Sega and Amplitude Studios" 4X historical strategy game Humankind launched in August last year, and soon it will receive its first post-launch premium content. The developer today announced Cultures of Africa, a DLC pack bringing six more cultures to bolster the existing 60 in the game, new wonders, narrative events, and more.
The Bantu, Garamantes, Swahili, Maasai, Ethiopians, and Nigerians are the incoming cultures for the eras one through six, respectively, in-game. Here"s a rundown of all six cultures, their backgrounds, and what playstyle they should be used for:
- Era 1 – Bantu (Expansionist) The Bantu expansion is a postulated series of major migrations of an original Ntu-speaking group from Central- West-Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa.
- Pick this culture if you want to grab a lot of land fast and early!
- Era 2 – Garamantes (Agrarian) The Garamantes emerged as a major regional power in the mid-second century AD. Their growth and expansion rested on a complex and extensive qanat irrigation system (known as foggaras in Berber), which supported a strong agricultural economy and large population.
- Pick this culture if you want to get food from arid Territories!
- Era 3 – Swahili (Merchant) The rise of the Swahili coast city-states can be largely attributed to the region"s extensive participation in a trade network that spanned the Indian Ocean.
- Pick this culture if you have lots of coasts and want to take advantage of them!
- Era 4 – Maasai (Agrarian) A fierce pastoralist people with a Nilotic (rather than Bantu or Swahili) language. For the Maasai, achieving warrior status meant single-handedly killing a lion with a spear.
- Pick this culture if you want to optimize your growth rate!
- Era 5 – Ethiopians (Militarist) During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two nations that preserved their sovereignty from long-term colonization by a European colonial power. By weaving the natural cliffs and ledges into the creation of their fortresses, Ethiopia was able to fend off most colonial forces.
- Pick this culture if you’d like to quickly catch up on military and science!
- Era 6 – Nigerians (Agrarian) Nigeria unites a wide variety of cultures under the rule of one state. The variety of its terrain and the abundance of its hydraulic resources offer it significant agricultural possibilities and make it one of West Africa’s foremost producers.
- Pick this culture to increase your oil deposits and agricultural workforce!
Meanwhile, Mount Kilimanjaro, Victoria Falls, Zuma Rock, Lake Natron, and Great Mosque of Djenné are included as new wonders players can find or build, which arrive alongside seven new independent people and 16 new narrative events, all as part of the DLC.
Humankind"s Cultures of Africa DLC is launching on January 24 across Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store (the base game is on PC Game Pass) at $8.99, but pre-ordering it will drop the price to $8.09. The premium pack"s landing should be happening alongside a game update too, bringing fixes, balance changes, and other tweaks to the base experience. There"s no word of a major expansion just yet.