HUMANKIND - (PC) Steam EUROPE Digital Key
Humankind for PC is a 4x game for those who have secretly always craved world
domination. 4x stands for explore, expand, exploit, exterminate, and is usually
applied to those games where the players work to increase their base from a tiny
subsistence smallholding to a major civilisation.
This game is one of those, stretching through six eras from a nomadic existence
to the heights of glorious civilisation.
About the Game
You begin by choose one of ten paths of development to follow, growing and
succeeding as you progress. The game is fairly flexible compared to some of its
contemporaries, in that you can try out a path of progress and then change it if
it seems not to be working out. Another point to bear in mind is that
neighbouring civilisations will influence your people and make demands of you.
When this happens, you can choose to submit to their requests, or double down
and take out your neighbours, subjugating them to your will! If you want to
fight other peoples for their possession, resources and land, you can ransack
them, fight them for their mines or simply claim the land by building an outpost
– but be careful as it is all too easy to find yourself an accidental warlord if
you are too successful!
At the end of each era, you choose from another 10 cultures, accurately showing
how empires and cultures rise, flourish and then give way to the next big thing.
At every transition, your existing culture does not die away completely.
Instead, you carry enough traits and features from your current way of life to
create an accurate and unique melting pot.
You can customise your own appearance quite minutely, but you will always be an
imaginary person as you cannot take on the persona of a real historical
character, as the real world that shaped them offers vastly different influences
and ideas in your world.
Build Your Celebrity
The game is engrossing as it is not simply a numbers game where sheer numbers
will win out – you can have a small army and limited resources, but still outfox
a larger army with cunning, careful thought and planning. This encourages you to
scout out the terrain, spot natural bottlenecks and encourage your soldiers to
never give up, never surrender!
You cannot ‘win’ per se, but you can succeed by being famous! Score points by
building ‘Fame’ which you do, firstly, by building holy sites, discovering world
wonders, or other ‘world deeds’, as all of these are known, or, secondly, by
earning era stars. As mentioned above, the game is very flexible, so you can
change the way you play if your strategies aren’t working out, or if you think
of a better way to do it.
With era stars, there are a total of 126 stars available to you over the course
of the game, at a rate of 21 stars per era. You must earn at least 7 stars in
each to be able to proceed to the next level. Earn stars by researching
technologies, killing enemies and, as in real life, earning money.
There are a 60 total cultures in the game, ten for each era. The various
cultures include, amongst others: Egyptians, Greeks, Nubians, Libyans, Romans,
Hittites, Harrapans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Germans, and Chinese, giving you a
wide and diverse range of cultures to choose as you build and expand your
civilisation.
Authoritarian or Liberal: You Choose
There are sliders to choose world outlook of your country, and with each twitch
to one side or another you will create an impact on the country’s smooth
running. Unlike in real life, which is much more nuanced, in the game, extremes
can give more benefits, but otherwise these sliders give a reasonable overview
of how societies work.
Geopolitical outlook – are you a nationalist patriot or a global villager?
economics – rampant I-got-mine capitalism or a more communal society?
culture – strict old-fashioned values or the embrace of progress?
government – authoritarian dictator or liberal lovie?
