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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Humankind is a historical, turn-based 4X strategy game built around one defining idea: your civilization can adopt a new culture as it advances through history. That flexibility gives each campaign room to change direction, while a shared Fame score ties its routes to victory together. In GameSpot’s 2021 review, David Wildgoose found the reinvention ambitious but often short on coherence; that is one critic’s dated assessment, not a current consensus.
What is Humankind?
Developed by Amplitude Studios and published by SEGA Europe, Humankind was first released on 17 August 2021. It is a turn-based historical 4X game: players explore, expand, exploit resources and develop their society across successive eras. Amplitude categorizes it as both 4X and turn-based strategy on its official store.
Its central design choice is that you do not keep one cultural identity for the whole campaign. Instead, you choose a culture as you enter each era, combining the strengths of different historical societies over time. The official console description illustrates a possible progression from a Neolithic tribe through cultures including Babylonian, Mayan, Umayyad and British.
How does the culture-changing system affect play?
Each era’s culture adds a gameplay layer, so choosing a new one lets you adapt your civilization’s strengths and style as the campaign develops. Earlier choices leave legacy bonuses, meaning your final empire can reflect several cultures rather than one fixed identity. That creates a strategic through-line: consider not only what a culture offers now, but also how its legacy fits with the choices you may make later.
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The same system is also the game’s main design risk. A changing identity can make your empire feel flexible, but it gives the player a less stable picture of what each civilization represents—and, as GameSpot reviewer David Wildgoose noted, fixed identities in comparable games can make rivals more consistent and readable. Whether that trade-off appeals depends on whether you prefer evolving combinations or a clearer, enduring civilization profile.
How do you win?
Humankind uses Fame as its unifying victory measure rather than framing victory around one single route. SEGA says accomplishments, moral decisions and battles all contribute; the player with the most Fame wins. The system gives different kinds of achievement a shared destination, though the official description does not establish how balanced or satisfying those paths are in practice.
What are battles like?
Combat is tactical and turn-based. Players command individual units, use terrain, bring in reinforcements and conduct sieges; battles take place on the world map and can span multiple turns. SEGA describes each encounter as a “mini turn-based board game.” That is the publisher’s characterization, not an independent assessment of battle quality or balance.
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Is Humankind worth playing?
The clearest reason to consider Humankind is its era-by-era culture choice: it offers a way to reshape your civilization during a campaign instead of committing to one identity at the start. Fame gives accomplishments, decisions and fighting a common victory measure, while tactical battles add unit-level decisions to a broader empire-building game.
The counterweight is coherence. In a 6/10 review published on 25 August 2021, GameSpot’s David Wildgoose praised the ambition and detailed reinvention while arguing that the result often struggles to hold together. He summed up his view: “Humankind is a flawed but fascinating attempt to reinvent the Civilization-style 4X strategy game.” This is one critic’s judgment from 2021, not a present-day consensus. No independent performance, balance, pacing or interface testing is available here, so those qualities should not be inferred from the feature list.
How does Humankind compare to Civilization?
The most useful comparison is about design, not a blanket verdict on which game is better. Humankind lets a player change cultural identity between eras and combines the resulting legacy effects; its stated win condition centers on Fame. Its publisher also describes tactical battles with unit movement and terrain. Wildgoose’s review raises a corresponding trade-off: a fixed identity can make rival civilizations easier to read. These are useful axes for comparison, but they do not establish how any particular Civilization game handles each system; check the specific title and edition before drawing a direct comparison.
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- Identity: Does the game let a civilization change over time, or does it keep the same identity throughout?
- Victory: Are there distinct victory routes, or does one shared score bring different achievements together?
- Combat: Do battles resolve abstractly, or through tactical unit movement and terrain?
- Rival readability: How easy is it to understand an opponent’s abilities as their civilization develops?
- Platform and edition: Which platforms are available, and which add-ons are actually included in the edition sold in your region?
Platforms, editions and PC requirements
Amplitude’s store lists Humankind for Steam, Epic, Microsoft, PlayStation and Xbox, alongside a standard edition and a Definitive Edition. The publisher describes the Definitive Edition as including the base game and all previously released add-ons; its listing states a total of 86 cultures. That figure applies to the store’s Definitive Edition listing, not to every platform or product page.
Edition contents are storefront- and region-specific. The US PlayStation Store lists a Heritage Edition for PS4 and PS5 that includes the main game and two culture packs. SEGA’s console launch announcement names the packs as Cultures of Africa and Cultures of Latin America. Check the live store listing for your region before buying, since a named edition elsewhere may not have the same contents.
Amplitude’s Windows requirements are vendor-stated specifications, not a promise of measured performance:
| Windows specification | Minimum | Recommended graphics |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 7 64-bit | Not stated separately |
| Processor | Intel i5 4th generation or AMD FX-8300 | Not stated separately |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX 770 or AMD R9 290 | NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD RX 5500-XT |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Not stated separately |
| Storage | 25 GB | 25 GB |
The official English V15 manual says an internet connection is needed for a first game start and for multiplayer, but not for subsequent play unless you are playing multiplayer. Treat this as the manual’s statement for that version rather than a guarantee about every later configuration.
Quick Recap
What to keep in mind before buying
- Confirm the platform and regional storefront: edition names and included add-ons can differ.
- For the PS4/PS5 Heritage Edition, compare the live listing with the stated main game and two culture packs before purchase.
- On PC, compare your hardware with Amplitude’s listed requirements; they are specifications, not performance testing.
- If offline play matters, note the English V15 manual’s first-start and multiplayer connection requirements.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
