From December 15 to December 28, players with Steam pre-purchases of the upcoming historical turn-based strategy game Humankind will be able to play 150 turns of the game in their "Lucy OpenDev" scenario. In it, players will see their societies grow from the Neolithic age to the Early Modern Era. With the announcement, Sega and Amplitude Studios also unveiled a trailer, directed by Romain Chassaing, which focuses on Lucy, a character seemingly based on the famous Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered in Ethiopia in 1974:

[embed width="696" height="392"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHBs_47xuU&feature=youtu.be

OpenDev serves as a series of scenarios that Sega has used not only to let players get a taste of the gameplay, but to compile their feedback for work on improving the game. This newest will begin at 7 AM PST on December 15 and run through 7 AM PST on December 28, and will include 40 cultures, with the potential to play through 4 full eras, each featuring 10 cultures. Players will see advanced warfare on land and sea, and will be able to try out -- and offer feedback on -- the contextual diplomacy system.

Each player at release will take control of an avatar of their creation, and exclusively for the Lucy OpenDev, customized avatars of Amplitude's favorite Twitch Streamers will be available via Twitch drops for players to add and do battle with. Additionally, with enough stream time, gamers could win a Lucy OpenDev access key.

Also announced today was an April 22, 2021 release date for Steam, Stadia and the Epic Games Store, as well as retail. Pre-purchasers of the Digital Deluxe Edition are currently 17% off at the Humankind website.