Humankind

This fantastic strategy game builds on classic titles and creates unique experiences that fans will love to explore. Obvious comparisons are being made between Humankind and Sid Meier's Civilization VI. Both are played on a hexagonal game board, asking players to expand their nation over time, as well as communicate effectively with surrounding leaders and enemies. While there are rather minor differences between combat and map structure between the two, the biggest difference is the opportunity to build a culture piece by piece -- which is only possible in Humankind. The civic system is totally unique in this case, and it completely changes the gameplay. Instead of creating a strategy and sticking with it throughout the ages, Humankind gives players the opportunity to switch their strategy from era to era. For instance, a society may start out as a more militaristic one when their view of the map only contains one hostile neighbor, but it may become more concerned with naval trade when territory on an ocean is claimed in a later era and discovery of friendly allies across the sea is made.

This freedom to constantly make changes is very exciting, and it forces players to be more open to all of their options for growth over time, as their focus could change at any moment. Still, it's tough to judge whether this key feature is enough to encourage hardcore fans of the Civilization series that this title is a must-play. Though it's exciting for your culture to change over time, it can get overwhelming if too many other players (whether real-life friends or computer AI) are switching their strategies every era as well. As far as the Stadia exclusive features, State Share is very cool -- it lets people take a screenshot or video clip of their game, and anyone can instantly click on that asset and launch into that created world. It's a cool concept that's a whole new twist on save games, and it works incredibly well. Direct touch, on the other hand, is an interesting idea for Android phones, especially if you happen to be on the go and away from a computer without a controller, although it does take some getting used to when it comes to using multiple fingers to cancle actions or access menus. The biggest issue, though, is that you'll ruin your eyes trying to read through all of the text on your phones screen while you're tapping away to direct your civilization. But in the end, the concern about being overwhelmed by choices and options comes down to personal preference, and outside of comparisons to other games, Humankind is a fantastic experience on its own.