One of the bigger Gamescom Opening Night Live pre-show reveals was Humankind 2, the sequel to Amplitude’s Civilization-like 4X game from 2021. The trailer didn’t feature much gameplay, rather a swiftly moving cinematic montage of Earth through humanity’s ages, and it immediately sparked suspicions of gen-AI use because of the way it looks.
The uncanny appearance of characters caused many people – myself included – to suspect gen-AI use, and to ask about it in comments under the official announcement on X. This prompted a response from developer Amplitude, which responded by stating that no gen-AI had been used.
“The Humankind 2’s live-action announcement trailer was filmed at Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia using real actors, practical sets, and custom-made props created specifically for the production,” said Amplitude in a statement on X. “We will be sharing behind-the-scenes images from the shoot soon.”
The live-action Humankind 2 trailer is filmed from the perspective of a newborn, and jumps through different eras of history, with the camera focused on whichever character is holding the infant in each changing scene. The fisheye lens and smooth lighting removes a lot of the texture detail, and a detached-looking background resembles many AI-generated videos on the internet.
This is an unfortunate mix-up but one that’s becoming increasingly common as gen-AI tools improve and more and more companies use them to produce marketing materials. A growing sense of distrust around this pushes people to make accusations whenever they spot something of a specific style. Will this deter companies from using certain styles in film or animation to avoid an ‘AI look’? Perhaps. Or they had better be prepared, as Amplitude was, to clarify their position and show receipts.
Humankind 2 releases in 2027 on PC. The strategy game lets you create your own civilisation using different, historical cultural influences and take it through the ages.
In their review of the first Humankind, Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell felt that the game couldn’t consistently realise its own ambitions, or balance playfulness with authenticity.
