Humankind OpenDev weekend part 2 — Combat preview

Humankind’s second weekend of OpenDev kicked off on August 6th, and I got to go hands on with a few more scenarios. Let me start off by saying I picked this project up from another GT editor who had been previously working on this game, so I went into this knowing literally nothing other than it’s a historical strategy game. I have not had any other time with it outside of these OpenDev previews and, while they have been a lot of fun, I have to admit I was very confused and at times overwhelmed. Since we’re only seeing a small glimpse focused on whatever the particular scenario might be for the week (this weekend was battle) I haven’t had the chance to play this game as a whole with a fresh start. While that might be both good and bad at the same time, for me it meant I had never seen combat before and really had no idea how it worked.

It took me several attempts to get the hang of all of the scenarios I played this weekend. Here is a list of what was offered to us: Beneath Our Hooves, King of the Hill, Loot and Pillage, and Wading into Battle.

In the videos included in this preview, you’ll see me complete Beneath Our Hooves, which was a short, quick battle with Hittite troops protecting their Pharaoh. It took me a few tries to figure out how to use the river to my advantage. The second one was King of the Hill, which took a little longer. In this scenario, your Greek army is defending against the Persians. Maintaining the high ground is essential to winning this fight.

I am not a seasoned strategy game player, and while I do enjoy them I know I don’t excel at them. However, I enjoy history and city building, and I am hoping to see more of that in future previews with Humankind. So for me, this OpenDev weekend was probably not the best. I had to stop and read what my units did more than once, and check the tips. I cannot stress this enough if you’re new to this game and get the chance to play it: read every single tip! The UI is a bit to take in at first, and it’s not always obvious what to do. I did finally manage to succeed in all four of the scenarios though, so I call that a win!

Humankind is still in pre-alpha stages, but what I have seen is pretty polished. I mentioned the UI can be a little overwhelming, and I think my one criticism is that there is just TOO much information at times. I’d also like to see the UI be less invasive while in battle, such as being able to choose to open the battle management and attack prediction screens. While these ARE very helpful, sometimes it’s just too much clutter on the screen.

We have one more OpenDev event coming up on August 13th, and I am really looking forward to it. This game is very interesting to me, and forces me to come out of my gaming comfort zone to challenge me in new ways.

Humankind from Amplitude Studios is currently unavailable to pre-order, but you can add it to your wishlist on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124300/HUMANKIND/

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