Already used to 4X, Amplitude had invited us so that we could discover its new baby: Humankind. Freeing itself from the Endless license and abandoning science fiction/fantasy, this new franchise takes us to the yardstick of human civilization, to evolve a nomadic tribe into a vast empire.
We had the opportunity to see the game in preview during a special online event, with a quick little presentation and above all a hands-on, allowing us to play this new game for a few hours, which appears to be rather classic compared to to other leaders of the 4X genre, but which reveals many surprises.
Not RPG, but almost
This aspect was not available in the provided demo, but the first step in a game will be to create your own avatar. Unlike a certain Civilization, we don't choose a historical character, but we create our own from scratch. Aesthetic personalization, but also psychological, with the possibility of shaping its character, which will necessarily be very important, especially in relations with other civilizations.
And another small originality, it will also be possible to save this character and share it with friends so that they can play against it.
This RPG aspect is also found during the game. Indeed, instead of choosing a civilization at the start of the game and keeping it throughout, which leads to historical inconsistencies (seeing the Mayans launching a rocket, it's a bit disturbing), here we will choose " specific cultures (this is the name given) to each new era (six in total), allowing you to refine your strategy. Each new culture also allows us to gain hereditary traits, which we will keep for the duration of the game.
Ère neolithic
We start the game with a simple nomadic tribe to move on the map to survive, to collect Stars, by performing certain actions:
- Growth: increase the population of the tribe by collecting food.
- Knowledge: increase your knowledge by discovering curiosities on the map.
- Hunting: killing animals.
The stars collected allow you to move to a new era (ancient era) and choose a culture, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
For my part, I chose the culture of the Phoenicians. As a market culture, it benefits from a very interesting effect, allowing you to buy a resource from one culture, to resell it to another. In addition to the financial gain that this generates (50% profit), it is a good opportunity to become a privileged partner of certain cultures and to reduce the risk of being attacked.
Ère antique
It's time to settle down and found a city. For this, you have to choose your location. The grid (which can be activated/deactivated) allows you to see the resources available on each box. Four resources are available: Food, Industry, Currency and Science.
To start, the game advises us to settle on a square with a maximum of food and industry. Rather logical in the perspective of development. So we start with a simple outpost, which we can then relocate (if the location does not quite suit us) or improve in town (which can no longer be moved).
The creation of a city is however limited to the Influence that one has accumulated so far. At the start of my current game, I'm limited to only two.
Once the city is founded, you can begin to develop it, by building facilities or by forming units.
Like any good 4X, the development of an empire also goes through the technologies to be unlocked, via a dedicated tree and therefore research to be done, allowing new facilities to be unlocked. We find there rather classic technologies if we compare to 4X already known.
The stability of the empire being a very important point, this one makes it possible to gain points of Civic. Like a talent tree if we wanted to compare it to an RPG, the Civics allow you to obtain various bonuses.
Of course, what would a civilization be without religion? I was thus able to found the beginnings of a religion, choosing to base it on polytheism. A dedicated screen allows you to manage it and in particular to note the influence it may have on other territories.
And that allows me to earn my first era star. Indeed, in Humankind, what matters is Fame. Fame is the mark we will leave on the world. And it is she who will allow us to win the game (or not). By performing particular feats (like exploring a continent) or earning Era Stars, our Renown increases accordingly. And, at the end of the game, the one with the most Renown simply wins.
Fame, in the words of our hosts, is amoral. No matter how we behave, the most important thing is that we are remembered.
A first opinion
It's hard to play a 4X without thinking about Civilization, whose influence on this type of game has been undeniable for the past thirty years. Many recent games try to imitate the reference, sometimes shamelessly to the point of being faced with an almost clone.
But Humankind, without necessarily denying its inspiration, brings a breath of fresh air, a slightly new way of doing things. Of course, we find the codes of the 4X, but with a slightly different way of presenting them. And so suddenly, I didn't have the impression of finding myself with a Civ-like, but with an original game, with its very own universe. I just had the opportunity to ask the question directly to our hosts, to find out if the desire was clearly displayed to stand out from Civilization. And, although they are great fans of this franchise, they did indeed want to break away from it a little, and this in particular on two very distinct points:
- The combination of cultures, which no longer seems coherent to them from a historical point of view. It is indeed a bit strange to lead an ancient civilization, like Byzantium or the Vikings, to the conquest of space.
- Renown, which unifies the whole game and maintains interest throughout the game, especially towards the middle, which is often felt like a "soft belly" in 4X.
All in all, a very positive review and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on it in more depth.
