I think the most distinctive aspect of aplitude's 4x games is it's story telling which was achieved though its questlines and heroes. However, without heros, or character individuals to progress though these quest and make a story I feel there would've be a considerable lack of continuity between quest start and reward and without quests the story aspect is very much left to the player to make sense of their gameplay.

Included in the recent info dump of Humankind was the design decision to have nameless administrators and generals which had me wondering whether historical figures (historicaly appropriate to the culture or not) or arbitrarily named figures of importance would make an appearance. Certainly a game about the evolution of a culture and a people through the eras would outlast many individuals and accomodating one in a single era would involve a suspension of disbelief but I'm sure its one both acceptable and worthwhile. What are your thoughts on this?

As an alternative to individuals, we can characterise and ascribe agency to Families/dynasties(e.g Medici family), Syndicates(e.g Mafia), Trading companies, Religious sects through which era spanning stories can be told.

The story telling experience is what keeps bringing me back to the endless games, so will we see quests, characters or other story telling foci as we progress through the eras in humankind?