Building a religion can provide different benefits to a culture in Humankind, so here’s what’s needed to make the people faithful. Other historic 4x strategy games have implemented a religion mechanic in their game, and Humankind is no exception. Players can pick tenets for their religion which can provide useful passive bonuses throughout their empire. These bonuses range from adding extra yields to certain tiles, like food of industry, or increasing support for wars. Due to the sheer number of benefits a religion can have, every playstyle can benefit from having one if they’re willing to invest in it.
While religion does have its benefits in Humankind, it's not a mechanic that can outright win the game. Spending turns to invest in religious endeavors can also be spent training military units for war or building districts to enhance a city's yields. Players ought to think carefully about whether building a religion is a good use of their time, but if they can make use of the bonuses a tenet can provide, they should do their best to pursue religion as soon as they get started in Humankind.
Players do not need to go out of their way to found a religion in Humankind, as every culture is able to naturally create one once they have accumulated 10 population. This includes the number of denizens residing in cities and outposts, as well as the number of combat units. Once there’s a total of 10, players will have the option to choose from two different belief systems: Polytheism, which grants +5 faith for each attached territory, and Shamanism, which grants +1 faith for each population. While religions may be easy to found, building them and spreading them takes a bit more effort.
Spreading a Religion in Humankind
Faith is an important resource to obtain, as it’s needed to spread a religion to different territories. There’s no way for players to directly push their religion into a specified location, as the process is entirely passive in Humankind. Instead, they must build up their faith by building emblematic districts that yield faith, and Holy Sites, which multiple cities can work on at once. Some of the best cultural wonders can also generate a lot of faith, but they're more difficult to build.
The more faith one religion has over a rival religion, the more it will spread into those territories and convert followers. To observe where each religion holds power, players can select the Religion button next to the Tech and Civic buttons in the bottom-left corner of the screen. There can still be competition between cultures that follow the same religion. Whoever generates the most faith for a particular religion is the most dominant and is considered the religious leader. They have authority when making choices regarding that religion, including core tenets of the faith.
Choosing Religious Tenets in Humankind
Tenets in Humankind are specific passive bonuses that a religion can have. They provide bonus yields to certain tiles or other effects like increasing war support. These passive bonuses are unlocked after a culture's religion earns a certain number of followers, so those able to build up faith and spread religion quickly will have access to these bonuses sooner. For instance, the Abstain from Intoxicants tenet increases industry on forest and woodland tiles, making them more productive. This makes it a good pick for cultures with lots of forests in their territory.
The religious leader gets to select the core tenets of the culture's religion. To make the most of a religion and pick the tenets that benefit their culture, players will want to make sure their society has the most faith. Otherwise, they won't be able to exert their authority and reap the benefits they want.
Humankind is available for PC, Macintosh OS, and Stadia.