If you want a history-focused 4X game in the space occupied by Humankind 2, start with four different interpretations of the formula: Old World for dynasty-driven classical antiquity, Millennia for branching ages and production chains, Ara: History Untold for simultaneous turns and a living-world presentation, and Sid Meier’s Civilization VII for the most familiar empire-building structure across the widest range of platforms.
They are not interchangeable. The deciding question is what you want history to do in the game: generate character stories, redirect your civilization into variant or crisis ages, support a more elaborate national economy, or provide a recognizable march through major eras. This guide compares those choices by historical scope, identity continuity, turn structure, economy, warfare and diplomacy, multiplayer, and access.
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Quick comparison: four historical 4X alternatives
| Game | Historical scope | Identity continuity | Signature system | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old World | Classical antiquity | Dynasty and ruler succession | Orders-based turns and more than 1,000 unique events | Character-driven, concentrated history |
| Millennia | Ten millennia with alternate ages | Nation shaped by age choices | Variant and crisis ages plus a crafting economy | Branching history and production depth |
| Ara: History Untold | Broad human history | Nation and leaders across eras | Simultaneous turns, national crafting and a non-linear technology tree | Newer systems and subscription access |
| Sid Meier’s Civilization VII | Antiquity, Exploration and Modern Ages | Civilization choice changes at age transitions | Ages, legacies and broad platform support | Familiar mainstream 4X play |
The table is a map, not a ranking. Each game emphasizes a different part of the historical-strategy fantasy, so the best choice depends on how you want a campaign to evolve.
What to look for in a game like Humankind 2
“Games like Humankind 2” can mean several different things. A player may be looking for a long historical timeline, the ability to reshape a nation as eras change, a 4X game with real history, or a strategy game through the ages that makes each campaign feel unlike the last. Those goals point to different recommendations.
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- The award-winning strategy game franchise returns with a revolutionary new chapter. Sid Meier's Civilization VII empowers you to build the greatest empire the world has ever known!
- In Civilization VII, your strategic decisions shape the unique cultural lineage of your evolving empire. Rule as one of many legendary leaders from throughout history and steer the course of your story by choosing a new civilization to represent your empire in each Age of human advancement.
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Historical scope versus historical detail
A campaign that spans thousands of years gives you a broad civilization arc, but a narrower setting can devote more rules and events to its period. Old World deliberately concentrates on classical antiquity. Millennia covers 10,000 years and allows its timeline to branch. Ara presents a broad human-history frame while adding systems around crafting and world simulation. Civilization VII divides its campaign into Antiquity, Exploration and Modern Ages.
Who or what persists?
Identity continuity is one of the sharpest differences. In Old World, the continuing thread is a ruling house: rulers, heirs, families and court politics make succession part of the strategy. Millennia keeps the nation but lets age choices reshape its direction. Ara follows a nation and its leaders through a systems-heavy historical arc. Civilization VII makes a deliberate break at age transitions by asking you to select a new civilization while retaining selected legacies.
How much of the turn is planning?
Old World makes the turn itself a resource puzzle through Orders. Ara resolves turns simultaneously, changing the rhythm of diplomacy, movement and production. Millennia and Civilization VII use more familiar turn-based planning, but their strategic focus differs: Millennia asks you to tune production and age paths, while Civilization VII emphasizes the recognizable 4X loop and its age framework.
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Old World is the clearest choice if your ideal historical 4X game is a dynasty strategy game rather than a survey of all human history. Mohawk Games describes it as “a historical 4X strategy game created by Soren Johnson (Lead Designer, Civilization IV).” Its setting is classic antiquity, so the campaign does not attempt to carry one polity from the earliest settlements into the modern world.
Why its historical setting matters
Restricting the scope to antiquity lets Old World focus on rulers, heirs, families and court politics. Your long-term plan is not only about territory and technology; it is also about keeping a ruling line capable of governing, fighting and surviving succession. That produces a different kind of continuity from a game where you simply keep the same civilization label while the map and technology advance.
Orders change how you spend a turn
According to the official gameplay description, units can be moved multiple times in one turn until you run out of Orders, rather than being limited to one movement per unit per turn. This creates a concentrated decision problem: a single pool of actions can support a decisive maneuver, a military response, or several smaller tasks. It also means that the value of a turn depends on sequencing, not just on how many units you own.
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- BUILD AN EMPIRE THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME - Lead your empire through distinct Ages of human history. Each Age is its own rich, nuanced journey, with unique playable civilizations, available resources, explorable land, and even entire gameplay systems, creating a deep, historically immersive strategy experience. Strive to accomplish significant scientific, cultural, militaristic, and economic milestones within each Age to unlock impactful advantages in the next!
- EVOLVE YOUR EMPIRE AS EACH NEW AGE DAWNS - To build a legacy that truly stands the test of time, you must adapt. Forge your own path through history as you reshape your empire at the start of each Age, selecting from a pool of new Age-relevant civilization options determined by your prior gameplay accomplishments. Evolving your empire unlocks fresh gameplay bonuses and unique units, so your current civilization is always at the height of its power.
- PLAY AS VISIONARY LEADERS OF PROGRESS - Embody an illustrious leader with one of Civilization's most diverse rosters yet, from traditional heads of state known for their militaristic might or political prowess, to visionary leaders who made everlasting impacts in philosophy, science, human rights, and more!
- TEST YOUR STRATEGIC METTLE IN MULTIPLAYER - Compete against other players online and prove your prowess as a great leader.** Multiplayer matches can be epic multi-Age campaigns, or take place in a single Age so you can enjoy an entire game in a single session. Cross-play is supported, so you can play together with friends wherever they are.
Events give campaigns historical texture
Mohawk Games reports more than 1,000 unique events inspired by the period’s history. Events are important here because they reinforce the game’s character focus: a campaign can be defined by choices involving people and institutions, not only by the borders on the map. The event count is a published figure from the official gameplay page, not a measure of campaign length or replay quality.
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Who should choose Old World?
- Choose it if you want rulers, heirs and families to remain strategically relevant.
- Choose it if a tighter antiquity setting is more appealing than an all-history timeline.
- Choose it if you enjoy turns where action points and sequencing matter as much as unit placement.
- Choose another game if your priority is a modern-era endpoint, simultaneous turns, or the broadest platform availability.
Millennia: the best 4X with branching ages and economic experimentation
Millennia is built around the idea that history can diverge sharply from a standard timeline. Paradox presents it as a historical 4X in which you create your own nation and move through eras shaped by your choices. The Steam description covers a 10,000-year span, variant and crisis ages, alternate futures, and an economy that turns raw materials into finished goods.
Age choices are the campaign’s main fork
Instead of treating eras as a fixed ladder, Millennia uses variant and crisis ages to make your decisions alter what comes next. A campaign can move toward an unusual historical outcome or a speculative future rather than following one inevitable sequence. That makes it the strongest recommendation for players searching for a 4X with branching ages or a game like Humankind with culture changes, but who want the branching structure itself to be a central strategic system.
Production is more than a background bonus
The economy refines raw materials into goods such as lumber, paper, books, ingots, tools and weapons. These examples show the intended level of production detail: resources are inputs that can be transformed into intermediate and finished outputs. Players who enjoy tracing how an economic decision affects construction, research or military supply will find more to manage than in a simpler city-output model.
Identity is flexible rather than dynastic
Your nation persists, but its character is repeatedly rewritten by the ages you select. That is different from Old World’s ruler succession and different again from Civilization VII’s explicit civilization changes. Millennia’s continuity is therefore systemic: the nation’s path is the product of earlier choices, including the choice to enter a variant or crisis age.
Who should choose Millennia?
- Choose it if you want the timeline to branch into unusual historical or speculative outcomes.
- Choose it if production chains and economic specialization are enjoyable parts of 4X play for you.
- Choose it if replayability comes from taking a different age route rather than telling the same historical story again.
- Look elsewhere if your main interest is named rulers and family politics, or if you want a simultaneous-turn system.
Ara: History Untold: the best newer systems mix with simultaneous turns
Ara: History Untold is aimed at players who want a modernized historical grand-strategy framework rather than a familiar formula with a new map. The official Ara site describes it as an evolution of historical grand strategy. Its listed systems include a national crafting economy, true simultaneous turn resolution, a non-linear technology tree, and synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer.
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- Expand the strategic horizons of your empire and enjoy more options for your reign with Sid Meier's Civilization VII Settler's Edition! Sid Meier's Civilization VII Settler's Edition is the ideal way for new players to start their journey through history with a treasure trove of additional content. Settler's Edition includes: Full base game, the Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack, the Crossroads of the World Collection, the Right to Rule Collection, 4 leader Personas, and the Deluxe Cosmetics Pack.
- TECUMSEH AND SHAWNEE PACK - This content pack adds the leader Tecumseh and the Shawnee civilization to Civilization VII! Tecumseh specializes in diplomacy and defense.
- CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD COLLECTION - Explore new possibilities for your personalized empire with the post-launch add-on content of the Crossroads of the World Collection! Embody two new leaders: Simón Bolívar and Ada Lovelace. Lead four new civilizations: Carthage, Great Britain, Bulgaria, and Nepal. Discover the majesty of four new Natural Wonders: Machapuchare, Mount Fuji, Vihren, and Vinicunca. And expand your experience with a cosmetic bonus.
- RIGHT TO RULE COLLECTION - Explore new possibilities for your personalized empire with the post-launch add-on content of the Right to Rule Collection! Embody two new leaders: Genghis Khan and Lakshmibai. Lead four new civilizations: Assyria, Dai Viet, Qajar, and Silla. Discover the majesty of four new Wonders: Grand Bazaar, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Ubudiah Mosque, and Wat Xieng Thong. And expand your experience with a cosmetic bonus.
- 4 LEADER PERSONAS - Enjoy alternate Personas for four of Civilization VII's leaders, including Ashoka (World Conqueror), Friedrich (Baroque), Himiko (High Shaman), and Xerxes (The Achaemenid)! Each persona includes a unique outfit and background for the respective leader, plus a new Unique Ability and Agenda that reflect a different side of their personality!
Simultaneous turns change the tempo
In a conventional turn-based game, players generally act in sequence and can react after seeing the previous player’s move. Ara’s true simultaneous turn resolution changes that expectation: plans are submitted into the same resolution window. This can make diplomacy, exploration and military movement feel less like a queue and more like a contest of prediction and timing.
A national crafting economy adds another layer
The national crafting system makes economic development a defining part of Ara’s identity. Rather than treating production as a single abstract number, it gives the nation a more involved relationship with inputs, outputs and manufactured goods. The system is a good match for players who found simpler 4X economies too thin, although it also means there is more to learn before the strategic picture becomes comfortable.
Technology is deliberately non-linear
A non-linear technology tree supports multiple development routes instead of one fixed sequence. Combined with broad historical scope, it allows campaigns to emphasize different kinds of progress. The design is less about reproducing one canonical timeline and more about giving your nation a set of meaningful directions.
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The official feature list includes both synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer, so players can choose between shared live sessions and a format that accommodates different schedules. Xbox highlights access through PC Game Pass. Availability can change by region, subscription catalog and platform policy, so check the current listing before committing to a subscription-based play plan.
Who should choose Ara?
- Choose it if simultaneous turns are more attractive than strictly sequential planning.
- Choose it if you want crafting, a non-linear technology tree and a living-world presentation in one package.
- Choose it if synchronous or asynchronous multiplayer matters.
- Choose another game if you prefer a proven, highly familiar turn rhythm or a tightly focused antiquity setting.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII: the broadest-platform, familiar empire-building option
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is the safest recommendation for players who want the recognizable historical 4X structure and the largest platform footprint among these choices. 2K’s official franchise site says it launched on February 11, 2025 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, Mac and Linux through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
How the Ages system handles continuity
The official Ages guide describes transitions in which you select a new civilization, retain selected legacies and change the world. This is a major design distinction. You are not simply carrying one civilization identity unchanged from the opening turn to the final era. Continuity comes from the legacies and consequences you preserve, while the civilization choice at an age transition changes the way the next phase plays.
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- Expand the strategic horizons of your empire and enjoy more options for your reign with Sid Meier's Civilization VII Deluxe Edition!
- Deluxe Edition includes: Full base game, Early Access, the Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack, the Crossroads of the World Collection, and the Deluxe Content Pack.
- BUILD AN EMPIRE THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME - Lead your empire through distinct Ages of human history. Each Age is its own rich, nuanced journey, with unique playable civilizations, available resources, explorable land, and even entire gameplay systems, creating a deep, historically immersive strategy experience. Strive to accomplish significant scientific, cultural, militaristic, and economic milestones within each Age to unlock impactful advantages in the next!
- EVOLVE YOUR EMPIRE AS EACH NEW AGE DAWNS - To build a legacy that truly stands the test of time, you must adapt. Forge your own path through history as you reshape your empire at the start of each Age, selecting from a pool of new Age-relevant civilization options determined by your prior gameplay accomplishments. Evolving your empire unlocks fresh gameplay bonuses and unique units, so your current civilization is always at the height of its power.
- PLAY AS VISIONARY LEADERS OF PROGRESS - Embody an illustrious leader with one of Civilization's most diverse rosters yet, from traditional heads of state known for their militaristic might or political prowess, to visionary leaders who made everlasting impacts in philosophy, science, human rights, and more!
Why it remains the mainstream alternative
Civilization VII is the strongest fit for readers searching for the best Civilization alternative only if “alternative” means another accessible, recognizable empire-building campaign rather than a radically different structure. Its historical frame is organized around Antiquity, Exploration and Modern Ages, giving the campaign a clear three-part arc. The platform range also matters: players on older consoles, current consoles, Switch, desktop operating systems or the two listed PC storefronts have an official route to the game.
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What you trade for familiarity
The Ages design changes how civilization continuity works. If your favorite part of a historical 4X game is staying attached to one unchanging national identity, the transition rules may feel less continuous than expected. If you instead enjoy adapting to a new phase while carrying forward selected advantages, the same structure can provide a clean strategic reset without discarding the campaign’s earlier decisions.
Who should choose Civilization VII?
- Choose it if platform access and a familiar empire-building loop are priorities.
- Choose it if you like the idea of entering a new age with a new civilization while preserving selected legacies.
- Choose it if you want a history-focused 4X that is easier to place within the established Civilization tradition.
- Look elsewhere if you want dynasty succession, production-chain experimentation, or true simultaneous turns to define the experience.
Which game is best for each kind of history-focused player?
If you want a dynasty strategy game
Pick Old World. Its rulers, heirs, families and court politics make succession part of the campaign rather than flavor layered over a conventional empire model. The Orders system reinforces the same focus by making each turn a scarce-action puzzle.
If you want a strategy game through the ages with alternate futures
Pick Millennia. Its 10,000-year span is paired with variant and crisis ages, so age selection is not merely a visual change between chapters. Your route through history is the main source of divergence.
If you want simultaneous turns and a living world
Pick Ara: History Untold. Its true simultaneous resolution, national crafting economy and non-linear technology tree make it the most structurally distinct option in this group. PC Game Pass access is an additional reason to consider it if you already use that service.
If you want the broadest way to play
Pick Civilization VII. Its launch support covers PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC storefronts, Mac and Linux. No other option in this comparison has a platform list this broad in the supplied official information.
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If you want a 4X game with real history but not a fixed textbook timeline
Start with Millennia or Ara. Millennia makes divergence explicit through age paths; Ara combines a broad historical setting with non-linear technology and a living-world approach. Choose Old World instead when the period itself matters more than coverage of the whole human timeline.
How the four games differ on the decisions you make every turn
| Decision area | Old World | Millennia | Ara: History Untold | Civilization VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historical framing | Classical antiquity | 10,000 years with variant and crisis ages | Broad human history | Antiquity, Exploration and Modern Ages |
| Long-term identity | Rulers, heirs and families | Nation redirected by age choices | Nation and leaders across eras | New civilization at age transitions with selected legacies retained |
| Turn signature | Multiple unit moves until Orders run out | Age and production planning | True simultaneous resolution | Age transitions and established 4X planning |
| Economic emphasis | Character and state decisions | Raw materials refined into goods | National crafting economy | Broad empire-building framework |
| Multiplayer detail in the supplied official information | Not stated | Not stated | Synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer | Not stated |
| Access detail | Not stated | Steam listing | PC Game Pass highlighted by Xbox | PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, Mac and Linux at launch |
This is a decision guide rather than a scorecard. “Not stated” means the supplied official information did not establish a comparable value; it is not a claim that a feature is absent.
Common pitfalls when choosing between these alternatives
Assuming every era system works like Humankind
Era changes do not mean the same thing in every game. Millennia uses variant and crisis ages to branch the timeline. Civilization VII asks you to select a new civilization and carry selected legacies forward. Old World stays within antiquity, while Ara’s identity is expressed through its nation, leaders and systems. Read the transition rules as a core design choice, not as a cosmetic difference.
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A longer timeline is not automatically deeper. Old World’s shorter historical scope supports a denser focus on dynasties and period-specific events. Millennia’s 10,000-year span is valuable because it supports alternate and crisis routes. Decide whether you want breadth, concentration or branching before treating a date range as a quality signal.
Underestimating economic complexity
Millennia’s material-to-goods examples and Ara’s national crafting economy indicate more involved production management. That can be an advantage for players who enjoy specialization, but it also changes the learning curve and the number of decisions competing for attention. If you prefer history, diplomacy and expansion without a heavily foregrounded economy, Civilization VII or Old World may be a better first stop.
Ignoring platform and subscription constraints
Civilization VII has the broadest stated launch availability. Ara is the option in this comparison specifically highlighted for PC Game Pass. Platform, operating system, region and subscription catalogs can change, so verify the current store or service listing for your hardware before buying or subscribing.
A practical decision path
- Choose your historical scale. Select Old World for classical antiquity, Millennia for a 10,000-year branching timeline, Ara for broad human history with newer systems, or Civilization VII for its three-age structure.
- Choose what persists. Pick a dynasty if succession stories matter, a nation shaped by age choices if you want branching identity, a nation and leader framework with crafting if you want systemic variety, or civilization changes with legacies if you prefer structured transitions.
- Choose your turn rhythm. Orders favor concentrated action sequencing, simultaneous resolution favors prediction and timing, and the other two offer more familiar sequential 4X planning centered on ages and production.
- Check your economic tolerance. Millennia and Ara put more emphasis on transforming resources and managing national production. Old World and Civilization VII foreground other strategic structures.
- Confirm access. Match the game to your platform, operating system and, for Ara, whether PC Game Pass is available to you under its current catalog.
Bottom line: which game should you play?
Choose Old World for the deepest dynasty-centered interpretation of historical 4X strategy. Choose Millennia for branching ages, alternate futures and production-chain experimentation. Choose Ara: History Untold for simultaneous turns, crafting, a non-linear technology tree and the option of PC Game Pass access. Choose Sid Meier’s Civilization VII when broad platform support and a familiar empire-building framework matter most.
The right replacement for Humankind 2 is therefore determined less by a universal ranking than by the historical fantasy you want to inhabit: a family line, a branching nation, a living systems-driven world, or a recognizable civilization arc that resets at each Age.
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