The strategy game Humankind was met with disappointment at its release in 2021 by many strategy fans: A fantastic graphic attracted many, but problems in the game concept quickly frightened off genre enthusiasts. MeinMMO author Schuhmann has spent 150 hours in Humankind on Steam and says: This is a good, shorter alternative to Civilization VI.
What is Humankind?
- Humankind is a classic turn-based strategy game like Civilization in the 4X niche: You lead a part of humanity through the millennia, from the first settlements to the Mars colony.
- The game was released in 2021 for Windows and came out in 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. The game has since received expansions and regular updates, the latest just a few weeks ago.
- Humankind currently costs €50 – you need to show some patience here, as it was available for €10 in a sale in January. This will surely happen again.
Humankind was criticized as “great presentation, weak gameplay”
What was the problem at release? Humankind had a tough time with strategy gamers at release. It was quickly labeled as a graphical tease: It looks great, but lacks depth and a solid gaming system.
Especially some systems surrounding declarations of war, demands, and religion are still highly controversial. For example, diplomacy in the game can play a trick on you when you are forced by the “Congress of Humanity” to change a religion, or when you diplomatically lose a war, even though you feel like you didn’t even fight it.
Moreover, there were genius blunders, such as a 7-day exclusive beta for the doomed console Google Stadia, and somehow a picture of the unfortunate game set in:
- On Metacritic, Humankind only received 77 out of 100 points – the eternal rival Civilization VI, from 2016, stands at 88 out of 100 points.
- On Steam, Humankind fares even worse: Here, only 66% of the reviews are positive, while Civ VI enjoys 86%.
You can read the review of Humankind by our colleagues at GameStar .
Settings make a big difference
What makes Humankind appealing? I have now spent 150 hours in Humankind on Steam, and it was love at second sight. At release, I had already played the game for 30 days on Xbox Game Pass and hadn’t really warmed up to it.
Humankind not only has fantastic graphics, presentation, and is generally easy to read, but it also offers players some quirks and challenges that one must indeed get used to. Particularly, the expansion at the beginning of the game is important, and you can expand any city into new zones as you like, but you always have to be careful not to overdo it:
- If you build too large cities, stability decreases and you have a problem.
- If you found too many small cities, you exceed the city cap and the important resource “influence” dwindles.
A problem is also the map size, because in a “huge map” Humankind tends to meander and remains bland for a long time.
I only really warmed up to Humankind when I limited the map size to normal but started with 10 players. This way, you already have contact and war with opponents in the first years, can expand, and have constant action.
The appeal of change and the new
This is the main difference from Civilization VI: What Humankind offers, which Civ VI lacks: With each epoch, you can choose a new civilization and thereby gain special abilities. Finding the ideal combination of civilizations in succession to build the best special buildings in each epoch is the unique charm of Humankind. Here players can let their preferences run free:
- I start with the nomadic people “Harapans”, who have particularly strong scouts to raid opponents early, and choose a food bonus.
- Then I switch to the Mayans to build industry, followed by the Aztecs, who ensure faith gains and urgently needed stability with their eternal “sacrifices”.
- In modern times, I switch to “Joseon”, practically Korea for a research boost, then I transition to Italy to increase influence before finishing the game as Japan (strong industry).
But surely everyone finds a different combination of civilizations for their own playstyle, whether it is aggressive, cultural, or economically focused.
I can recommend Humankind as a “faster alternative” to Civilization 6 for anyone who has gotten tired of the classic, and who is not discouraged by the negative reviews.
More about strategy games on MeinMMO: Steam: I am obsessed with the perfect start in Civilization 6 and have been loading the same save file for 2 years.
