Due to hit the stores in February 2025, Civilization 7 has been the talk of the town for the 4X/grand strategy niche ever since it was first announced. While we obviously don't know yet if Firaxis is cooki??ng up something compelling here, the PC hardware requirements are genuinely reason?able.

Most other modern AAAs simply shoot for the stars and recommend Nvidia's top-of-the-line RTX 4090 if you want to play them at a native 4K at 60 FPS; this is not the case with Civilization 7. Sid Meier's next flagship 4X instead calls for a (relatively) humble RTX 4070 if you want to fully max it out. Though, I'd like to point out that this doesn't specify whether that's running with some type of upscali??ng? or not. Something to think about as we go, perhaps.

It takes an RTX 4070 to push 4K Ultra in Civilization 7

Framerate is not of huge import when it comes to playing Civilization 7. I have spent dozens of hours playing Civilization 4 on a disturbingly underpowered rig back in the day, and I can vouch for the fact that 20 FPS doesn't hurt as much as you think it would in a turn-based strategy ga??me. Yet, if we can get a stable 60 on a reasonable rig, I'm all for it.

It's excellent news that the humble RTX 2060 should get us to 60 FPS at 1080P, according to Firaxis' official system requirements. Conversely, the RTX 4070 and the RX 7800XT should be able to render the game at 4K with 60 FPS in tow, which is pretty darn neat. On the opposite side of the performance spectrum, you should be able to get at least 30 FPS with the ancient GTX 1050. Lovely stuff!

Some caveats to keep in mind here, though. Firstly, as I said above, Firaxis could very well not be using a true native 1080P/4K render for these specs. Instead, this may be relying on some manner of upscaling to keep the FPS above the target frame rate, which wouldn't be ideal. Further, sheer FPS doesn't tell us the whole story for a Civilization game, as turn times are way more important here.

Turn times usually depend on your rig's CPU, and the recommended specs are surprisingly humble, all things considered. The i5-10400 or the Ryzen 5 3600X should be more than enough at the "Rec?ommended" performance spec. Since Firaxis hasn't specified what this means for turn times, though, we just have to guess they'd be acceptable.

We'll have to wait and see how this pans out, though the target spec sheet is very reasonable so far. The game is looking mighty fine so far, too. Ste?ven Mills had the opportunity to spend som??e time playing it and interview Firaxis staff on the topic of Civilization 7, and he was quite happy with what was on offer.

The post Civilization 7’s system requirements announced, won’t need a 4090 to push 4K Ultra appeared first on Destructoid.

I recently took a trip to Firaxis Games to get some hands-on time with the upcoming historical strategy title Sid Meier's Civilization VII. After playing for about 40 minutes, I sat down with Executive Producer Dennis Shirk and Game Designer Carl Harrison to talk a bit about some of the bigger changes coming into the fabled f??ranchise.

DESTRUCTOID: I noticed when you pick your civilization at ?the beginning of the game, at least all of the civilizations currently available seem to have two Legacy Path focuses, such as Militaristic, Culture, Economic, etc. Is this the case f??or all civilizations, and how realistic is it to actually succeed at both of those focuses as opposed to hyper-fixing on just one?

CARL: Yes, that's the case for all civilizations. I think it is reali??stic to succeed at both focuses. Because of our Legacy Paths, you'r?e able to focus on two, sometimes even three of those, depending on how well you are doing, and get as far as possible into those Legacy Paths. Those have various stepping stones along the way, and you may not necessarily reach the very end of a Legacy Path and receive the top reward, but it is possible to at least hit maybe that first or second level in a couple of different spots. Those attributes are reflective of the kind of playstyle that civ has and the bonuses that they get, so those will help you a fair amount towards those two Legacy Path areas.

DENNIS: That's a good example of the depth in Civilization 7. When I played the last couple of nights testing today's preview build, I played a lot of Hatshepsut and Egypt, a builder and culture-focused combination, and you can go down either of those paths. I typically play a culture game, but by having the strong builder options as well, I can go in a different direction. I think it depends on what bonuses you want to go for. You've got many Legacy Paths you can choose from for those bonuses, and you can analyze what direction you want to go. Once I've played six or seven times and I'm an exp?ert on that particular civ, I ma??y decide to try two or three paths instead of the one, and see if I can earn some more before going to the next Age.

DESTRUCTOID: It seems like this change allows for a lot more build variety, especially with being able to choose Leader and Civilization separately, which is exciting. How easy is it to change your Legacy Path in future Ages, and does it hinder you to do so, or can ?you simply take the bonuses from previous Ages and use them to build regardless of Legacy Path?

CARL: Both. I think you can double down and stay in the same sort of direction and keep leveling on the bonuses you received in the previous Age. So if you are going with a science civ, and in the next Age double down on another science civ, that is definitely a strat?egy. But also, you can pivot. If you have the proper paths unlocked, you could have been a science civ in the Antiquity Age but once you reach the Exploration Age you could pick a non-science civ and pivot into a different area. The bonuses that those civs give you will help you do that, even if the rewards you got from the previous Legacy Path may not be aligned with that.

DENNIS: That's really what I love about this new system. We have many player types here at Firaxis—hardcore players, and casual players—Carl for example is a deep math player. I'm a surface emotion player who goes off of feel for everything. This gives me a unique early marker. As a casual player or even a new player to Civilization, before when you played Civilization 6, when you start playing you may not know what sort of direction you are going and you just feel it out and see where you land but sometimes it may be too late to see where you are headed. Bu??t with this new system, Legacy Markers allow you to prepare yourself for say, a late culture push to victory. These Legacy Paths early on almost give me a roadmap to set myself up for that. But once I play more and bec??ome an expert on that civ, I can start branching out and there is a roadmap to pivot as well.

DESTRUCTOID: I definitely feel that as well. As a more casual player, from what I've played so far, I don't feel like I'm 'playing wrong' or hurting myself based on what I'm choosing to do now since I can sort of progress towards whatever I end up doing in the regard. As someone who enjoys playing Civilization with friends, are you guys quite ready to talk about multi??player? just yet?

DENNIS: Not too much yet, but one thing I will say which is a really cool point for Civilization 7 is that because it's broken up into Ages, we're going to have the ability to have a much more focused multiplayer match. For example, you'll be able to really focus on playing an Age. We aren't going into too much detail beyond that just yet, but we've been playing multiplayer from the beginning and we're finding it a lot of fun to have a bite-sized chunk that you can play without having to sit down for an 8-hour me?ga session.

CARL: That bite-sized chunk extends beyond just that, though. Even for yourself, if you're streaming or making content that's one thing, but if you're playing by yourself it can be hard to sit down and devote an entire day to playing Civilization. B?ut this Ages system does allow you to have a breather in between.

DESTRUCTOID: How many turns does each Age typically last?

DENNIS: It really varies.

CARL: Yeah, your game speed will affect that. I think you could count on it being around 150 turns, but it could go up to about 200 if things ??are progressing slowly.

DENNIS: There is a hard cap, so? if everyone is just ignoring everything, there will be a cap when the Age transition crisis' will spo??ol up whether you're ready or not.

DESTRUCTOID: O?n the flip side, is there an advantage for a player to sort of rush toward the next Age as opposed to someone who may tak?e their time?

CARL: Yeah, I think so. Everyone is wor??king towards the same Legacy Paths, but it's not a competition. You are able to hit the third tier reward for Culture, Economy, Science, and Military, and so can every other player in the game and they will all have the same ??rewards. The faster you knock something out, so if you just push through had knock the Age out, the fewer Legacy Path rewards other players are likely to have, and therefore the fewer bonuses they will get going into the next Age. You can also sandbag and try to hit as many as possible as you can to set yourself up for the next Age, but every time any player advances a Legacy Path, you advance the Age progress, and when that hits 100% the Age will end. So that's why the turns vary because it depends on how fast every player is pushing towards it.

DENNIS: What he's talking about is actually a key point. All these choices you have the option of making, but at the same time as a first-time player, you can just play. All this stuff will be going on, and the new player can just go along for the ride unless they get wiped out, but the more and more you play you're exposed to the added systems and options and you could decide "Ok, I'm going to choose to sandbag here and go for more rewards and push the Age early." That's what I really like about the breadth of choices available in Civilization 7. As a new player, it could seem scary, so you can just play, or you can engage fully an??d dabble into everything and really have this completely different experience.

DESTRUCTOID: How many total Leaders and Civilizations are there in Civilization 7?

DENNIS: Lots! We're not saying how many j??ust ye??t, but lots!

DESTRUCTOID: Do you guy?s have any ??favor non-historic Leader and Civilization combos?

DENNIS: That's? a good questi??on, I'm a historic-pairing guy myself.

CARL: Yeah, me too. I'd say my favorite historical one is Augustus a?nd Rome. I'm a classicist myself and I designed both of those and so I put a lot of love into them. I actually have a hard time breaking them up. One of the things we did do is perfectly designed gameplay synergies into Civs and Leaders so there are interesting combinations that aren't historical. Obviously that's there for the historical path as well, but there are things that are like "Hey if I take this and this and put them together, they will work together really well even if they don't match historically."

DESTRUCTOID: I've only been able to play for a little bit before this interview, but right beforehand I encountered a flood. How common?? are natural dis?asters throughout the Ages?

DENNIS: We're still sort of balancing those things, but flooding along the flood plain, and you benefit from being next to navigable rive??rs, floods will happen about once every 20 turns. It can happen more frequently or slower, and you'll see volcanoes going off and blizzards coming through, but it's a really cool system with some neat trade-offs. You know settling next to a river you're going to be repairing improvements from time to time, but you'll get some bonuses from it too.

CARL: And just like in Civilization 6, these disast??ers will add yield to the tile. In a recent game I had a massive storm come through and devastate my city, but it added a ton of yield and so after I worked through the pain and got back on my feet, I had a bigger powerhouse city because of it.

DESTRUCTOID: I noticed the end-turn sequence is essentially instantaneous. I know late game will obviously slow down a bit, but compared to say Civilization 6, is end-turn sequence faster in the later game?

DENNIS: There is still a lot of work we are doing there. Right now your preview is on a small sized map, so on a bigger map with more players and later in the game when there is a lot more on the map, it will obviously get slower. But our goal is "It's better than Civilization 6." And really, that's our goal across the board with Civilization 7, is that it's better than Civilization 6.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII releases on February 11, 2025 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. To hear more about my hands-on time with Civ 7 where I go to play for three hours, check out our Hands-On preview.

The post Interview: Civilization 7 developers detail what’s new in the world of hexagons appeared first on Destructoid.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Firaxis Games studio in Sparks, Maryland, where I got to learn more about the studio behind the monumental turn-based strategy franchise as well as get a few hours of hands-on time with the upcoming Sid Meier's Civilization VII. It was great to see such a passionate team of developers pridefully showcase the next installment in the beloved franchise. As a Maryland native myself, I've always felt like Maryland game studios simply do things differently, and in a good way. And my roughly three hours of hands-on playtime with Civilization 7 only furthered that sentiment.

History Comes in Layers

Creative Director of the Civilization franchise, Ed Beach, has been at Firaxis Games for over a decade. He kicked off our hands-on preview by telling us about the vision for Civilization 7. Instead of just making "another Civilization" game, the team instead chose a new element of focus: History Comes in Layers. Beach described this ?vision as akin to wha?t we see in historical locations throughout the world. As new empires laid claim to various settlements and cities throughout the world, they would often simply build over what used to be there, still leaving behind remnants and glimpses of the past while replacing it with new ideas and technologies.

To create that same element of building on the past—history in layers�em>Civilization 7 features an all-new three-stage Age system: The Age of Antiquity, the Age of Exploration, and The Modern Age. A full campaign in Civilization 7 will expand across these three ages, ?allowing the player to change their Civilization at the start of each new wave. Oh, and for the first time ever, players will be able to choose their Leader separately from their Civilization at the start of the game. That's right, you can lead an Egyptian empire as Benjamin Franklin.

The four classic Legacy paths will remain throughout each Age. That is Science, Economics, Culture, and Military, which are the victory conditions traditionally available in Civilization. The choices and actions you make in each Age will decide which civilization you can change to as you transition into each Age. So while you may start off as a culture or science-focused civilization, if you find yourself engaging in a lot of wars due to pesky neighbors you may end up unlocking a more war-driven c?ivilization when you reach the next Age.

It almost feels as if each Age will be sort of its own contained game inside a bigger overarching one. That being said, in my limited hands-on time I only got to experience the Antiqu?ity Age, so I never got to see what civilizations I unlocked based on my actions.

Sprawling cities

The History in Layers mantra of Civilization 7 really shines through the progression of your cities as you advance through the game and build up your city. Builders are no longer a unit in Civilization, nor are the pre-defined districts you could build in Civilization 6. Instead, you will have Rural areas that feature the ??improvements you make to the nearby city, while Urban districts allow you to build ?up to two buildings per hex.

Of course, the visuals of the city will change as you plop down these new entities, molding your city into? its ultimate vis??ion as you continue to add and build upon it as it spreads outwards. Because my hands-on time only explored the Antiquity age, I didn't get to see what sort of changes would happen when moving towards a completely different civilization, but I can only imagine it will further enforce History in Layers.

Another big change that I actually found really promising is that you can choose to keep a Town as a Town, rather than progressing it into an actual City. Doing so allows you to give the town a specific specialization, granting it buffs while focusing on a specific task. For example, a Mining Town will get production bonuses while a Farming Town will get bonuses for food p?roduction and growth.

You can then use these towns, and the Luxury Resources surrounding them, to funnel back into your city and boost it even further. It's a unique gameplay loop on expanding which is a big part of Civilization, and I'm excited to see what players who are much better than? me end up doing once they've gotten a hold of the new system.

Combat is all about Commanders

Another big change is how Military Leaders, and more importantly experience from combat, work in Civilization 7. In previous entries in the franchise, each unit gained experience after combat. You could then train or purchase various? generals that would provide buffs when near certain units, but they would not gain experience.

In Civilization 7, ba??sic combat units no longer get experience. Instead, Commanders gain experience based on the combat performed by units around them. Through experience, they will level up and gain access to buffs that are also then applied to the units around them.

Furthermore, you can link or stack units into a Commander, move them across the battlefield as one single entity, and then deploy the units as necessary on the frontline. It's actually a massive change to how combat will work in Civilization, and as someone who is a more casual enjoyer of the series, I found the change to be a good one both from a quality-of-life perspective and also in terms o??f gameplay.

I typically often go more into Culture, Science, or Economics when I play Civilization, simply because I've never been a huge fan of the combat. But in the campaign I pl??ayed, despite choosing an economic culture-favored civilization, I found myself really getting into the combat and for sure would have transitioned towards a military-favored civilization had I reached the next age.

A Promising Step Forward

With a game like Civilization, three hours is certainly not enough time to get a full grasp of the game. In fact, for a casual Civ player like myself, I might have only been halfway or so into the first of the three Ages. But the systems and elements I did get to experience—the new combat experience and Commanders, mixing Civilizations with Leaders, specializing Towns, or turning them into cities—all felt like solid meaningful changes to the Civilization franchise.

In the end, this is still Civilization. The same historical immersion and strategic depth we've come to expect from the turn-based strategy game across its many many hexagons are still very much front and center. But instead of just pushing out a prettier Civ game, Firaxis Games seems to be walking the perfect balance of adding new, impactful features and systems while being careful not to disrupt the Civilization formula that many have come to love over the decades. This was certainly a hands-on experience that left me pining for more, and I can't wait to try some crazy Civiliz??ation and Leader combinations to rewrite history in some fun ways.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is set to release on February 11, 2025 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStatio?n 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Note: I also had the opportunity to interview a couple of developers from the Civilization 7 team at Firaxis which will be going live tomorrow. I asked some development questions, as well as some fun ones like their favorite leader/civ combos, so keep an eye out for that!

The post Hands-on Preview: Sid Meier’s Civilization VII appeared first on Destructoid.

During today's Gamescom Opening Night Live, developer Firaxis Games and publisher 2K Games revealed the release date for the upcoming grand strategy title Sid Meier's Civilization VII as February 11, 2025. That means that it will be just over eight years between Civilization 6 and the upcoming entry into the series, Civilization 7.

Visually, Civilization 7 certainly looks improved while still keeping its classic semi-cartoony aesthetic. The city development weaved around the terrain looks better than ever, as do the v?arious units and combat seen in the trailer.

The Standard Edition will cost $69.99 while a Deluxe Edition is available for $99.99 that grants five days of Early Access to Civilization 7, allowing players to ?get into the game on February 6. The Switch version for each edition will run $10 cheaper.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII will be release?d on PC, PlayStation 4, PlaySt?ation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on February 11, 2025.

The post Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 release date set for February 2025 appeared first on Destructoid.