Humankind is a 4X strategy game where you explore the game world, expand your territory, exploit resources, and ultimately exterminate your opponents. You start with a small society that you develop into a nomadic tribe and then further until it becomes a global superpower. You need to control every aspect of the civilization you're growing, like resources, settlements, economy, technology, diplomacy, and the military. And don't forget to pay attention to the world map and territories you have under your guard, as they are crucial to your success.
While most historical games are pretty faithful to the textbooks and how the civilizations developed, in Humankind, you can evolve them into unique creations. When each of the six major eras starts, you get to choose one of the cultures that existed at the time and merge its qualities into your civilization. As you mix and match different traits, bonuses, and units, you end up with a hybrid that evolves with your decisions and playstyle.
Unlike strategic games that are all about domination, Humankind focuses on Fame points you gain by accomplishing various tasks and quests, for example, discovering a new technology or spreading your religion. This lets you focus on aspects other than just the army, and you can develop a civilization that excels in technology or cultural impact. You can buy and download Humankind on Windows and macOS computers.
Why should I download Humankind?
Humankind offers a unique system for evolving cultures that is one of the strongest and most interesting mechanics of the game. It significantly differs from how you would play other historical strategies and gives you more flexibility in decision-making and the outcomes you can get.
You can start by building a strong industrial base, then work on the administrative layers or focus on the army and technological advancement. Later, you can pull from the traits of various nations to get Japanese culture elements or Mayan scientific breakthroughs. You can essentially layer civilization traits and get a limitless number of combinations to craft a unique society.
To win in Humankind, you don't need to dominate the entire world by winning wars and getting as much land under your influence as possible. Here, winning is determined by collecting a high number of Fame points, which gives you multiple options for succeeding. Your victory can be based on conquest, but also on science or culture.
You get Fame by taking significant actions, whether it's finding a new natural wonder, building a world-renowned landmark, winning key wars, or developing a widespread technology. The more Fame you have, the higher your position, and you can switch to a different area of focus whenever you want to to create a legacy.
Combat in Humankind is based on tactical moves that also take the terrain layout into account, and when you fight against an enemy army, the gameplay changes to a turn-based battle. There are different factors that can determine the battle outcome, like forests, high hills, or rivers, where you need to adjust your tactics and unit distribution to either use some of those elements as cover or as ways to increase your impact. You manually deploy units during each turn, so clever actions can make you a winner even if you don't have as big an army as your enemy.
Part of the gameplay in Humankind is that there are also various narrative events that occur from time to time, and they are based on real historical events, but also closely linked to your civilization's development. These moments are crucial and can signify a major turn in one of 4 gameplay areas, namely Economy, Geopolitics, Government, and Society. With them, you can get powerful bonuses or new policies that impact your story moving forward and add a narrative layer to the game.
Humankind is a 3D game with realistic recreations of the world map, where different train types have actual influence over your actions. Strategic placement of your capital within a mountain range or developing near the sea can make or break your further development and how your empire performs. The game is released to Windows and macOS computers, and you can buy it through Steam, Epic Games, and the Microsoft Store.
Is Humankind free?
No, Humankind is not a free game, so to play it, you first need to purchase it from one of the digital game marketplaces like Steam or Epic Games. You can get just the base game or buy it along with various DLCs that expand the game significantly.
What operating systems are compatible with Humankind?
You can download Humankind on computers as long as they run on Windows 7 or higher (64-bit only) or macOS 10.12 or newer. When it comes to other system requirements, you need at least 8 GB of RAM and 25 GB of free storage space.
What are the alternatives to Humankind?
Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy title that works on Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch gaming consoles. In this game, you get to lead civilizations starting from the Stone Age all the way to the Information Age, and you need to control such aspects as culture, science, military, and city development. Civilization VI involves making a lot of macro decisions and engaging in diplomacy with other factions, and it's a paid game that also offers a lot of expansion packs and DLC content.
Age of Empires IV is a real-time strategy where the entire gameplay doesn't happen in turns but continuously, so you need to constantly be in action and gather resources, build up settlements and wind, train your army, and defeat opponents. Each of the civilizations available in the game has decisively different qualities, so they don't seem like the same unit, but just with different graphics. Economic management, technological advancement, and military tactics are the focal points of the game, and you can buy Age of Empires IV for Windows PCs and Xbox consoles.
Europa Universalis IV is a grand strategy game from Paradox Interactive that spans over four centuries. Your tasks include steering diplomacy, trade, and large-scale combat between 1444 and 1821 CE. The gameplay is turnless and forces you to focus on management, global strategic moves, and internal politics. You can buy and play Europa Universalis IV on Windows, macOS, and Linux computers.
