I like the biomes concept introduced in the recent trailer. However, I don't think each biome should be equally effective. Some should be objectively better than others.
In real life, some land is much more suitable for settlement. Competing for the best land was a significant part of early human history and is a fun part of 4X games.
In the early game, high food output land should be objectively best. As the game progresses natural resource abundance could become more important. Technological progress could help reduce the gap between weaker and stronger biomes. This is how history was.
P.S. It would also be nice if they blended the biome transitions graphically, maybe with a color gradient and increased vegatation density, rather than the biome changing instantly at the border.
And welcome to our first look at the gameplay of HUMANKIND 2.
In the coming weeks, we'll be taking closer looks at different elements of the game, but today we want to give you an overview of the experience by following one civilization through the early stages of the game.
A key part of playing a historical strategy game is immersing yourself in it. The world and events of the game must feel authentic and believable for you to feel like you are leading an empire through all of human history. And we know you agree with us about this: We got a lot of feedback about it for Humankind, both good and critical.
We put a strong emphasis on authenticity when working on Humankind 2. All the people, places, and events you encounter in Humankind 2 are grounded in historical research. Besides our game director Benoit being a historian himself, we have collaborated with more than 30 historians across the world. With their help and expertise, we strive to create a believable historical sandbox in which you can write your own story.
This immersion begins with the map: If you already recognize the places you rule (or fight over), they become memorable parts of the story forming in your head. So, for the Historical Mode of Humankind 2 (more on other game modes later), we created an earth map with roughly 20 starting locations to choose from. Each of these starting locations is associated with a First Tale, the founding myth of your people that will be used to identify your empire throughout the game. They also include some effects that will impact the beginning of the game and provide access to at least one Culture.
Today, we're looking at the Flood Tamer First Tale, which places us in the desert along the Nile and is associated with the Ancient Egyptians. After a couple of turns establishing our first settlement in the neolithic era, the Ancient Era begins and our tribe adopts their new culture. This is not an immediate change, but a process that continues throughout the era. Each of the 70 Cultures in Humankind 2 has their own cultural progression tree of Customs that let you unlock bonuses, units, or even districts over time, culminating in a choice of Legacy Trait.
Eventually, the Ancient Era draws to a close, and we enter the Classical Era, giving us the option to adopt a new culture any time we want once per era. But the Ancient Egyptians were an enduring culture, and span two eras in HUMANKIND 2, so we choose to keep playing as them. In fact, we could continue playing as the Ancient Egyptians for the rest of the game, but once we reach the medieval era, we are presented with new enticing options linked to our current culture through our Common History. Depending on where we settle and who we meet, we might unlock other relevant cultures as well.
Unlocking cultures? Yes, in HUMANKIND 2's Historical Mode, you cannot freely pick cultures when changing eras anymore. Unrestricted culture change was a part of HUMANKIND we received a lot of feedback about, since players felt it diminished immersion and made it harder to remember who's who, so in HUMANKIND 2 you can only choose a Culture if you meet one of three conditions: They share Common History with your current culture, they historically Shared Land with land you control, or you have close Foreign Contact with them. However, adopting cultures you simply share land or borders with may take more investment than following the historical links.
Adopting their culture whole cloth is not the only way we can learn from our neighbors, though. If they have any Customs we find particularly useful, we can adopt a few of them to benefit from exactly what we need. Let's say for example our mighty Egyptian empire expands far into the polar reaches of the north. This icy, hostile environment is difficult to traverse, but luckily, we meet the Thule people and learn how to use dog sleds for our continued exploration from them.
We can’t rely only on Cultures and Customs, though. What would we have done if we had not run into the Thule people? Luckily, our people are perfectly capable of learning to thrive in different environments by themselves. If you settle in any of the eight different biomes, you can unlock Adaptations specific to that biome. These Adaptations are crucial to doing well in harsh environments like the polar regions or our desert homeland. They become even more important whenever the climate shifts, as many resources in Humankind 2 are limited and need to be managed carefully.
We hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the early game in Humankind 2!
If you’re eager to know more, don’t worry, we’ll be going into more depth in the coming weeks and months. And if you can’t wait, we have an opportunity for you:
The Insiders Program
Be among the first to play Humankind 2 and give us your feedback! Hearing from you about what you like or don’t like, what you think works or does not work, is invaluable for shaping Humankind 2 into the best game it can be, so we want to give some of you the chance to play the game before we release it.
Shown in the trailer, pretty much confirms the Hopewell culture
With the first gameplay look, we got a look into the culture cards and for what i can tell, we are getting a lot of ancient americas.
This card pretty much confirms Hopewell in the anciente era
Clearly based on this ilustration of a Hopewellian procession
Ilustration of Hopewellian ritual which clearly is the inspiration for the culture card
Now this next one is a guess that i'm not 100% on but yeah i think they might be the Adena
Sunflower is native to the americas was domesticated twice, in Mesoamerica and Northamerica, with the latter having it as part of the eastern agricultural complex, additionally their clothing looks more like Woodlands period, the deer on the hunters back and the house at the entrace of the village kinda looks like the reconstruction of Adena housing.
But yeah i think Hopewell is 100% confirmed but yeah it would be fun to see multiples cradles for North America in the game.
I think techs should be more optional, like civics, but they should still take time to research. It would be more realistic to how civilisations actually were. For example, none of the First Nations had any interest in steelmaking, nor did they use gunpowder. I think there should be fewer prerequisite techs, and more prerequisite circumstances. You can't research guns without access to gunpowder, for example. If you rolled a continent with few materials that are good for war, that incentivizes you to play pacifically, hell, you might get a leg up because, until others can cross oceans, you're able to focus entirely on advancing civically. Tech stars would have to be reworked, maybe making research more passive akin to the Victoria 3 system, where you can get techs without having to actively research them, but you can still focus on one.
I didn't realize the other sub was less popular, so I'm reposting here to potentially get more responses from people on this topic, and see if there's a way to play around the combat system at all.
Since the announcement of the game in August, everyone at Amplitude Studios has been delighted by your enthusiasm, reactions, and passion for the franchise across our different channels.
Now it's time to show you a little more.
Join us on October 15 for our first gameplay reveal, where we'll showcase HUMANKIND 2 in action and share a first look at some of the new features, improvements, and experiences awaiting players.
Want to help shape the future of HUMANKIND 2? The Insiders Program gives dedicated players a chance to experience the game ahead of release and share feedback directly with the team.
Community feedback played an important role throughout HUMANKIND's post-launch development and helped lay the foundation for many of the ideas and improvements featured in its sequel. As we continue working on HUMANKIND 2, we want to involve players earlier in the development process so we can ensure the game meets the expectations of our community.
Introducing the Insiders Program
Some aspects of strategy games, such as pacing, balance, and progression, can only be properly evaluated after spending significant time with the game. The Insiders Program allows us to gather feedback from passionate players early on and gain deeper insight into how the game's systems come together over longer play sessions, and whether that experience feels enjoyable to players.
At Amplitude Studios, we are committed to putting players at the center of our games. By involving the community earlier in development, we can better understand what resonates with players and make more informed decisions as HUMANKIND 2 continues to evolve.
Interested? Check the next steps!
📝 To apply to the Insiders Program, please fill out the following form linkedHEREbefore October 20 to be considered for the first wave of invites.
To ensure we can select you, please check the requirements
Having an account on Amplifiers
Being comfortable communicating in English
Since this is a collaborative testing program, being active on Discord or Amplifiers is essential. This is where you'll communicate with the team, discuss your experience, and share feedback throughout the testing period.
How do I know if I’ve been selected?
Please note that the selection process may take some time, and invitations will be sent before the start of the first testing wave.
We will reach out to you via the email associated with your Amplifiers account, which needs to match the email used when signing up.
💡 Remember that you can update the email on Amplifiers (in case you were using an old email address).
Selected participants will receive an invitation to the Insiders Program Discord server, access to dedicated channels on Amplifiers, and a unique one-time-use Steam key granting access to the testing build.
If you are not selected for wave 1, do not worry as we will consider your profile for the following waves.
Having issues creating an Amplifiers account?
If you are having issues creating the account, please reach out directly to us by sending us an email to
We understand that creating an Amplifiers account may feel like an extra step. However, because the Insiders Program involves content that isn't ready for public release, Amplifiers helps us provide a secure environment for sharing information.
Genuinely how am I supposed to afford these??? I know of the gimmick where you unpair a territory and plop whatever you need on it before reattaching it, but to me that seemed like a bug, so i didnt want to... Is there a way to lower the scaling??
It took me 393 turns to win, even though I came second when it comes to fame. I Vassalised (killed every empire) in the game, and to be honest, I kind of cheesed it and just kept on expanding my empire and declared wars on smaller ones. Not my favourite playstyle but necessary if you want an easy win. If you want to see the empires I chose, I have shown them in the last screenshot. Now I need to win on the Civilisation difficulty. Not looking forward to it...
Wouldn’t it be interesting if after a player has researched all technology and has produced a specific amount of Influence, they have the option to transition into a space opera empire building game with the same remaining players?
An entirely new game I know, but it’s based on your save and adds an interesting dimension to winning the space race, which is pretty much inconsequential as it is now.
I’m playing Humankind on a MacBook Air M4 (16 GB RAM, 10-core GPU), and I’m running into a pretty frustrating problem.
The game runs very smoothly for hours and for most of the game. I have no major performance issues during the early or mid game. However, once I get into the later stages of a game, Humankind can suddenly freeze completely.
The most recent time it happened, the game had previously been running perfectly. Then, during the late game, I got the spinning/colorful macOS loading cursor and the game basically stopped responding. I had to force quit it.
What makes this particularly annoying is that it doesn't seem to be a general performance problem. The game is completely playable until it suddenly isn't.
I really enjoy Amplitude's games and their 4X design, and I especially like Humankind. That's why I'm also considering trying some of their older games.
For anyone playing on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4):
How well do Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend 1 run?
More specifically, can you actually play a full, long game and finish the entire game without crashes or freezes, especially in the late game?
I'd really like to play more Amplitude games on my Mac, but after running into this issue with Humankind, I'd rather know beforehand whether Endless Space 2 and Endless Legend are stable enough to actually finish a game.
Any experiences, especially from M-series Mac users, would be greatly appreciated!
I'm currently playing a game where I'm trying for the 'Lord of the Flies' Achievement - Win a game against 3 AI at Humankind difficulty on the tiniest map - and I think it might be the end.
I've defeated 2 of my 3 rivals, but I am just about to choose my Early Modern culture around Turn 140 and my remaining opponent has been in the Early Modern Era as the Edo Japanese for some time. We are at war and his +48 combat strength Naginata Samurai are now 1-shotting all of my units, even behind walls!
I went Myceneans > Achaemenid Persians > Khmer and was considering going Joseon to catch up on science, or maybe Spanish for the Conquistadores to stand a chance against the Samurai but I think they are too strong. Any tips to counter a samurai steamroll?
So , I've been playing humankind on my ps5 , and i seem to encounter some sort of bug , when trying to go to the next turn it just loads with no end , ive tried to go back a save but it doesn't help.
Please use this thread to ask your questions regarding Humankind. From newbies to pros, vs AI or multiplayer, this is the place to ask!
Make sure you provide as much information as possible regarding your game if you need help - your faction, level and world settings, number of opponents, expansions enabled, etc. Screenshots are most helpful!
Don't forget to check the wiki to see if you can find the answer to your question.
Technical problem or bug? Try checking the PCGamingwiki.
I really wanted to like Together We Rule, especially because I usually prefer playing Humankind in a relatively peaceful way. But after spending quite a bit of time with it, I feel like the diplomacy and espionage systems make the game more frustrating rather than more interesting.
In my current game, I played peacefully for most of the time. One neighbour kept provoking and attacking me, so naturally I defended myself and eventually defeated him several times. But somehow, over time, more and more empires ended up supporting or aligning themselves with him.
What frustrates me is that I don’t really feel in control of this system. There are envoys, leverage, grievances, demands, spies and diplomatic actions everywhere, but a lot of it feels like additional micromanagement without giving me enough meaningful options in return.
The war system makes this even more frustrating. I can clearly win the military conflict, capture territory and defeat enemy armies, yet diplomacy and War Support can still create outcomes that feel completely disconnected from what is actually happening on the map. At times I feel as if I’m being pushed into accepting settlements or outcomes despite the fact that my opponent has achieved virtually nothing militarily.
And then there are all those diplomatic and intelligence units constantly running around my territory. I know there are mechanics to counter them, but I honestly don’t find that gameplay particularly enjoyable. I would rather focus on developing my cities, economy, science and military and use diplomacy when I actually need it.
At this point I’m seriously considering simply disabling the Congress of Humankind and largely ignoring the espionage side of the game. Remote support and basic diplomacy are probably enough for the way I want to play.
Maybe I’m missing something about Together We Rule. Does the DLC become more enjoyable once you really understand all these systems, or do other people also feel that it adds complexity and micromanagement without making diplomacy more satisfying?
I’m curious how other mostly peaceful players deal with it.
Quick question: can i still get the title achievement if i do a run without the DLC that modifies how diplomacy stars work? I really like the congress but it is an absolute pain to farm all that leverage so early for stars
It's the intelligence button, once you unlock it. Lower left corner, looks like a little spy fella.
Idk if this is helpful to anyone, but I saw a few posts here and on the Amplitude forums that claim this feature doesn't exist so I thought I'd put it out there. :)
I’d like some advice on how to handle my neighbour in my current game and, in particular, how to time my next war.
I’m currently playing as the Joseon, while my neighbour is playing as the Teutons.
At the moment, we both have roughly 30–40 War Support, but he seems to be building up War Support considerably faster than I am.
So I’m wondering whether I should actually wait and let his War Support increase before going to war.
My thinking is this: if I attack him while his War Support is relatively low, I might win the war quickly, but I may not have enough time to defeat his armies and occupy enough territories or cities before he reaches 0 War Support and the war ends.
On the other hand, if I wait until we both have much higher War Support, would that potentially give me a much longer war and therefore more time to capture several territories and perhaps one or two cities?
I’m not necessarily trying to eliminate him. My main goal would be to weaken him significantly and take strategically useful territory.
There is also something I don’t understand from my previous attempt at this war. At one point, I was losing 18 War Support every turn. I’ll attach a screenshot showing this.
So my main questions are:
Would you attack while his War Support is still relatively low, or deliberately wait and let him build it up?
If I want enough time to take several territories and possibly cities, how should I prepare for and time the war?
What could cause a -18 War Support per turn loss, and how can I avoid that?
Looking at the map and my armies, how would you approach this situation over the next 10–20 turns?
I’m especially interested in understanding the War Support mechanics here, because I’m not sure whether low enemy War Support is actually an advantage if my goal is to fight a longer war and take a significant amount of territory.
Are there any good tutorials out there, especially for the Together We Rule expansion? Most of the tutorials I’ve found on YouTube are by JumboPixel. I find it a bit difficult to watch his videos for very long because his style feels a little too over-the-top for me. I’d prefer someone who just explains the game in a calm, straightforward way.
Is multiplayer working good on current patch?
Desync etc. how common are those, as i want to buy it with my friend but we had problems with netcode in endless space 2 of the same studio.
So i want to know how it looks in practice.
