I'd say wait for reviews, but voted 'untl launch', because I'm fully aware that I'm weak and probably won't be able to hold myself back for more than couple of days, so nothing bar deluge of negative user reviews/ratings will stop me.

My general rule of thumb is no pre-orders, there's no reason for pre-order and if dev gives incentive to pre-order then that's a minus in my book. The only exception to this I've ever made was Rebuild 3 - and that's just because I saw it as a possibility to give devs a monetary 'thank you' for hours spent with Rebuild 1 and 2 on Kongregate.

40 quid haha.... I would pay double or tribble that for a good game. Take my money, I dont care. This is going to be epic. Dankeschön.

I have pre-ordered and shall continue to look forward to what Amplitude does with this new IP! I'm here for the long haul boys and girls.

kryton24 wrote:

I have pre-ordered and shall continue to look forward to what Amplitude does with this new IP! I'm here for the long haul boys and girls.

that is so wonderful

That is simply splendid 

I just pre-ordered.

I used to never pre-order. Recently, I've pre-ordered and it's been 50/50 (Good: CK3; Bad: Imperator, Panzercorps 2; Didn't pre-order and glad about it: Civ VI Frontier Pass; Early access and it's ok: Old World).

For Amplitude, I pre-ordered because I like what they're trying to do  and I want to show my support. Best of luck to them for the rest of the development time. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it plays on launch.

I am pre-ordered and anxiously awaiting the games release.

I have pre-order it. Amplitude have my trust. They never disepointed me and I know I will yet again spend more than 100 hour on the game. But I understand that waiting for the reviews is technicly te safer way to buy your games without being disepointed.

There is not the answer, "Wait until end of promo" :'(

I'm waiting until after release. Saving a few dollars now isn't as important to me as having a solid first impression later. I have enjoyed every current Amplitude title, but always found their initial releases to be a bit rough around the edges. I respect the hard work they do pre and post release, even though ech game still have their own "quirks". I still have no doubt Humankind will be one of my favorite games next year.

Dayvit78 wrote:

I just pre-ordered.

I used to never pre-order. Recently, I've pre-ordered and it's been 50/50 (Good: CK3; Bad: Imperator, Panzercorps 2; Didn't pre-order and glad about it: Civ VI Frontier Pass; Early access and it's ok: Old World).

For Amplitude, I pre-ordered because I like what they're trying to do  and I want to show my support. Best of luck to them for the rest of the development time. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it plays on launch.

Pretty much my personal take on it too. Amplitude has never screwed the pooch in any way for the games they have done thus far and the passion they have for this game is clearly spiffy... and I along with the devs want to hope this will work out as much as they hope it will since I been clamoring for a more focused and refined Civilization 4x for quite some time. I generally never pre-order either but since this is practically the only genre I really care about I'm on board sink or swim however the launch goes. 

BRING IT ON

A no brainer for me. Pre-Order after the Stadia Open Dev =) Can't wait to play more

I would pre-order right away if only I could just find any retailer that acctually have the physical version in my country. However all sites i have checked within my country doesn't even have Humankind listed, except for one and they only have the pre-order Digital Deluxe listed and no physical copy.

Unpopular opinion, I know, but how about not buying it at all and not supporting the EA-style business practices?

raychimera wrote:

Unpopular opinion, I know, but how about not buying it at all and not supporting the EA-style business practices?

And what are those practices exactly? Just the existence of pre-orders?

I think raychimera is refering to the terrible price conversions across different countries- thus giving some countries a "Raw" deal, if you will.

kryton24 wrote:
Amplitude has never screwed the pooch in any way for the games they have done thus far 

I can't believe people are these oblivious. I can see now how a lot of publishers/devs think they can get away with pretty much anything and still get their sales.

Histotoon wrote:

I think raychimera is refering to the terrible price conversions across different countries- thus giving some countries a "Raw" deal, if you will.

Yep, exactly. Humankind is the #8 priciest strategy game on the whole Steam, as I mentioned in another topic. And most of pricier games are actually bundles, not separate games.

I have pre ordered because i'm sure i want to try it and didnt find it too expensive (50€ being average for me for a big game)

Id advise to only preorder if you are sure to buy it 

From the openDev state i think we can have a quite polished game by april

I'm holding back until I can find a source informing me of crossplay capabilities between storefronts. I have Epic store vouchers I may use if as I suspect the multiplayer lobby making has been divorced from steam friends this time around.

Sublustris wrote:

kryton24 wrote:
Amplitude has never screwed the pooch in any way for the games they have done thus far 

I can't believe people are these oblivious. I can see now how a lot of publishers/devs think they can get away with pretty much anything and still get their sales.

What am I being oblivious to. Amplitude are pretty pristine in quality and unique fun games that deliver so far and I'm supporting them for that relationship they have maintained thus far with us. Why would I penalize them for being good? I can see if you want to be cautious and treat anyone the same. That is fine. I typically never pre-order games myself for years but I 100% want this game to be great and I am puting my stake in it because 4x is my favorite genre... and more importantly... I believe they can pull it off with the passion and motivation they have for it. Please don't try to point down to people because they are enthusiastic for a video game. If you don't agree with it just emphasis on caution you wish for them to have instead as a better way to get your point across.

raychimera wrote:

Histotoon wrote:

I think raychimera is refering to the terrible price conversions across different countries- thus giving some countries a "Raw" deal, if you will.

Yep, exactly. Humankind is the #8 priciest strategy game on the whole Steam, as I mentioned in another topic. And most of pricier games are actually bundles, not separate games.

Strangely it is rather cheap however for a launch title for the US though. 50 bucks for a deluxe edition for us. Can't say why it is what it is for other regions!

Lord_Funk wrote:

I would pre-order right away if only I could just find any retailer that acctually have the physical version in my country. However all sites i have checked within my country doesn't even have Humankind listed, except for one and they only have the pre-order Digital Deluxe listed and no physical copy.

I havent read anywhere who is going to be offering physical editions yet. Then again I don't even see a non-deluxe edition available on steam yet either which is kinda odd tbh. Physical edition perks do seem cool though.

Their final DLC, Awakening, was poorly received. The community has been pretty happy with all of their other releases.

I'll wait and I might not even get it because of the OpenDev.  

The last ES2 DLC was the first time I returned a DLC!

I was hesitant too. I had the game in my scope since April. After I played OpenDev on Stadia this week I decieded to pre-order on Steam.

Hoping to see OpenDev events also on Steam for us who did pre-order before the release.

I heard about Humankind last year, and I've been hyped about it since. On top of that, the OpenDev scenarios were awesome and quite well designed (except some UI flaws and unclear mechanics, which are or have been addressed).

So, my personal answer is that I didn't even wonder about waiting until the game's release, I pre-ordered it right away.

Not only because I'm hyped about it, but because the work Amplitude Studios has put into it up to this day (again, including the OpenDev scenarios) strengthens my first impression that this is going to be a great game (for those who like this genre, of course).

In a more down-to-earth aspect, I believe that pre-ordering it will show Amplitude how much people/gamers are interested in their new game, and will surely encourage them to go even further to ship this "magnum opus" (in their own words) as one of the top-tier quality 4X game.

So here is my take on it.

I've never pre-ordered, because I really dislike the idea of buying before even looking at the finished product.

This time though, 2 things happened that gave me peace of mind.

1. Amplitude gave OpenDev Scenarios to test, which were quite complete and showed many of the mechanics, graphics and overall experience. Then they gave us 1-week test and a much ample scenario to play within Stadia. This took away many (not all) my concerns regarding the quality, style and product itself. Not the final version, so, point 2.
2. I pre-ordered in Stadia, which (not sure about other platforms) won't charge me until the game is released, and I can cancel free of charge at any point previous to launch. That makes me confident that I can change my decision should I see deterioration (unlikely) of the product between pre-order and launch (on videos, comments, etc).

Kashrlyyk wrote:

I'll wait and I might not even get it because of the OpenDev.  

The last ES2 DLC was the first time I returned a DLC!

But due to your forum score badges it would go to point as to how many hours of playtime Amplitude did provide you despite one DLC not going the way you liked. 

As I've stated before I think it is perfectly fine if anyone wants to be careful on any pre-order regardless of who is developing the game but I'm just pointing this out because it seems a bit skewed to your personal logic on this game unless it really rubbed you the wrong way spectacularly lol. Fear not either way as us volunteer training dummies shall judge the game for you if you decide to wait along with the typical fashion of game outlets revealing their thoughts.

The forum badges for ES2 and EL are based only on what you own and do not reflect play time. Only the ES1, DotE and LT badges require achievements.

Eulogos wrote:

The forum badges for ES2 and EL are based only on what you own and do not reflect play time. Only the ES1, DotE and LT badges require achievements.

I suppose that could be true but.... I'm not sure why someone would be buying all sorts of dlc, let alone be a "founder" for the game if they weren't invested or playing with it for a time lol. Either way I didn't mean this as an attack but just a question towards why lose faith in Amplitude over just 1 dlc compared to the grand scheme of all they have done so far.

kryton24 wrote:

Eulogos wrote:

The forum badges for ES2 and EL are based only on what you own and do not reflect play time. Only the ES1, DotE and LT badges require achievements.

I suppose that could be true but.... I'm not sure why someone would be buying all sorts of dlc, let alone be a "founder" for the game if they weren't invested or playing with it for a time lol. Either way I didn't mean this as an attack but just a question towards why lose faith in Amplitude over just 1 dlc compared to the grand scheme of all they have done so far.

I don't think it is a mater of losing faith in them. For me at least. I can reasonaly understand that sometimes things go wrong. However with the last set of patches that introduced a myriad of bugs, it was like another company was doing the content for the game...and I guess that is exactly what happened...but it did not leave a good feeling.

What I'm wondering is...will the same thing happen to Humankind? Will we be going along and getting expansions and then have Amplitude turn it over to another company while they go to work on their next game and just break things willy nilly and tell us "that's all folks?"

ES 2 doesn't even feel like it is finished. There is so much that can be done...but we're onto the next thing now. So long and thanks for all the fish.

I concur ^

If ES2 release tells me anything it would be "preorder about 2 hours before launch" since ES2 had a launch discount if I remember correctly and that is what I did.
But then it was also about 40 or 30€s? so it was like 36 or 27... and I still got to be a founder.

Slashman wrote:

ES 2 doesn't even feel like it is finished. There is so much that can be done...but we're onto the next thing now. So long and thanks for all the fish.

The league of "consistently requesting for ES2 to be finished" has not yet given up. Live long, live strong and keep fighting for Lumeris buffs.

The one thing about the deluxe version I find a bit concerning is what actually comes with it compared to the base game. I mean I am not really talking about counting the pennies for a purchase, but some more avatar options; another wonder; and some new story events. If that is the way to go for future DLCs, then I would say this feels concerning. Even more so than the never ending Civ DLCs.

I'm really tempted to pre-purchase Humankind!...

Can anyone give me a reason why to wait for the April release instead of pre-purchasing?

Otherwise, I'll go for it!
BTW, will the current pre-purchase discount disappear at the date of release? Anyone knows?

CortreX wrote:

I'm really tempted to pre-purchase Humankind!...

Can anyone give me a reason why to wait for the April release instead of pre-purchasing?

Otherwise, I'll go for it!
BTW, will the current pre-purchase discount disappear at the date of release? Anyone knows?

Usually people refuse to pre-order when they are not sure whether they will like the game. Therefore, they are waiting for full gameplay and evaluations of other players to make sure they need to buy.

As far as I know, after the release, the 17% discount will disappear.

You have a bit more time to make up your mind on whether you want to preorder, as we have just announced that we are moving the release date to August 17th:
Full details in the blog: https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/humankind/blogs/763

But yes, it is correct the 17% discount will disappear after release: It primarily serves so that pre-ordering allows you to grab the Deluxe edition for a price comparable to the standard edition after release.