4X strategy game Humankind will launch on Xbox Game Pass for PC

Humankind, an upcoming 4X strategy game from Sega developer Amplitude Studios,  will launch on Xbox Game Pass for PC. 

Amplitude's highly anticipated strategy game was originally set to release in 2020, but was delayed more than once, likely due to the pandemic. Humankind is now launching on PC and Google Stadia on August 17, and it'll be available free to Game Pass subscribers at the same time.

Amplitude is arguably best known for 2012's Endless Space, a 4X strategy game set in the year 3000AD, many millennia after an advanced alien civilization called Endless is wiped from existence. In their wake, the Endless left technology that can be used to advance your galaxy's military operations, scientific research, expansion/exploration, and diplomacy. Your role as the player and leader of one of nine warring empires is to guide your chosen civilization toward diplomatic, scientific, or militaristic victory. Like most 4X strategy games, you'll occasionally need to defeat opposing empires in large-scale turn-based battles.

Humankind, on the other hand, moves the focus from world domination to simply building a legacy to be proud of. A new Fame system rewards you for our civilization's good deeds and affinities throughout thousands of years, ultimately determining how the story of your is written in the annals of history. Creative director Romain de Waubert told us last year that the Fame system is designed to allow you define your own measurements of success.

"There is a score... and then there's telling that story [behind the score]," explained Waubert. "The big idea is the fact that we look at history not really like 'who is number one today?' or 'who had the biggest army?' It's really about all the types of things that famous civilizations, and famous cultures and people, were remembered for."

While we wait one more week for Humankind, here are the best 4x games to play right now.