discount!

Humankind Platforms - What Is Humankind PC Like?

Humankind is - as you'd expect - a historical strategy game full of adapted history from the Ancient Time to the Modern Age. Full of your Story Face historical events, it's a turn-based rendition of humanity's progression through the ages. Viewed through a significantly stranger and more out-there prism, of course. In Humankind - much as in that certain other 4X civ-building game - you'll take control over a civilization and either lead it to stars or drive it into the ground. There are near endless outcomes and plenty of opportunities to make your own remarkable creations. Whether you decide to lead a Neolithic tribe, the Babylonians, the Mayans, the Medieval Umayyads, or the Early Modern era British, each culture will add its own special gameplay layer and every battle won will build your fame.

That's all well and good, you might be thinking, but what's the actual meat of the game like? Well, let's check out a short gameplay video:

 

Overall, the developers have seemingly attempted to go a level deeper than one might've expected. From combat all the way to social progression in the modern age, Humankind is all about variety: even the game's official Steam listing mentions that "the journey matters more than destination", which we think many of you will agree with, too.

The central goal of Humankind is for your specific civilization to change the world/game map the most. Whether that's through simple warfare or insidious cultural creep - that's up to you. What's particularly interesting is that Humankind will attempt to blur the lines between our own reality and its in-game history more than, say, Civilization had. Players will be confronted with (adapted) events from history, grounded decision-making, and a number of so-called Narrative Events. All of them changing the map as you go along with every battle won and lost.

At surface level, then, Humankind gameplay might look like the game apes Civilization all the way through, but the truth is way more complicated. Sure, Humankind does take its cues from industry leaders - as it well should - but boy does it ever change things up, too.

Humankind vs Civilization - What are the differences?

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Since we've not had the chance to join in on one of the betas over the past year, we're not yet intimately familiar with Humankind's core gameplay loop. We do know about a number of marked differences that will help it stay apart from the competition, however. Even just visually speaking, taking a glance at the map featured above shows that Humankind's representation of cities and infrastructure is significantly better than anything we have seen before.

But, not everyone's a sucker for eye candy, we know. Notice, then, how important geographic elevation seems to be in virtually all the screenshots we've got. Maps are not flat 2D surfaces here. Instead, we'll need to contend with hills, valleys, and a variety of other geographical features. This will come into play both in combat - which, too, is far more tactically-minded than anything else in this niche - and in city planning.

We mentioned before that players take control over civilizations in Humankind, but the correct answer is that they take control over cultures. Said cultures can then progress through the ages, changing and growing as they go. This is, in truth, the biggest reason why you may want to consider Humankind over Civ VI.

Humankind gameplay is going to give players way more leniency when it comes to customization. From custom-built civ leaders to evolving cultures and society, in which each culture adds its own special gameplay layer, there's a greater focus here on evolution and growth. We're big fans of that!

New features in Humankind

Note that when we say 'new features', we mean in this niche/genre. Humankind is an entirely new IP that Amplitude has slowly been working on for quite a long while now. It hasn't had a previous release outside of beta flights, however.

In this section, we'll try our best to cover as many novelties that Humankind affords as possible - as succinctly as possible. Bear with us!

We've not covered all the little details here, but we think you get the picture. Humankind seems to be going after a more simulation-ish take on civilization 4X gameplay, and it shows. Naturally, this won't be up to everyone's alley, but we think there's more than enough room on the market for another game in this genre. If nothing else, Amplitude could easily reinvent the wheel - in a good way - and take this niche into a new direction. We're thrilled to see how they tackle the game post-launch!

Humankind PC Technical Information & Overview

Now that we've gone over the actual Humankind gameplay in broad terms, it's time to talk specs! You may be thrilled to hear that Humankind shouldn't be very difficult to run after all, with developers citing the aging GTX 1060 as the recommended GPU for maximum settings. Curious, but not entirely unexpected!

Humankind System Requirements

Thrillingly, Humankind is not particularly egregious when it comes to PC hardware requirements. In fact, your old GTX 1060 should have absolutely no problem maxing the game out, according to developers. A stellar choice for playing on the go with the Steam Deck, we reckon.

Minimum PC Requirements

Recommended PC Requirements

Overall, Humankind should perform admirably on an incredibly wide variety of PC hardware. The visual style supports this, too. We're looking at beautiful, vivid colors and high-fidelity visuals, though with simplified shading and texture-work. No real reason to doubt the developers' take on this, from where we stand.

Multiplayer functionality and extra features

While Humankind won't feature any sort of local multiplayer functionality, there will be online PvP for multi-minded players. Perhaps more exciting, though, is the mention of Steam Workshop implementation. For the uninitiated, this is basically an all-in-one modding solution for Steam games. Installing new features, mods, and content is as easy as clicking a button, and it practically ensures a significantly longer shelf-life for the game than it would otherwise have had.

Final Thoughts on Humankind Gameplay

And that covers everything important about Humankind and its imminent PC release! Amplitude Studios' previous work - and experience with Humankind Betas - suggests an incredible addition to the genre. It's an incredibly prospective title, without a doubt, and more competition in the 4X civ-building historical strategy game arena covering adapted historical events. With near endless outcomes, this is your chance to lead the Early Modern era British and create your own special gameplay layer. More than History, Humankind is your Story Face historical events. It's your chance to make impactful moral decisions and scientific breakthroughs and to build the remarkable creations of history all the way to Modern Times. You'll build your fame with every battle won, and every moral decision made.

Remember - rumor on the street is that Firaxis, the Civilization developer, is moving on from the franchise for the time being. Onto greener Avengers-themed pastures, seemingly. This would give Amplitude all the elbow room they'd need to push their novel 4X franchise to the forefront of the genre. Will they? Can they?

Naturally, we'll need to wait a bit longer to see how Humankind actually compares to, say, Civilization VI. It's just two more weeks, though, at the time of writing. We'll see you soon enough with more Humankind coverage, so stay tuned, and be sure to check out the 20% discount we currently have available.

Pre-order Humankind via 2Game for a special pre-release discount!

Humankind Platforms, what we got? It’s not every day that we get an entirely new 4X civilization-building historical strategy game with near endless outcomes, and that’s precisely why we’re so excited about the prospect of Humankind on the PC. This exciting new turn-based strategy is being made by none other than Amplitude Studios – the makers […]