Humankind

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 157 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 82 out of 157
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 157
  3. Negative: 40 out of 157

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  1. FabriceCPR
    Oct 6, 2021
    4
    Bugged, unbalanced, boring, overrated.
    Wait for patches and dlc before purchasing.
  2. TheGrayFox
    Aug 20, 2021
    5
    The game has some great ideas and is quite attractive atheistically but 10 hours in and you can't help but pull your hair out in frustration over the half baked execution which leaves you questioning who could possibly think this game was well designed or balanced?

    It's essentially Amplitude trying to cosplay CIV.. this one definitely needed more time in the oven
  3. BlueBangkok
    Aug 30, 2021
    2
    Oh, Humankind... you promised to were a revolutionary game that would be a true Civilization's competitor. Amplitude's "magnum opus"... So, what did we get in the end?
    We got a half-baked, half-arsed attempt to re-invent the wheel, with plethora of bugs to go along with it, and obvious gaping holes in gameplay that will later be filled with DLC. For every step forward in the right    Oh, Humankind... you promised to were a revolutionary game that would be a true Civilization's competitor. Amplitude's "magnum opus"... So, what did we get in the end?
    We got a half-baked, half-arsed attempt to re-invent the wheel, with plethora of bugs to go along with it, and obvious gaping holes in gameplay that will later be filled with DLC. For every step forward in the right direction, the devs took three steps back.

    The basic "revolutionary" premise of Humankind was creating your own story (as if that was never done before...). That is really the most elementary thing that makes a game - you play it, and you create your own story, but somehow, Amplitude made a marketing out of it. OK.

    In Civilization 6, for example, you create your own story by picking a unique, pre-defined civilization, and play with it from the ancient era all the way until today's world (or somewhere in-between if you/somebody wins earlier). The factions are fixed in Civ 6, but very rich and varied. Each game is unique, because each pre-defined civilization is unique. That is what creates the game's story.
    Another example of this would be Stellaris. In Stellaris, you create your own civilization, and guide it through a randomly generated galaxy full of wonders and dangers. The factions are customized, not set, and it enriches the gameplay loop - again, each game of Stellaris is unique, although that uniqueness is more due to the faction design choices and random chance rather than the fixed faction variety of Civ 6.

    Now comes in Humankind. You start as a neolithic tribe, wander the map, collect food and curiosities, explore and hunt. So far so good. HK's start is probably the best start any 4X strategy game has had to date. However, the good things end when you found a city and pick a nation. From that point onward, every game is the same, and the spastic nation-swapping mechanic reinforces that feeling.
    Every game of Humankind feels like the same game. AI blatantly cheats, even on lower difficulties, since it can always see curiosities in the fog of war, so it will go from neolithic to picking a nation sooner than you. Good luck trying to secure Mycenaeans, as AI will pick them first every single game. Every single game there will be some colored blob next to you who will be Mycenaeans, then probably Goths, then probably Byzantines or Norse... or whatever. After a few hours, you won't care anymore. And to add insult to the injury, the leaders are random and they look out of place most of the time. The culture swapping is mostly a gimmick that only exarcebates the blandness of Humankind. In reality, it gives you no extra flexibility, because you can't really play what you want or create your own faction. It's the worst of both worlds.
    The diplomacy is a complete joke. AI will randomly start to hate you, create grievances, and so on. On normal and lower, they will be weaker than you, so they won't ever attack. Each AI has its "personality" but that is a lie. All of them are the same idiots.
    The real gameplay consists of min-maxing and micro-management, which in this game is absolutely mind-boggling. You have about a million infrastructure projects throughout the ages, and 99 per cent of them can be summed up as "+X to farmer output" or something like that. This was also a problem in the Endless series, but here, it's cranked up to eleven.
    The balance is non-existent. Agrarian and Builder nations are overpowered and should be picked every time if you're playing to win, as they will breeze through the eras and earns a ton of score, which, by the way, is how you win the game. By the way, the game obfuscates what gives you score and how. The UI hides important information, while bombarding you with nonsense at the same time (like getting 20 grievances from that orange blob every single turn). In a way, it's a real achievement how awful the UI is.
    And don't even get me started on the bugs, or how obvious it is that the game is designed to "wow" you for the first 2 hours or so, for the sole reason that you won't have the chance to refund it. Add to it the obvious blank spaces (like nonsensical and nonimpactful religion) that are reserved for DLC. Absolutely disgusting.

    The most common myth I see many people stating when they give this game 6/10 or similar score is that it has its flaws, but ultimately, somewhere "under all that" it's a good game.
    In reality, no. The game is bad, its fundamentals are flawed. There is nothing "under all that". It cannot be fixed with updates or DLC. The only really good thing Humankind does is the initial stage of the game and that's it. It's a huge step back for Amplitude compared to the Endless series.

    If you want a unique story each game with pre-defined factions, play Civ 6. If you want a unique story each game with customized factions, play Stellaris.
    And if you want to bore yourself to tears with a soulless Civ rip-off, play Humankind    … Expand
  4. Tysonfuryy
    Aug 26, 2021
    2
    Mediocre civ clone suffers from bad design choices, awful AI and lack of meaningful choices.

    General lack of charisma and blandess makes the factions unmemorable. Bugs can be patched but some of mechanics would need a full redesign.
  5. TsukasaHiiragi
    Aug 22, 2021
    5
    Pro's

    Interesting 4X civilization/endless legends hybrid Many different options and paths through the game Con's Player *needs* a great start Overly complicated Gets boring Pacing is very slow and sluggish Seems restrictive Questionable design decisions As always, the 10 squad fakers are out in force - this game does not warrant a 10 or a 0, those reviews should be    Pro's

    Interesting 4X civilization/endless legends hybrid
    Many different options and paths through the game

    Con's

    Player *needs* a great start
    Overly complicated
    Gets boring
    Pacing is very slow and sluggish
    Seems restrictive
    Questionable design decisions

    As always, the 10 squad fakers are out in force - this game does not warrant a 10 or a 0, those reviews should be ignored entirely, Humankind with it's current issues I'd say its a solid 5 or 6, it isn't terrible but needs some work for sure, some 4X players are going to enjoy it regardless and usually depends on playstyle, aggressive players might not enjoy Humankind as much as battle options seem to be more restrictive than most.

    Interesting attempt at a 4X civilization style of game mixed with Endless Legend style combat but seems to be borderline broken in many areas which many restrictions placed on the player. You'll be restarting the game over and over because you need an absolutely amazing start to get any foothold, it is entirely possible to go many turns before you even amass enough curiosities to even build your first outpost whilst your AI opponents have already got a solid foothold, you can't even destroy these outposts only ransack them in the beginning so a great start is essential.

    Graphics are on par with Civilization 6, with good music and voice overs but feels like it tries to cram in so many different mechanics that new 4X players will quickly get swamped and feel lost, whilst combat is interesting it still serves very little point as you'll almost always go for the instant battle options which favors sheer power over any strategy, whilst 4X veterans might try to cheese some battles which opens up potential abuse with online multiplayer games.

    One issue I found was the game could get boring fast, and for a 4X game you always want that feeling of one more turn, and Humankind doesn't give me that vibe and that means something isn't working right, pacing could be the issue here as the game seems to be more suited to diplomacy and cultural aspects rather than a domination and conqueror playstyles.

    Whilst I don't hate Humankid, it really does feel like it needs some patches and some fine tuning to iron out some of the issues, it certainly isn't a terrible game but so far for me, it is slightly disappointing but I hope Amplitude can address some of the immediate issues.

    One of my gripes is everything takes so long that the pacing in the game clearly needs major work, the options for speed are all based on # of turns to win from 75 turns to a maximum of 600 and that is it for options, and everything related to your civilization requires influence, no settlers or anything to spread your empire, this is done via outposts which cost influence and if you want to build a city it costs a significant amount so you are forced to space out your outposts strategy to 'attach' them to your cities so you can maximize your FIMS, it sounds easy but in practice it is far from it and it gets quite boring. This game needs better pacing, and advanced options to tailor-make the game to specific players. I'd prefer to remove the turn limit entirely and have better options to win the game.    … Expand
  6. Alecseus
    Aug 22, 2021
    5
    Poorly thought out game. There are interesting mechanics, but the AI ​​is not able to work with them properly. There is a high probability that in the final phase the game will end with an ecological apocalypse, because AI fouls the environment like 10 Chinas.
    Some of the mechanics themselves are poorly thought out.
    The civilization development system looks interesting, but there are too    Poorly thought out game. There are interesting mechanics, but the AI ​​is not able to work with them properly. There is a high probability that in the final phase the game will end with an ecological apocalypse, because AI fouls the environment like 10 Chinas.
    Some of the mechanics themselves are poorly thought out.
    The civilization development system looks interesting, but there are too few options.
    AI is a clinical idiot. If you think that C6 had dumb AI then play Humankind and behold the abyss.
    I expected much more.    … Expand
  7. reviewtimeman
    Sep 17, 2021
    2
    TLDR: This game is unfinished, broken, and hobbled together from the better parts of better games.

    When you start this game, you're going to be provided with an incredibly barebones character-creator, a couple of odd insignias to assign your civilization, a couple colors, and a list of Youtube Video Tutorials. I'm gonna be honest with you. I skipped the 5-hour tutorials. I've played 4x    TLDR: This game is unfinished, broken, and hobbled together from the better parts of better games.

    When you start this game, you're going to be provided with an incredibly barebones character-creator, a couple of odd insignias to assign your civilization, a couple colors, and a list of Youtube Video Tutorials.
    I'm gonna be honest with you. I skipped the 5-hour tutorials. I've played 4x strat before. I figured I'd get my ass kicked, hard, learn from it, and do a fun playthrough afterwards.

    There's no challenge here. The AI will constantly roll over for you. No loss feels large enough to matter. The only challenge presented, ever, is working around hollow, half-baked, mechanics or bugs to try to play the game.

    You start off as a small tribe. Hunting. Gathering. You build up to a city, get some money/culture, and select from a list of Civilizations. You do this, more or less, the same for every era.
    Cities can only be made by spending culture. Cities can absorb smaller settlements, so that you can collect resources from those annoying spots. (I'm looking at your barren tundra oil wastelands, Civilization.)
    Money is more-or-less useless in this game. The game will occasionally give you a choice. For Example: You have a rat infestation. Do you bring in cats or ferrets? Each choice provides a moral alignment for your civ somehow, and may affect how other civilizations feel about you. The correct answer is whatever spends the most money. Don't worry, you probably won't run out. I had 15k gold in my treasury, but even at the wildest moments, nothing cost more than 600 gold. (or if there was something good, it was conveniently out of sight.)

    There's more choices like this, that have more drastic measures, but you spend Culture on them. It's a useful resource.

    Building anything but war-based establishments will create instability in your realm. You have to build forts to keep it up. Never ran into a problem with this. Always stacked out with stability. Maybe it's really fascinating and interesting, but the game never showed it.

    This game plays like Checkers. The AI constantly hands you wins, the battle system gives you constantly favorable results if you just hit the "skip battle" button, and you can endlessly queue up production items. I ignored all of my cities for the majority of my playthrough, outside of occasional management per every couple thousand years (or to set up a specialty fighting unit.)

    The game acts like it doesn't want you to play it. Every change that happens on screen will give you a phone-like notification in the bottom right corner. Some of these include up to 10 paragraphs of text. I can't imagine trying to play this with other people or online. Unless all of your friends are speed-readers, it's going to be a pain. These notifications are constant, too. Given the longer ones are rarer, but this is every time a civilization changes their opinion on you, production is complete, science is complete, if a warrior has another move left. Normal 4x strat stuff. If any of it was fun, it wouldn't feel like the chore that it is.

    City names are chosen by what Civilization you're currently being, and your character will wear clothing matching your current life. You'll get some boosts, specific military classes, and usually a specialty district per civilization. Wonders are chosen, paid for with culture (before building) at the start of every era. If you get left behind early, every good civilization/wonder will be chosen. It pays to be ahead in this game. I went from early ancient Chinese culture, to English, to Goths at one point, the Japanese. If you want to watch a man cosplay as every culture on Earth, while somehow feeling completely devoid and empty of what makes these civilizations special, this is it. None of the specialty units are interesting. None of the districts provide anything unique. It's always a simple boost to production, gold, faith, or culture.

    Religion isn't worth mentioning. None of it affected anything in my 10 hr playthrough. Just a different reason to have different random decisions appear. Do you want eunuchs? Sure? You won't hear about them again and it doesn't have any real effect. Cats? Cool. It feels like playing a Buzzfeed personality test in the middle of a game.

    None of the game mechanics flow with one another, or truly affect one another. The AI is useless (not to mention constantly swapping names every era), the gameplay so watered-down a toddler could wing it (and probably win, on accident, I mean, I did), and it's painfully boring. The voice acting is so atrocious. I don't think they hired a writer for this poor dude. He inanely rambles when you unlock or achieve anything. This game has a mandatory achievement system, as well, with random star rankings. Doesn't matter.

    This is not a One More Turn situation. It is a "Maybe This Will Be a Subpar, Finished, Game in a Couple of Years (but by then, will anyone care?)    … Expand
  8. Diniz
    Aug 22, 2021
    0
    This game is clearly not done. The mechanics are very restrictive and with a lot of issues.
  9. benny___
    Aug 19, 2021
    6
    Good - interesting twist on 4X with the aim being notable achievements rather than heading towards a set victory condition, army composition and battles are interesting, and it feels like a lot of depth is present in the game.

    Not so good - I find the UI quite hard to use, especially when it comes to understanding the borders of different territories, whether they can be claimed /    Good - interesting twist on 4X with the aim being notable achievements rather than heading towards a set victory condition, army composition and battles are interesting, and it feels like a lot of depth is present in the game.

    Not so good - I find the UI quite hard to use, especially when it comes to understanding the borders of different territories, whether they can be claimed / attached to cities, ridiculously slow scroll speed and no fast unit movement can make it a drag to play. Also - I get that they have gone for a certain style in the UIs, but the flatness and limited palette do no favours when trying to understand what's going on...

    Solution - improve the UI, it's obscuring what looks like a fascinating game (in the same way as playing vanilla Civ VI is far less enjoyable than playing with UI mods to smooth the rough edges).    … Expand
  10. extasyWhite
    Aug 20, 2021
    10
    Very good and in my opinion fresh look in 4x strategy mechanics. Graphic is Gordius, music building climat in every era for every civ you pick. I love new tactic battles. Picking new civ every era is very cool because you can prepare new tactics vs what is going on on map. And AI is not that bad like is now in civ 6. Ofc u need to choose difficult lvl above "Nation". I want too see howVery good and in my opinion fresh look in 4x strategy mechanics. Graphic is Gordius, music building climat in every era for every civ you pick. I love new tactic battles. Picking new civ every era is very cool because you can prepare new tactics vs what is going on on map. And AI is not that bad like is now in civ 6. Ofc u need to choose difficult lvl above "Nation". I want too see how this game will be supported in near futue, with new dlc etc. very big potential we have in Humankind… Expand
  11. slutch94
    Sep 3, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. With bugs like my save files of 14 hours just gone like that I cannot recommend this game at this time if they don't at least fix basic problems like that.

    The game itself works smoothly and I like a lot of the mechanics. The war and unit management is a joy to play and the beginning of the game is different and enjoyable, also the pop up scenarios was great (but became less interesting as the game went on however) and the star system too gave this game a unique feel to it.

    However everything else seems a bit bleak and not impactful enough like the faith, diplomatics, civics, some stuff didn't matter at all. It all feels mushed together and does not change that much through the eras. I don't feel like I have a clear goal or strategy, just achievement hunting towards another star.

    I am torn of the idea with the whole changing cultures through the eras, its cool, but you don't feel that connected to the civs you choose. To me it just felt like I more chose the civilization cause of its perks when I needed certain boosts like food/work/gold/science. This made the certain civ less important to me, which put a bad taste in my mouth as you want to feel at least a little connected when you choose to play with a civilization

    Game: 5/10 (Pretty ok game)
    Overall with the major bugs 3/10    … Expand
  12. aidan0
    Aug 26, 2021
    5
    I don't like the execution of this one. I've been a fan of all of Amplitude Studios games from endless dungeons to endless space 2 + DLC's. But this one just misses the mark. It feels random at time. I can't really build the civilization I want to build. To survive I always have to kill my neighbor's in a defensive war. Battles aren't even that stimulating. AI is just a meat grinder, allI don't like the execution of this one. I've been a fan of all of Amplitude Studios games from endless dungeons to endless space 2 + DLC's. But this one just misses the mark. It feels random at time. I can't really build the civilization I want to build. To survive I always have to kill my neighbor's in a defensive war. Battles aren't even that stimulating. AI is just a meat grinder, all you need is to be ahead in tech.

    The end games always falls apart. Alliance for 100 rounds the AI thinks it's fun to attack.
    It doesn't seem to matter what I do, the AI just want to go to war.

    I won't refund the game, but I won't play it anymore.
    With all the beauty of the game and care taken in making it, I don't find it fun.    … Expand
  13. SebastiedJuan
    Sep 8, 2021
    9
    This is a great game for many reasons.
    Graphic is excellent, the best of all competitors. Same for the audio.
    Ui is clear and well made but ned some improvments (es when a Civ die is not clearly visible by the panel and stuff like that). Gameplay: here we have some great things and some things that needs to be improved but they are not the core of the game, so the gameplay is    This is a great game for many reasons.
    Graphic is excellent, the best of all competitors. Same for the audio.
    Ui is clear and well made but ned some improvments (es when a Civ die is not clearly visible by the panel and stuff like that).
    Gameplay: here we have some great things and some things that needs to be improved but they are not the core of the game, so the gameplay is structurally and basically great.
    The gameplay of this game deserve other words.
    Gameplay in general is amazing cause it give to the game a great rhythm and pace. And on this point the game outclasses Civ6 (in graphic and interface too, but lets concede that those aspects of the game are minority in a strategy game). Where Civ is SLOW this game is fast and give you, EACH TURN an aim, a thing that you can choice, can do that improve your impact in the development of the progression. A.I. is not idiot as in Civ6 and this is another fact. And all this is the CORE of the game, and is excellent (the idea of changing culture is amazing and give you for each game different solutions and approach to the game, not based on fantasy but on the real needs that that particvular game, strategically, needs). Oh, the fight are very good (but i'm sure u have read this everywhere cause who reviews a strategic game it is not capable of more in-depth analysis than this)
    Than we have the defects. Religion is not so important (but it has a value and realistically this value gets weakened over the time, as it happens in real life over the centurys now religion has almost a 0 value) and needs a little bit of improvement. Diplomacy needs improvements: too easy to find alliances that grant big bonuses with some cultural choice and wonders and warmongers doesn't have a lot of penalty (just the loss of those bonuses aniway), and some other little stuff. MAYBE, the last era, contemporary, need to be more calibrated, to last more time.
    So why Humankind takes 79 metacritic and Civ6 takes 88!?
    Because who reviews a strategic game it is not capable of more in-depth analysis.
    And in the case of Civ 6, when it comes out (and for a guy that plays a lot Civ before was clearly a big step back from the past fantastic game that ti was) he was THE ONLY 4x grandstrategy, historical game, so they where too lazy to open a critics to a brand that is the only one and people, especially the new public, doesn't have terms of comparison.
    And now why they doesn't give Humankind a 90 (and if Humankind is 90 Civ6 should be 80)?
    For the same reason: they can't judge a game that needs toons of hopurs of game, and they cannot do for a small audience that will agree, when the majority of audience can only play a game like that for 20 hours and say: the fights are good, religion is useless, diplomacy same, Civ 6 is a great brand and other idiots idea like that.
    So they take the negative aspect, that everyone can see, and don't have valued the great essencial things that the game has, cause that essencial things are the core of the game, but the game is a pure strategical game and not everyone care or can really understand in deep what great strategy game this is, even them with a review that take em 50 hours of play.    … Expand
  14. EgorRomanovv
    Aug 24, 2021
    10
    This is a great game and I am happy with it. It doesn't look like civilization at all. Action, terrain, storyteller, beginning and end. Playing it, you really feel that you are making history. civic after this game seems to be chopped off and old game at the moment. 10/10
  15. GRUShalashaska
    Sep 2, 2021
    8
    Humankind offers a good basic package, but it lacks a bit of fine-tuning. While the AI ​​is doing well to very well, the graphics are fabulous and the diplomatic possibilities are also convincing, the only thing that bothers me so far is the way the game runs far too quickly (research and cultural progress run far too quickly) and some balancing problems.

    With the upcoming mod support,    Humankind offers a good basic package, but it lacks a bit of fine-tuning. While the AI ​​is doing well to very well, the graphics are fabulous and the diplomatic possibilities are also convincing, the only thing that bothers me so far is the way the game runs far too quickly (research and cultural progress run far too quickly) and some balancing problems.

    With the upcoming mod support, some patches and DLC, I am confident that "Humankind" will be one of the big round strategy games in 1-2 years.

    DEUTSCH:
    Humankind bietet ein gutes Basispaket, dem aber noch etwas Feinschliff fehlt. Während sich die KI gut bis sehr gut schlägt, die Grafik fabelhaft ist und die diplomatischen Möglichkeiten auch überzeugen können, stören mich bisher nur der viel zu schnelle Spielablauf (Forschung und kultureller Fortschritt laufen viel zu schnell ab) und einige Balancing-Probleme.

    Mit aufkommendem Modsupport, einigen Patches und DLC, bin ich zuversichtlich, das Humankind in 1-2 Jahren zu den ganz großen Rundenstrategiespieln gehören wird.    … Expand
  16. katieelizabeth
    Aug 19, 2021
    0
    I am absolutely baffled at how poor the UX and font sizes are in this game in many cases. Some fonts are light gray on an even lighter grey background, and there's so many fonts within the game that are 6-10 pixels tall with no option in sight to increase them. Screen real-estate is not used very well at all - there's so much empty space that could have been used for larger fonts.

    I    I am absolutely baffled at how poor the UX and font sizes are in this game in many cases. Some fonts are light gray on an even lighter grey background, and there's so many fonts within the game that are 6-10 pixels tall with no option in sight to increase them. Screen real-estate is not used very well at all - there's so much empty space that could have been used for larger fonts.

    I actually reported this many months ago in beta feedback, but it's clear they did nothing to address it. I even provided screenshots and solutions to fix it too - I really wanted this fixed.

    Amplitude, thanks for creating a game I cannot play.    … Expand
  17. PMG-Writer
    Aug 20, 2021
    8
    Thus, those responsible managed to create a very good game with "Humankind". The possibilities are diverse and also the possibilities seem to be endless in the course of the game. The artificial intelligence always does its job well and thus creates an exciting game. In some places it doesn't quite come close to the big games of the genre, but still we are grumbling here on a very highThus, those responsible managed to create a very good game with "Humankind". The possibilities are diverse and also the possibilities seem to be endless in the course of the game. The artificial intelligence always does its job well and thus creates an exciting game. In some places it doesn't quite come close to the big games of the genre, but still we are grumbling here on a very high level. If you would like to play a new game in this genre again, you should take a closer look at "Humankind".… Expand
  18. LordGiygas
    Aug 22, 2021
    0
    The game was hyped up. A.I is an absolute mess, combat is buggy, and UI will glitch out every so often. Very disappointed.
  19. nonameguy
    Aug 30, 2021
    0
    Why one of my favorite developers have done this... The game is full of SJW propaganda with retarded Soviets and great space conquerors US.
  20. AdmiralNazgul
    Aug 21, 2021
    9
    Quite an enjoyable game. While it's still in its early phases, the UI is quite nice and easy to read. Civ players will have no issue getting into this game. The AI could use some increased difficulty and more competent aggression. Would like to see more complex winning conditions without a forced turn limit victory. Overall quite fun and absolutely beautiful. Uses a good and comfortingQuite an enjoyable game. While it's still in its early phases, the UI is quite nice and easy to read. Civ players will have no issue getting into this game. The AI could use some increased difficulty and more competent aggression. Would like to see more complex winning conditions without a forced turn limit victory. Overall quite fun and absolutely beautiful. Uses a good and comforting combination of the best of civ 5 with some elements of civ 6. Definitely a successful competitor to Firaxis with a little bit more work and updates.… Expand
  21. Pigger
    Aug 19, 2021
    3
    The game forces a way too short time limit victory type at all times. Right when you get close to the end game a warning pops up that things are gonna end soon. Map generation is incredibly limited and what you get is boring. There are no bonus resources what so ever, no pigs, wheat, bananas, cows or anything beyond strategic and luxury resources.

    The game is also terribly built if you    The game forces a way too short time limit victory type at all times. Right when you get close to the end game a warning pops up that things are gonna end soon. Map generation is incredibly limited and what you get is boring. There are no bonus resources what so ever, no pigs, wheat, bananas, cows or anything beyond strategic and luxury resources.

    The game is also terribly built if you enjoy smaller maps, especially with strategic resources. I've had a game where every relevant military unit required 2-3 sources of saltpeter, but none were on the map so we had to go directly from medieval style units to industrial ones.

    There are a myriad of other terrible design choices, from the culture swapping robbing any and all sense of identity and fun from your opponents (and self for that matter) to the horrible balance between units of different eras. I had high hopes that this series would finally force Firaxis to get their acts together, but I highly doubt many people will be playing this shallow mess in a few weeks.    … Expand
  22. AcidCrash
    Dec 24, 2020
    10
    The game is awesome! Even now, in the dev version, gameplay awesome! Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done, but the way is correct. The game is absolutely waiting for success at the time of release. Cyberpunk will envy )))!
  23. cottandy
    Aug 20, 2021
    4
    Right now it is truly sad and bad. A major disappointment.
    Absolutely don't recommend at the moment. Maybe after lots of patches if they make it work like they did it with Endless Legend, than it will be a solid game. But who knows.
    And still does it have pros at the start? Yes, but only if you play with friends or not planning to wage war on AI, but why wouldn't you? Cons: - AI is    Right now it is truly sad and bad. A major disappointment.
    Absolutely don't recommend at the moment. Maybe after lots of patches if they make it work like they did it with Endless Legend, than it will be a solid game. But who knows.

    And still does it have pros at the start? Yes, but only if you play with friends or not planning to wage war on AI, but why wouldn't you?

    Cons:
    - AI is not only an absolute zero either in strategy or in tactics. It's absent. Practically no devs ever really fix AI in their games. I don't believe these will.
    - Game breaking diplomacy and war bugs and glitches (read features). F.e. game forces you to accept agreements that don't have sense, while you're absolutely destroying your enemy and can just wipe them out easily. You can't do anything about it. Nonsense.
    - Other minor and game breaking bugs and glitches here and there + friezes. F.e. 1. You simply can't win against small islands as you can't attack from fleet or with marines. 2. Fleet is useless. Why bother while you can win a fight with infantry against fleet?

    Pros:
    + Nice picture.
    + Pleasant and comfortable UI.

    Game also have somewhat interesting ideas. But nothing really new. We've seen it all in other strategies, also in Endless Legend and Civilization, but both cases are way too much better than this game in its current state.    … Expand
  24. NokSuKao
    Aug 19, 2021
    10
    Extremely cool and immersive game! The music, graphics and even the new mechanics are awesome. Kudo to Amplitude !
  25. SRKNZ
    Sep 5, 2021
    2
    I'll start by saying I love Civilisation so I might be a little biased. That said, I ask myself why I like Civilisation and it becomes easier for me to say why I don't like Humankind.

    Civilisation puts you in control from the get go and compels you to make pressured decisions that are meaningful. There's modesty of choice which in turn creates a certain efficiency, that has a real    I'll start by saying I love Civilisation so I might be a little biased. That said, I ask myself why I like Civilisation and it becomes easier for me to say why I don't like Humankind.

    Civilisation puts you in control from the get go and compels you to make pressured decisions that are meaningful. There's modesty of choice which in turn creates a certain efficiency, that has a real impact on the direction your civilisation goes in and lets you stay in control.

    Humankind to me has a broader ambition that does not play out well in practice. It offers a more diverse range of choices but in doing so waters down any sense that you have control over the experience or the outcomes. There's simply too much going on and as a result choices seem to matter less and create the sensation that you are a viewer rather than participant in the society you are vested with creating.

    This is not helped at all by the lack of an interactive tutorial which has instead been replaced by a list of video's I doubt anyone will want to watch. People want to get their boots wet and dive in, Humankind for some reason doesn't appear to appreciate this.

    All in all not one I'll be playing nor can recommend which is a shame as we need more civilisation building games.    … Expand
  26. GrosBof
    Sep 14, 2021
    3
    Some good, some really bad. Merging cities, great. Combat system, bad. Diplomatic interface, better. animations speed is horrible. District system is incomplete. The whole game is incomplete. Where is the minimap. Released at least a 1 year too early.
  27. jckray
    Aug 24, 2021
    9
    This game is a refreshing take on the Civ-style 4x game. So far I have really been enjoying it! The game lays an excellent foundation and if it continues to receive updates and DLC I think it has the potential to be my favorite 4x game!

    There are certainly some things that could use improving, but based on what I've heard from the devs, this is a passion project for them and they are    This game is a refreshing take on the Civ-style 4x game. So far I have really been enjoying it! The game lays an excellent foundation and if it continues to receive updates and DLC I think it has the potential to be my favorite 4x game!

    There are certainly some things that could use improving, but based on what I've heard from the devs, this is a passion project for them and they are committed to making it great.    … Expand
  28. elsalvadon
    Sep 30, 2021
    10
    The best 4X game that I have played so far (I started playing Civ1 on a Macintosh probably around 1993 and have played every Civilization title since then). Anyway, talking about Humankind: The music is awesome, the artwork is so nice. The game has a very unique and awesome look and feel.

    Combat and military conquest is among the best. But also peaceful expansion is possible focusing on    The best 4X game that I have played so far (I started playing Civ1 on a Macintosh probably around 1993 and have played every Civilization title since then). Anyway, talking about Humankind: The music is awesome, the artwork is so nice. The game has a very unique and awesome look and feel.

    Combat and military conquest is among the best. But also peaceful expansion is possible focusing on wonders, and empire growth. Sieges work in a way that are much distinct from Civilization and combat in general is very refreshing. It's a good mix between 1upt and stack of doom. I also like the way trade and diplomacy works.

    The only problem with the game is that it isn't as balanced when it was released. Snowballing is a problem, however, the early game provides a lot of challenges and is very fun to play. Especially, the addition of the neolithic era is a great addition to this genre that otherwise always starts with putting the first city down exactly where the map generation algorithms have put you. The end game can be interesting I suppose if you don't give up on a bad early start and try to recover even from lost wars.

    There are some things absent, that are very much present in Civ such as the form of government (monarchy, feudalism), but it is i replaced with a set of civic choices and a 4-dimensional ideology system that provides various bonuses. I like this system very much as it is more gradual and the choices are clear. The stability system is nice in theory, but practically requires more balance in upcoming patches. Still, it does give you a challenge.

    The way cities grow through districts is much more enjoyable and also the fortifications are much more omnipresent than e.g. in the civilization series where this is just a number next to the city name.

    The culture per era is much more interesting than choosing one culture in the very beginning and keeping it. The different traits (scientific, economic, artistic, expansionist, militaristic, agrarian and builder) provide interesting choices. However, overall, there's probably a bit too much bonus applied. In any case, the replay-ability is awesome with so many different combinations. It's not just some 20 civilizations, but 1.000.000 combinations of cultures per era.

    Also, the AI is able to provide a challenge (at least in the first game half). It does make mistakes, but so do I. One can have allies for a whole game and one can have strong opponents. Some cultures/players are really tough and hard to compete against.

    Overall, this is a total win for the genre and for all players.    … Expand
  29. Hark
    Aug 19, 2021
    10
    once again, Amplitude studio offers us a game for 4x enthusiasts, made by 4x enthusiasts, and it shows. Every detail is well thought out, the game is very pleasant to play, a long sleepless night awaits me :)
  30. Kajetaneli
    Aug 20, 2021
    10
    Brilliant, higher replay-ability than Civ, because of more choices and flexible game, with DLCs it will be the best 4X.
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Awards & Rankings

39
#39 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 17, 2022
    60
    Humankind is different than other games and that's fine. It builds on the authors' experiences with the genre, but may differ too much for the massive success of the brand and the studio. It's an interesting title that will find countless players and fans, but it does too little for big success.
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 15, 2021
    85
    Humankind features some revolutionary mechanics, but fails to use their potential to the fullest. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the game is simply very enjoyable and Sid Meier’s Civilization now has a major rival. [11/2021, p.78]
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 22, 2021
    76
    Humankind offers a fresh take on historical 4X strategy genre, with a lot of creativity thrown in, but the team sorely lacks a lead designer who could tie everything together. So even though each innovation is really cool on its own, the whole turned out to be less than the sum of its parts. [Issue#255, p.40]
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