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Catan: Dawn of Humankind is a new entry in the board game series

Adventures in ancient Africa.

A new entry in the Catan series of classic board games has been revealed via a teaser trailer.

Catan: Dawn of Humankind is an upcoming board game that takes place not in the fictional world of Catan – which the previous titles were set in – but on Earth itself. The game will begin in ancient Africa, where humanity’s first ancestors lived and eventually left to explore the rest of the world. The announcement of Dawn of Humankind has revealed that players will be guiding families of ancient humans from Africa and across the globe, with few other details about the board game provided.

The teaser trailer released with the reveal features the box art for the new family game, which shows a group of prehistoric humans making their way across a savannah populated by woolly mammoths and sabretooth tigers. There is no information regarding gameplay mechanics or components for Dawn of Humankind yet available.

Cover image for YouTube video

Catan is a series that began with the release of the original board game in 1995 – then called Settlers of Catan – that sees players competing to establish and develop their own civilisations. The board game, which has been criticised for its regressive colonialist themes, has players place settlements on various numbered tiles on the board. On a player’s go, they roll a set of two dice and every player with settlements on the corresponding tiles receives their associated resources. Whenever a seven is rolled, the active player is able to move the thief token to another tile and steal a resource from its settler, with that tile no longer able to provide its settler with resources.

Using their resources, players can build new settlements connected by roads, as well as upgrade their existing settlements into larger cities. Players can also use their resources to purchase random development cards to help them along their way. Should players need certain resources they don’t have access to, they can attempt to trade with an opponent, who is free to accept or reject the offer. Whichever player manages to gather 10 victory points first – by building, upgrading and gaining development cards – becomes the winner of Catan.

Watch on YouTube

Catan was created by Klaus Teuber, who has also designed several spin-off titles in the series including sci-fi board games Star Trek: Catan and The Starfarers of Catan, as well as various expansions for the series. It is not confirmed whether Teuber is the designer behind Catan: Dawn of Humankind, which is set to be published by Catan Studios.

The release date for Catan: Dawn of Humankind is planned for sometime this year, with a retail price yet to be confirmed.

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Catan: Dawn of Humankind

Tabletop Game

About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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