The Civilization series has long reigned supreme over the turn-based 4X strategy genre. Even though the genre has recently become more populated with games like Humankind, Old World, and Endless Legend—all of which are great, by the way—none have reached the same level of gameplay that Civilization offers.

Realistically, that's to be somewhat expected. After all, Sid Meier's Civilization is a series that's been around for over three decades with the original releasing all the way back in 1991. Over the years, developer Firaxis Games—and Micro Prose, back in the 90's—continued to build on and refine the 4X formula leading up to the series' seventh mainline entry, Sid Meier's Civilization 7.

Unfortunately, when you're the master of a genre, you can really only refine it so much. Civilization 6 is great, but other than the addition of districts, the argument could be made that it really just felt like an updated Civilization 5.

With Sid Meier's Civilization VII, Firaxis has managed to find a way to really push the series forward in the form of its ??Ages system. Interestingly enough, the Ages system resolves a lot of long-stand issues with the series, while also offering more for?? long-term fans of the series and at the same time making the intimidating genre more approachable to newcomers.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII (PC [reviewed], PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: February 11, 2025
MSRP: $69.99

In a nutshell, Ages breaks Civilization 7 into three sections: Antiquity Age, Explorat?ion Age, and Modern Age. At Standard game speeds, each of these Ages will last betw??een 150-200 turns and span anywhere from 3-5 hours, depending on how long turns take you. By breaking the game into these three Ages, players have the option to play a single Age-based game that begins and ends with a single age, or they can opt to play out a longer game across all three Ages that will stretch out over a dozen hours or more.

This one change actually does a lot of Civilization. For starters, Civ players often end up on one side of the coin when it comes to game length. Some complain that the games take way too long, while others wish they could do more, and really mold their empire over the course of a long game. Sure, you could mess with game speeds and lengths in Civilization 6 in a??n attempt to do so, but that more or less just artificially increased the length.

Now, with the Ages system, players opting for a shorter game can play through just a single Age, while those looking for longer bouts can grow and shape their empire how they want over all three Ages in a much longer game. With the new system, each Age is also more refined to of??fer somewhat different g??ameplay, as well.

While each Age can be seen as its own sort of self-contained game, a playthrough that stretches over all three Ages will have its own self-contained goals as well. This primarily happens through the natural gameplay flow of Civilization—laying the foundation for your empire in the Antiquity Age, exploring the world and comi?ng up with a gameplan based on your opponents in? the Exploration Age, and then executing your gameplan in the end-game of the Modern Age.

The potentially shorter games of a single Age are a big welcoming point for new players, but so is a revamped tutorial system. I'm the kind of person who usually skips a tutorial, then either learns things on my own or ends up having to go back and suffer through the tutorial anyway. In Civ 7, the tutorial isn't a set of pre-built instructional scenarios or a bunch of videos or even text documentation like most games in the genre. Instead, enabling the tutorial simply adds extra instructions w??hen you're first starting the game as well as explaining new systems o?r features as you unlock them, including when you reach new Ages.

Pretty much every core system of Civilization has been enhanced or improved upon in Civilization 7 as well. Visually, Civ 7 is far and above the best the series has ever looked. Not just from a directly graphical standpoint; after all, that's to be expected seeing as Civ 6 is almost a decade old now. But with Civ 7, the game takes a more realisti?c approach than the previous installments, which often favored a more cartoony look. This results in a vibrant and colorful landscape that really evolves as you progress through the ages.

It's always been absolute eye candy to watch the spot of land you chose to plop down your first settlement change and your empire grow over the course of a game in Civilization. With the more realistic graphics, this progression looks even more amazing. It's cool to watch you??r settlement advance in technology and sprawl out while keeping your Wonders through the Ages. Seeing a modern city built around the Colosseum is still always a fun sight to behold.

The soundtrack for Civ 7 is top-notch as well. This has always been a strong point of the series, and I was happy to see that each civilization still has its own unique music tracks. It really sets the mood for playing each civilization, and I'm looking forwa??rd to playing each one eventually for their scores alone.

In terms of content, Civilization 7 launches with 24 L??eaders to choose from, and over 30 Civilizations across the three Ages. I believe there are a couple more unlocked ?by linking your game to a 2K Games account, as well as through various collector's editions. While I'm not a fan of content like this being locked out and not available to everyone, it's worth noting that there are Leaders and Civilizations available for all players of all playstyles: Cultural, Diplomatic Economic, Expansionist, Militaristic, and Scientific.

In my main playthrough across all three Ages, I started as Augustus and naturally, as Rome is my ci?vilization, in the Antiquity Age. Typically, Rome is a Cultural Militaristic civilization. However, I ended up really taking a liking to my only close major opponent (Hatshepsut) and over the course of the Antiquity Age found myself focusing less on my military due to not really needing one, an?d more on science, especially because I was actually located in a perfect spot geographically for it with plenty of buffs to science to be had by working the lands appropriately.

Naturally, as I reached the Exploration Age, I shifted m??y civilization to Abbasid, a choice that still catered to Cult??ural but also Scientific over Militaristic. By the end of the Exploration Age, my dear friend Hatshepsut was consistently being sieged by Xerses and Charlemagne, leading me to shift back towards a Militaristic approach both to aid Hatshepsut but also to defend myself more efficiently. This led to me once again changing course in the Modern Age, and adopting Prussia as my civilization. Despite going into the late game in a three-way World War, I was still able to secure a Scientific Victory.

This type of flip-flopping between playstyle focuses really isn't much of a possibility in previous Civilization games. But in Civilization 7, you not only have the option to change up your focus with each Age, but you're also not penalized for it. In fact, in most cases you'll still retain a lot of the advantages from previous Age focuses even if you shift into something different in later Ages. It's a great change to the series and I can't wait to see what people who are much better than me a?t these sorts of games end up doing with all the possibilities within this big change.

Legacies and by extension Legacy Paths further complement this change. This new system basically gives you tasks to complete while you're in an Age. Completing them will give you buffs for that Age based on the focus the tasks w?ere part of. For example, building a Wonder in the Antiquity Age will grant you a Cultural Legacy Point and a Diplomatic Legacy Point that can be used in future Ages. But you also receive the option to put one of those points into a specialization of Culture in a future Age that will grant you +1 Culture and +1 Happiness for every Wonder you own. This allows you to further tailor your build to your desired playstyle as you progress through the Ages.

For the most part, Civilization 7 runs great. I'm currently using an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and for some reason when using DirectX 12, my game ends up crashing after some time. Sometimes it's after just a few minutes of play, other times I can go up to an hour without issue. Thankfully, there's also the option to launch using the Vulkan API instead of DirectX 12, and I've had no crashes with it. If this is like previous issues I've ??had with an AMD card, this ?is most likely more of a driver-related issue that will be fixed when AMD drops a Civilization 7-specific driver update, but I did feel it was worth pointing out.

Slight technical hiccups aside, I also feel as though the Modern Age feels a bit less fleshed out compared to the other two Ages. The tech tree alone for the Modern Age feels a lot smaller and contained. There are also fewer branches in the tech tree compared to the prior two, and it feels like a pretty narrow progression towards the end. It's not unfinished or anything like that, but d?efinitely noticeable.

Furthermore, I tried starting a game directly in the Modern Age, and it felt a bit rough around the edges. You get to select from a pool of starting staple points for your empire, like a city, a town, some military units, and some tech. Basically it t?ries to jumpstart you into a game as though you've already built up some in the first two Ages. But paired with the more lacking scope of the Age, it felt a bit off to actually play starting from the Modern Age. This may simply be curtailed by having more playtime and an overall understanding of everything going on on a systematic level, but at the moment I definitely recommend everyone starts in the Antiquity Age at the very least until you've got the game down.

I'm excited to see what direction Firaxis and 2K go in terms of post-launch content for Civilization 7. The current roadmap for the future already talks about new Leaders, Civs, Events, and Wonders, but I'm curious if there are plans to add any new major features much like the early expansions in Civ 6 did.

Regardless of my minor gripes with the game, Civilization 7 is a ton of fun. The Ages system is a major game-changer and really enhances the genre in a big way. Firaxis probably could have gotten away with a safer approach with this installment, opting for just better graphics. Instead, it boldly revamped a lot of the core systems to make the entire game more streamlined for both newcomers and veterans alike. I'm glad Firaxis is still finding ways to improve a genre it has mastered over the years, and as a result, Sid Meier's Civilization 7 has the series in its best shape yet.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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All Civilization enjoyers kn?ow one rule is absolute when it comes to playing the popular 4X strategy series: games will always last longer than you anticipate. If I got a nickel every time some friends and I would plan to "play a game of Civ tonight" and end up playing the same game over the next few days...well, I'd have a lot of nickels.

With Sid Meier's Civilization VII, developer Firaxis has created a solution to this problem in the form of three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Mo??dern. On standard speed and Age lengths, each of these three ages will last be??tween 150-200 turns, equivalent to about three or four hours of playtime. For those seeking a long grand campaign that progresses through all three Ages, you can do so.

Those looking for a shorter game can opt to start at the beginning of any of the three Ages, a??nd doing so in the Exploration or Modern Age will give you an Advanced Start to the Age, so it's as if you have played the previous ones.

Back in August 2024, I got some hands-on time with Civilization VII's first Age, the Age of Antiquity. Now, for the first time, I got to dive into the second one: the Explo?ration Age. As the game describes it, the Antiquity Age is all about settling the immediate lands around you and planning out your civilization. With the Exploration Age, your new goal is to, well, explore. And expand. Reaching the Exploration Age will let you change your Civilization, and therefore change the focus of your empire. This means you can focus on expansion or economy in the Antiquity Age and then switch towards a militaristic or science-focused approach in the Exploration Age.

I will say, when I first jumped in, I immediately wanted to check out the Exploration Age, so I opted to utilize the Advanced Start to do so. With how much new there is in the series' latest entry, and having not played Civilization since the preview event back in August 2024, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the new systems. After about an hour, I decided to restart from the Antiquity Age, where that was not an issue. Obviously, after playing more and getting a real grasp of all the new additions to Civilization VII, this won??'t be an issue. But until you have that experience and knowledge, you're probably better off start??ing in the Antiquity Age, which gradually introduces the new systems to you over time.

The Exploration Age is where you really start to reap the benefits of the fruits of your labor from the previous Age. And with the ability to change your civilization and shift your empire's focus, it fixes a long-time problem of the series. You don't feel penalized for changi??ng things up, and it adds a lot more flexibility for less-experienced players who might not be min-maxing things from the start. That being said, I imagine it will also create some crazy "build potential" for veter??an players who do try and min-max the best civilizations to change to in each Age for each Leader.

After my all-day play session through the first two Ages, I backed out to the Main Menu and found the newly announced meta progression in Civilization VII, and I have to admit: it's pretty awesome. As someone who enjoys chasing achievements and trophies in games, this new system rewards players for doing so. Regardless of your skill level with Civ 7 and how you choose to play—whether you focus on one specific Leader or experiment ??with many of them—you'll complete challenges and unlock rewards along the way.

Every Leader in Civilization 7 has their own Leader Path to progress through, starting at Level 1 and going up to Level 10. Your account as a whole has a Foundation Path, also starting at Level 1 and progressing all the way up to Level 50, earning XP towards the path regardless of which leader you play as. Both Paths have various?? challenges you can complete to earn X,P such as completing quests, reaching Legacy Path Milestones, and more.

Leveling up these Paths earns you a variety of rewards from cosmetic Badges, Banners, Borders, and Titles for your Player Card, as well as actual game-changing rewards called Mementos. These Mementos are essentially special items that you can equip on your leader at the start of a game, giving you a little extra bonus as well as giving you the ability to further specialize your play style. And while Mementos can be used in multiplayer, lobby hosts also have the option of disabling them. The added meta progression helps to fix one of the longstanding issues with the Civilization series, which is the feeling of "What now?" after end??ing a many-hours-long session by rewarding players over time for their achievements.

I'm excited to check out the third and final Modern Age and see what the late game of Civ 7 feels like. Once I've done so, keep an eye out for my full Sid Meier's Civilization VII review as we get closer to its February 11, 2025 release d??ate!

The post Preview: Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is perfect for shorter micro-games or grand campaigns with its new Ages system appeared first on Destructoid.

Civilization 6 leaders are historical individuals wh??o serve as figureheads for their respective societies. Open a history book and you're sure to find some of these names, all of whom you can play as in-game.

In Civilization 6, each leader has their own unique ability, which comes with bonuses such as special units and buildings, as well as an agenda. It's important to be aware of these agendas ??when playing against an AI leader, as they affect how they play.

All Civ 6 leaders, ranked

There are 67 unique leaders in Civilization 6, the most of any game in the series to date. Some leaders have different variations for different per?iods in history, bringing the total number to 75.

With our Civ 6 leader tier list, there isn't a lot to separate some of these. Sometimes, it's down to a unique leader ability making the difference. However, a knowledgeable Civilization 6 player ??should be able to make any of these? work on the battlefield.

S Tier

The S-tier Civilization 6 leaders should be able to dominate acros??s any era. Their bonuses are the best, and playe??rs shouldn't have a tough time being competitive while using them. From the industrial powerhouse that is Abraham Lincoln to the military might of Alexander, you've got plenty of variation in playstyle here, too.

A Tier

A-tier Civ 6 leaders aren't the best of the best, but there's no rea?son why you can't win any game using them. After all, we're splitting hairs at the top to place these leaders. Focus on one specific victory condition, and?? you'll find plenty of success with these options.

B Tier

These B-tier Civ 6 leaders won't always result in victory, but using them doesn't guarantee defeat, either. Much like the A-tier leaders, honing in on one victory condition and brute-forcing it will give you the best chance of winning against better options. Don't totally co??unt them out when st?arting a new playthrough, though.

C Tier

If you're going to use the C-tier Civ 6 leaders, be prepared for an uphill struggle. You'll need to invest a lot of time and Gold into making these leaders work on the battlefield, so we'd only recommend these for experienced Civilization 6 players. Without knowing how to extract every ounce of usefulness f??rom their abilities, these leaders will just cause ?you headaches.

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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 Laye?rs. Beach described this vision as akin to what 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 play??er 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 civilization when you reach the?? next Age.

It almost feels as if each Age will be sort of its own contained game inside a bigger overarc??hing one. That being said, in my limited hands-on time I only got to experience the Antiquity 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 impro?vements you make to the nearby city, while Urban districts allow you to build u??p 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 vision 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 civili?zation, but I can only imagin?e 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 Cit??y. Doing so allows you to give the town a specific specialization, granting it buffs wh??ile focusing on a specific task. For example, a Mining Town will get production bonuses while a Farming Town will get bonuses for food production 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 t??o 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 entri?es 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, basic co??mbat 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 of 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 played, despite choosing an economic culture-favored civilization, I found myself really getti?ng into the combat and for sure would h??ave 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 exper??ience that left me pining for more, and I can't wait to try some crazy Civilization and Leader combinations to rewr??ite 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, Pla?yStation 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.

2K Games, Firaxis Games, and Civilization creator himself Sid Meier took the stage at Summer Game Fest 2024 to reveal the next chapter in the popular strategy game franchise, Civilization 7. In classic Civ fashion, players can take on the role of one of many legendary leaders as they establish a civilization, build cities, and tech up through the ages building architectural wonders. Civilization 7

Almost a decade and six DLC packs later, Civilization 6 is one year away from no longer being the current Civilization game. We don't know too much about it yet other than its existence, but the trailer indicated a gameplay showcase is prepared for Au?gust of this year.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is scheduled to release in 202?5 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

[This news is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.]

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