In my text about the announcement of the first major DLC for Humankind, “Cultures of Africa” I pointed out that it was likely that Amplitude would accompany it with a considerable – and much needed – update. Now that it is available on Steam, the developer has finally released not only the content of the update, but future plans for the 4X.

Like the other Humankind cultures, the cultures of Africa are divided into eras. You can, for example, start a game with Bantu – whose focus is expansion, evolve to an agrarian culture with Garamantes in the second age, go back to a mercantile culture in the fourth age with Maasai, go to militarism with the Ethiopians in the fifth and close the match with the Nigerians. Additionally, the DLC tracks new natural wonders, 15 new narrative events, and 7 new independent peoples.

What interests me most, however, is the update that promises improvements to how the AI handles multiple facets of the game – from siege systems to usability improvements in the marketing system. The huge list of fixes is available on the Amplitude forum.

As for the future plans for Humankind, Amplitude's focus continues on improving AI, adding new options for notifications, more tools for mods and obviously new cultures. The forecast is that this will all show up until winter in the southern hemisphere.

Would things have been different if Humankind was released this year instead of last year? I don't know for sure. Like Age of Empires IV, both games seem to have suffered a lot from the pandemic and bring their own innovations or “renovations” to the genre. My favorite is still Old World (still limited to the Epic Games Store). Let's wait for Amplitude's next steps to find out if Humankind will indeed – sooner or later – reinvigorate the 4X genre.

List of future improvements for Humankind:

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