What is the best culture in Humankind? This is a tricky one to answer: unlike Civilization – where you pick one civ and then are done for the rest of the game – Humankind offers you the chance to pick a new culture every time you progress to a new era.
All cultures in Humankind are geared towards one of the game’s seven affinities – gameplay pillars that define a specific specialisation. Each era offers ten culture options, so there are often more than one pick for a specific affinity. This means that you can identify which culture is better for a particular affinity within an era, but that will only last until you need to switch out for the next one.
Across an entire game of Humankind, there’s reported to be over a million different culture combinations, so you can understand why this isn’t such a simple question to address. Over time we will evolve this guide to look at specific ‘best’ picks for more specific scenarios as we learn more, but for now, here is a quick summary of all of the game’s 60 cultures and their particular affinity.
Humankind cultures
As a quick note, all affinities come with an affinity trait and a passive bonus, such as Scientist’s ‘Collective Minds’ which allows you to convert all industry, money, and surplus food into science for a set number of turns. The passive ability of Scientist allows you to research technologies from the next technological era.
Every culture of a designated affinity has access to the same affinity traits.
For more information on each culture and their emblematic units, quarters, and legacy traits, please refer to the official Humankind Encyclopaedia.
Humankind cultures – Ancient era
Assyrians – Expansionist
Babylonians – Scientist
Egyptians – Builder
Harappans – Agrarian
Hittites – Militarist
Mycenaeans – Militarist
Nubians – Merchant
Olmecs – Aesthete
Phoenicians – Merchant
Zhou – Aesthete
Humankind cultures – Classical era
Achaemenid Persians – Expansionist
Aksumites – Merchant
Carthaginians – Merchant
Celts – Agrarian
Goths – Militarist
Greeks – Scientist
Huns – Militarist
Mauryans – Aesthete
Maya – Builder
Romans – Expansionist
Humankind cultures – Medieval era
Aztecs – Militarist
Byzantines – Merchant
English – Agrarian
Franks – Aesthete
Ghanaians – Merchant
Khmer – Builder
Mongols – Militarist
Norsemen – Militarist
Teutons – Expansionist
Umayyads – Scientist
Humankind cultures – Early Modern era
Dutch – Merchant
Edo Japanese – Aesthete
Haudenosaunee – Agrarian
Joseon – Scientist
Ming – Aesthete
Mughals – Builder
Ottomans – Expansionist
Poles – Militarist
Spanish – Expansionist
Venetians – Merchant
Humankind cultures – Industrial era
Austro-Hungarians – Aesthete
British – Expansionist
French – Scientist
Germans – Militarist
Italians – Aesthete
Mexicans – Agrarian
Persians – Builder
Russians – Expansionist
Siamese – Scientist
Zulu – Militarist
Humankind cultures – Contemporary era
Americans – Expansionist
Australians – Builder
Brazilians – Agrarian
Chinese – Merchant
Egyptians – Aesthete
Indians – Aesthete
Japanese – Scientist
Soviets – Expansionist
Swedes – Scientist
Turks – Agrarian
This is just the start when it comes to cultures in Humankind. As we learn more about the game, we’ll be back with more advice as to what the ‘best’ cultures may be.
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