Hey everyone!
Since our first OpenDev back in August, one of the most common questions we’ve been seeing has been: Will there be another OpenDev?
The short answer is Yes.
For the long answer, check out our awesome new trailer and all the details below:
Wait a minute... What was that at the end of the trailer? That’s right, we have narrowed down the release date to April 22nd, 2021 on Steam, Stadia, and the Epic Game Store!
“But that’s still a long time off!” we hear you say. Don’t worry, we’ve got something to tide you over until the end of the year. From December 15th at 16:00 CET (10:00 EST, 7:00 PST) to December 28th at 16:00 CET, anybody who has pre-purchased Humankind on Steam can try out the new (English language, PC only) Lucy OpenDev.
This is the biggest OpenDev scenario we have released yet: four full eras and seven AI opponents! Lead your people for more than 100 turns from the Neolithic to the end of the Early Modern Era and try any of the forty different cultures in these eras. Ten thousand potential combinations should keep even the most dedicated of our players busy for a while!
So how can you play the Humankind Lucy OpenDev? Just follow these simple steps:
- Make sure that HUMANKIND™ is in your Steam library.
- If you have pre-purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition on Steam, it should be there already
- If you have purchased a Steam key from another retailer, you must Redeem the key on Steam first before proceeding to the next step
- Visit GAMES2GETHER
- If you already have an account, go ahead and login
- If you do not have an account, please create one
- Steam connect your G2G account on the rewards page here . If you have already connected your account in the past, you may need to re-sync
- Once the OpenDev begins on the 15th, click on the “Lucy OpenDev” reward and hit Redeem.
- Go back to your Steam library, and Humankind – OpenDev should appear there automatically
You will be playing as Lucy in this OpenDev, but when the game releases you will be able to customize your own avatar and share it with your friends to play against. We’ve been working with some of our favorite Twitch streamers to create special avatars for them, and you can unlock them as AI opponents through Twitch drops by watching their streams. Watch enough Humankind streams on Twitch, and you might even win a key to try the Lucy OpenDev yourself!
Of course, OpenDev is all about getting your feedback, so we’d be remiss not to tell you what we’ve learned from our Stadia OpenDev and how we plan to address it.
- Many of the OpenDev players were excited by the potential of combining different cultures, both thematically and mechanically, and we have seen numerous speculation threads since then.
- Events and Civics remain a popular way to gradually shape your civilization over the course of the game.
- Most players found that they moved too quickly through the eras and the technology tree. We agree that the pace of the game is currently too fast in those respects and are working to balance this.
- While the underlying systems of Diplomacy and Trade were popular with players who dug into them, we received a lot of feedback that these systems are difficult to follow and understand. We are adding additional interface elements to help players keep track of their diplomatic relations and trade deals, for example a history of interactions you can access on the Diplomacy screen.
- Many players also found it difficult to judge how well they were doing compared to other civilizations, so we are looking into ways to display the Fame of other civilizations to the player.
- We have received a lot of feedback on the balance of cultures and are working to address this. For example, many players felt the Celts and Huns were much stronger than the other cultures, so we are reining them in.
- Some players found the stability system difficult to understand, while others thought that it was too easy to maintain high stability. We are doing a balancing pass on Stability to address these issues.
- While the religion system as a whole was fairly popular, many players felt there were not enough tenets to choose from and it was too easy to reach the highest tier of tenets. To address this, we are adding new tenets and a new tier.
- Many players were confused by the Historic Religions and why they are taken as a Tenet. We have changed this so that players can choose a Historic Religion when they adopt another tenet, rather than doing so instead of adopting a Tenet.
- While most appreciated the presence of the Independent Peoples, many were disappointed that they were divided into only two groups. We are going to further differentiate the Independent Peoples through Ideologies.
- A lot of players found that conquering Independent People was quick and easy, assimilating them was difficult and obscure. We’re working to make conquest more difficult and assimilation more rewarding, while improving the clarity of the User Interface.
- As many found it strange and potentially tedious or exploitable that you could field an unlimited number of armies, we will likely return some limit on the number of armies you can field without penalties.
- Many players also felt that they could take too much from other civilizations after only a handful of battles in a war. We are still working to balance the Morale gains and losses as well as costs to address this issue.
We hope you will enjoy this new OpenDev scenario and keep providing us with constructive feedback!
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