What to Play in August: 13 Notable Upcoming Games

4X strategy
Out August 17 for PC

Delayed from the spring in order to respond to player feedback following an early access period, Humankind is Amplitude Studios' attempt to beat Civilization at its own game. While the developer's previous games, Endless Legend and Endless Space (and its sequel), borrowed heavily from the Sid Meier-created Civ franchise (albeit with fantasy and sci-fi settings, respectively), Humankind is a direct competitor to the now 5-year-old Civilization VI, similarly following the development of civilizations around the globe from pre-ancient times to the present day and beyond. One key difference between the competitors: In Civ 6, you pick a civilization and stick with it the entire game, enjoying that civ's unique abilities. But in Humankind, you are prompted to select your civilization type each time you begin one of the six historical eras, allowing you to mix-and-match traits of multiple real-world cultures over time. In addition, Civ's multiple victory conditions are reduced to just one in Humankind (a metric called "Fame"), while combat is more detailed than the simplified version in Civ (and is more akin to a tactical RPG—or, for that matter, Endless Space 2).