Okay, after having completed some more playthroughs, here comes my [current] assessment of the state of Humankind:

Humankind is a failed master-piece.

I know there are many people who are enthusiastic about the game (check let's plays on youtube, for instance). For certain, I am glad for anyone who likes the game. I do not wish to impose my opinion to anyone. However, I've come to the conclusion that Humankind in its current state is definitely not a [civilization] game for me.

My judgement does not aim at the atmospheric aspects of the game - cultures, rich graphics, details, fantastic music - being all fantastic.

What I don't like about humankind is its gameplay. I'm stating this as a seasoned civilization player (Civ3, Alpha Centauri, Civ4, Civ5, Beyond Earth, Civ6.., you name it), and a devoted fan of many Amplitude games (EL, ES, ES2).   

Maybe my hopes and expectations for the game were somewhat unrealistic, admittedly. I guess, my dream would have been an Amplitude game with some ingenuity and epicness of the Caveman2Cosmos Mod from Civ3. [Though it is fair to mention that this insane and insanely complex mod is also somewhat boring to play in the long-run.]

Here is a list of some - maybe highly subjective - reasons why I do not (or only partly) enjoy Humankind:

Also, please forgive my impending sarcasm, but I wish to make a point!

Misrepresentation of nature: Already mentioned this in my comments to OpenDev Beta, but game/deer are no Kamikaze fighters! Game failing in the pre-historic era, already (Caveman2Cosmos comes into mind how this could have been handled much better.)

District spamming isn't fun. Don't let be told otherwise. (Or, at least, it *was* fun when it was new in Civ6.)

EL had a much more streamlined, straightforward district system, where you didn't had to care about the different types of yields. More complexity, more fun in Humankind? Nope.

(From a perspective of the real world: human civilization has trespassed the treshhold of more people living in urban centers than in rural areas only recently some years ago. Not a healthy development imo, anyways... but I'm digressing completely now.)

The whole influence mechanics/economy appears odd to me. Same for the scaling in the progression of basic fidsi(?) yields. It simply hasn't the right feel.

Wonders are ... not awe inspiring, not gratifying! Neither their looks on the map are great nor their benefits. Allowing all yield types? Wow. Literally, wow. Oh, plus 100 credits on my fame count? Should I be feeling heavily inspired now? (Remember those great wonder videos/stills in Civ4/Civ5 ?)

The way ressource are being handled in the game is ... disappointing. First too little, later too much. Outbuying and stockpiling in the end... dull.

(In contrast, in ES2 ressource are much more interesting and fun, because choosing the right ressources for proper system upgrades does matter.)

(Civ-standard?) tech-tree isn't that interesting and doesn't offer mattering choices like we experienced in EL or ES/2.

Civics options appear at random times. Or, rather that's how it feels like. And (too many) civics choics with not that much of an impact on the game. (Unlike in Civ3, for instance). Kind of a technocratic civilization goverment style... Am I supposed to be cool nowadays by being efficient to the point and bored at the same time?

Story-telling? More like being permanently sprinkled by history foot-notes.

Adopting independent cities into your empire seems so much over-powered. Especially on higher difficulty levels, where your own cities likely have very little districts due to production constraints, whereas independent cities had already spammed districts as if there was no tomorrow. (Check Spiffing Brit on youtube, for some utterly absurd gameplay.)

Do I actually care about the new world? Rather little. What's so new about it, actually? Oh yes, I forgot: more room for more cities and districts... and some more ressources I actually don't care about *sigh*

Shuffling cards - pardon - switching cultures/people in each era is interesting. But why can't I become a culture of alien zombie vampires? Might be too unrealistic, I guess.
(Sidenote: city builder game Egypt: Old Kingdom did manage to include alien zombification!)

Pollution? Nough said.

Nukes. Not fun. Less fun IRL.

Snowballing is boring. I have played several games (on middle difficulty levels), with little to none interaction with the AI, simply with installing overwhelming production, military strength, fame. So... what?

To conclude: Honestly, I would like to see an overhaul of Humankind gameplay. I am well aware this will most likely not happen. Amplitude is not Paradox, but even though I am not at all a fan of Paradox's developer philosophy: If I could, I would vote for a rework of the gameplay aspect of Humankind along similar guidelines.

Not stating that Humankind will not improve over the course of time. It surely will. But for the above reasons, I very much doubt it will become a game I can fully enjoy.