I see a lot of gameplay on YouTube. In different languages, no less.

I just want to be clear. WE can't play the game until April, correct?

There is NO early access?

There were OpenDevs, which were limited betas, meant for testing certain things. The 1st Steam OpenDev, was a pack of scenarios and required signing up and being selected. The Stadia Opendev, was completely public, and let you play as Nubia and a Classical Culture of your choice. The Lucy OpenDev, on Steam and unlocked by watching streams of Humankind for 2 hours (those who preordered did not have to do this), let you play from Neolithic to Early Modern.

There are also VIPs, select individuals, mainly people who contribute to the community, get to playtest freely.