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 wh??????????????????????????ile still keeping its classic semi-cartoony aesthetic. The city development weaved around the terrain l?ooks better than ever, as do the various 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 o??n February 6. The Switch version for each edition will run $10 cheaper.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII wil??l be released on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation ??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.

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 August of this year.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is scheduled to release in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox S??eries 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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What pirate game reigns over the e-seas?

Unless you count most of the movies in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, every pirate-themed movie made after the 1960s has brought nothing but financial ruin to Hollywood. Cutthroat Island? It sunk an entire studio.  Disney's Treasure Planet and Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas? Many credit them for having killed traditional 2D animation altogether. Hardly the crime any movie pirate would ??like to be remembered for.

Luckily, pirates have thrived in the world of gaming �in more ways than one �you could say. Over the course of its entire ?history, gaming has featured a wide variety of pirate-themed games. There's no lack of offers, variety, and quality, so let's find out which one is the best of them all.

[caption id="attachment_272221" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Spiders[/caption]

10. GreedFall (2019)

GreedFall is?? the pirate game for Witcher fans. It’s an action RPG d?eveloped by Spiders �the studio, not the creatures. It takes place in a world of piracy that’s also home to a hell of a lot of elements that we just have to assume weren’t present in historically-accurate pirate times.

While players shouldn't expect great sea battles, GreedFall features great fantasy worldbuilding that includes monsters, a mysterious plague ravaging th??e populace, and decision-making that will impact our journey.

Players can approach the game in a variety of ways. There's diplomacy, stealth, and even the "pirate manner." The gameplay is far from perfect, and definitely not as overtly pirate-y as the other entries on the list, but GreedFall's world features a beautiful "pirate" aesthetic and provides a strange allure that one just can't deny.

[caption id="attachment_392439" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Mastfire Studios[/caption]

9. Blackwake (2017)

In theory, Blackwake is ?a very simple game. You command a pirate ship and try to? board other ships while avoiding boarding attempts from rival crews.

Whether they're using a canon, rifle, or pistol, players get exactly one shot before they have to deal with a ridiculously long-though-realistic reloading time. This sounds awful in text, but it works marvelously in-game because that’s also the reality of the enemy. Missing a shot will, at best, result in having to sit through the most stressfully long reload animation as you hope you don’t get killed before you get to sho?ot again.

Blackwake made sea battles fun even without making pirate weapons fun. That’s how good it is. On top of that, the game also features neat mechanics, like having to actively fix your shi?p, draining out the water that’s leaking in due to enemy canon fire, and healing via drinking rum. Great stuff.

[caption id="attachment_241722" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Microsoft[/caption]

8. Sea Of Thieves (2018)

If we have Blackwake in this list, then we must also include Sea Of Thieves, because it expands and improves upon everything that the former tried. Want to take to the sea alone? You’ll have fun. Want to journey with your friends in the search for lost treasure? You’ll have even more fun. Want to go with your friends in the search for found treasure inside some other team’s ship? You’ll have the most fun.

Sea Of Thieves is the first and still best (Skull & Bones, where the hell are you?!) seafaring? MMO. It's also the first great game made by Rare after Microsoft’s acquisition.

[caption id="attachment_392449" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Herocraft[/caption]

7. Tempest (2016)

Tempest is an action RPG that emphasizes the naval warfare side of things. It features a wide array of customization option??s and allows players to experience a complex world of seafaring, exploration, crew management, and naval combat.

It’s no slouch on land, either. Players can also engage in swashbuckling adventures against land-based enemies who are also in search of wealt?h �or simply trying to defend t?heir poor little forts.

This is t??he closest we have to a serious "pirate simulator" �if there can even be such a thing in a medium so heavily distorted by tales of drunken sailors.

[caption id="attachment_388535" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by LucasArts[/caption]

6. Monkey Island 2: Lechuck’s Revenge (1991)

Not all pirates need to be physically ??strong. Not all pirate?? games require heavy action.

Sometimes all you need is to insult your enemy until his mind is frail enough for him to lose against your piss-poor sword skills. That is one of the dubiously hilarious lessons you’ll learn from the Monkey Island series, a pirate tale that somehow foregoes any sort of acti??on mechanics in favor of clever writing?? and puzzles.

I picked Monkey Island 2 sp?ecifically for this list because I think it’s the best of the bunch. Still?, pretty much any game in the series will do it for those looking for a fun pirate romp.

Bonus Points: If you feel enticed by the comedy of Monkey Island but are more into the action of Sea Of Thieves than you're into puzzles, then you'd perhaps be happy to learn that they've transplanted Monkey Island into Sea Of Thieves in an epic crossover event.

Screenshot by MobyGames

5. Skies of Arcadia (2000)

Disclaimer: sky pirates are pirates.

At the time of its release, Skies Of Arcadia went mostly unnoticed, possibly due to a sore lack of the words “Final�and “Fantasy�in ??its title. That was a mistake.

Time has vindicated this marvelous and highly inventive RPG as its fanbase has grown im??mensely ever since its release. Sadly, the only two ways to legally play it nowadays are via your cursed console of choice, the Dreamcast or the GameCube.

We’d really like to see a re-relea?se of this one, even if they keep the entire thing as is. Otherwise, most people interested in playing it will have to resort to, welp, measures that would make the characters of this game proud.

In the meantime, we're looking forward to Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire, an upcoming RPG that could be seen as the spiritual successor to Skies of Arcadia.

[caption id="attachment_4294" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Nintendo[/caption]

4. The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker (2002)

Back in '02, few would have expected Link to become a pirate, but they'd be wrong. Wind Waker shows Link at his most daring, and not just in the v??isual sens?e.

At first, Wind Waker looks just like a regular Zelda game, but it doesn’t take long for it to show its true colors and send players on a boat trip across the seas of its world in a way t??hat ??no other game had done before.

Wind Waker's sea itself can feel a little lackluster. That's perhaps because it misses random events such as the ones introduced by Red Dead Redemption that do such a great job of making a deserted area feel lively. Still, Wind Waker does a great job of providing yet another stellar addition to the Zelda catalog and enticing other developers to try their ??hand at this genre.

[caption id="attachment_367674" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Frontier Developments[/caption]

3. Elite Dangerous (2014)

Disclaimer: the same applies to space pirates

Even though it looks like a regular space shooter, this one is actually about straight-up space piracy. It just has to be in here. Elite Dangerous features space battles as fun as those of any other space game and ?even has a lot more depth than what many would expect from a game that's seemingly just about laser-b??lasting things in space.

And what's a pirate game without spectacular tales of piracy? Even though Eve Online gets all the credit for having the best player-made stories, many fans have also used Elite Dangerous as a beautiful stage for some of online gaming’s most epic tales of treachery.

[caption id="attachment_392434" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image by Firaxis[/caption]

2. Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2004)

The title says it all. This is the guy who did Civilization d?oing a simulation of pirate life??. I mean, kind of an embellished and simplified simulation, but it's all the better for it.

Pirates is, in essence, a simple navigation game intertwined with various minigames. Still, it works ?beautifully because mostly every single one of the minigames provides enormous fun and enr?iches this world. Ok, maybe not the dancing one. That one kind of sucks.

This isn’t the first Pirates game by Sid Meier. It's actually a remake of the one he did in '87. Feel free to play that one instead if you feel like a purist �and find a way to run it �but this is one of the few re?makes that clearly surpasses the original. Regardless of which game you pick, Sid Meier's work in the pirate genre likely remains the most fun and influential in gaming history.

[caption id="attachment_392436" align="alignnone" width="1201"] Image by Ubisoft[/caption]

1. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (2013)

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is arguably the best game in the series. Ironically, it's also the one people say should have more pirate action and less assassin stuff. Let's not get the fans wrong. It’s still great when it comes to classic Assassin's Creed-type action. It’s just that its pirate adventures proved so interesting and refreshing that people couldn’t stay away from them. Few things beat boarding a ship in a game that features the production values of the Assassin’s Creed series. The sea shanties also rock.

The success of Black Flag prompted Ubisoft to do yet another pirate-themed AC game, the severely underrated Assassin's Creed: Rogue. More importantly, even, it paved the way for Ubisoft to begin working on Skull & Bones, the company’s first full-on pirate game. Its development has been long and rough, but we hope it will come out one day to take Black Flag’s spot at the top of this list.

The post Best pirate-themed video games, ranked appeared first on Destructoid.

More Sean Bean narration!

Early next year, Civilization VI is going to get bigger. Announced just today (with a CGI trailer), Firaxis is going to expand its premiere strategy series with Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. Launching February 8, 2018, this new expansion will focus on "Great Ages" and introduce a new concept where your empire can go through a dark period. A new city based loyalty system also means your cities are at a ??constant threat from your misdirection, so you can't rest on your laurels and expect to win.

"Rise triumphantly from a Dark Age and your next Golden Age will be even stronger – a Heroic Age," says 2K Games. "With the new Great Ages system in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, players can experience the ebb and flow of building empires amidst the challenges of history, either to lasting greatness or the dust of a?ntiquity."

In my review, I found Civilization VI to be one of the most feature complete launches in the series' history. I honestly couldn't picture what an expansion would even add, but Rise and Fall seems to be going in the right direction. Hopefully it fixes some of the lingering AI issues?? that the core game still has.

The post Firaxis announces Civilizati??on VI: Rise and F??all expansion appeared first on Destructoid.

Gandhi's lack of fucks are also free

Gandhi has a couple of nukes pointed in your direction. To get him to back down, you'll need to head on over to the Humble Store and grab Civilization III Complete for free. It doesn't make sense why Gandhi would relinquish control of his nukes for absolutely nothing, but he ?told me t??o pass on that message. He has had enough of people not paying attention to his nuclear threats.

That being said, I would definitely recommend checking out Civilization III. While I still feel that IV is a better game, III was a dramatic upgrade over past entries that really solidified the classic status that Civilization has earned over the years. It is a quintessential experience and Destructoid even ranked it as #31 on our "Top 50 Games of the Decade" around eight years ??ago. That has to mean something!

Sid Meier's Civilization® III: Complete [Humble Store]

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Dennis can now play!

One of the most-requested features for Civilization VI will soon be upon us. In an upcoming free update, Steam Workshop support will be going live alongside some new team options and the Australian Civilization DLC. While I've sunk more time than I care to admit into the core game, finally having official mod support will be huge for the longevity of Civ VI. It did wonders for Civilization V, which I still occasionally play to this day.

As for the new DLC, this marks the first time Australia is officially in a Civilization game. Australia will feature John Curtin, Prime Minister of the country during World War II. Firaxis also detailed some of the unique units and buildings that Australia will have, including "The Di?gger" and "The Outback Station." Looks pretty neat.

While I think Civilization VI is great, I haven't actually purchased any of the additional content. I think $5 for a single civilization and scenario is a bit much. Still, I'm sure there will be plenty of people happy that Australia is now finall??y in the beloved franchise, even if they are locked behind a paywall.

Civilization VI: John Curtin Leads Australia [Steam Forums]

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Founding the New World

Over the course of many playthroughs and almost three full days of game time, Civilization VI is still on my mind. I&rsq??uo;ve gone through the motion of placing districts, training an army, distributin?g “great” people, and building world wonders so many times that I dream about it at night. I envision how my next playthrough is going to turn out well before I even sit down.

That is the mark of a game that is truly great, but not every aspect of the package is flawless. If you can accept that scenarios are absent, Steam Workshop isn’t currently available, and that multiplayer doesn’t work much better than in Civ V, then I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you Civilization VI is worth owning.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (PC [reviewed])
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: October 21, 2016
MSRP: $59.99

The largest change to the standard Civ formula in VI is that you can no longer build literally everything for each city. Now, districts occupy space on the map adjacent to your main city. This means that you can’t focus on wonders or only military with c??ertain cities. If you settle in the middle of nowhere, expect your city to suffer for it.

This makes the early game a lot more i??mportant than it ever used to be. Instead of building a few settlers and plopping those down as fast as possible, you need to be aware of the resources around you. If you found a city near luxury resources, you can give yourself an early amenity boost that will keep your city happy.

The global happiness meter from Civ V is gone, in favor of a system that resembles IV. Each c??ity's happiness is governed by a system called “amenities.” These amenities come in the? form of specific districts, luxury resources, and bonuses from trade routes. Making sure you place your city in an ideal location to get these items is vital for sustaining happiness.

The trade routes also replace the worker’s ability to lay down roads. Instead o??f training a few workers and setting them t??o automate, you now need to get traders moving between each city to lay down roads. Builders, which replace workers, also have a limit to how many improvements they can place, making them far more valuable.

For most of the civilizations you can choose, builders only have three builds before they expire. I mentioned that luxury resources increase amenities, but that will require a builder to create a plantation or farm on top of a tile, using up one of their builds. Since the luxury resources don’t increase food or housing for each district, it becomes a game ?of tug of war for what your city needs the most.

While this does eventual?ly fade away as the late-game approaches, you still need to be conscious of where you build improvements in their relation to districts. Sometimes, a district (or wonder) can only be placed immediately next to the main city, which might have a farm on it. You’re going to have to kiss that farm goodbye or find another city to build your district in. Not so eas??y when your housing is at capacity and a neighborhood is the only way to solve the issue.

While this may sound a bit overbearing, after a few games, you fall into the mechanics at play. Through car??eful observation, you lea??rn to not begin each game and settle for wherever you start. You can link more vulnerable units to an escort with military units, so that helps when sending a settler out into the wild.

Later on in the game, you can also somewhat stack military units together. This isn’t like Civ IV where you could place an infinite amount of infantry on the same tile, but being given the ability to create corps (two units) or armies (three units) helps with decl?uttering the map in the late game. Having a damage boost is also a great bonu?s.

Surprisingly, opponent AI isn’t what you’ll have to worry about. Surprise wars happen a lot less frequently and there is a new?? system in ?place that reveals agendas that other leaders have. Through actions you take, you can discover what they value about the world, so you can take steps to mitigate pissing them off.

Barbarians, though, are ruthless. If you simply kill each one the moment you see them, you might be setting yourself up for failure. Barbarians utilize scouts to a terrifying degree and leaving any city undefended will usually resu?lt in a small army coming your way. If you choose to follow the scout back to his base, you can cut off reinforcements before they grow into a major issue.

For a lot of my games, though, I’d still have them roaming around in 1985 AD. Can you? imagine having electricity, CDs, and sports cars with random barbarians traveling the earth? They're a damn persistent thorn in your side, so make sure to deal with them as soon as possible.

The only way in which your opponents will be a nuisance is through re?ligion. For some reason, most of the AI focuses on creating a ton of missionaries and apostles, whi??ch tends to foul things up towards the middle of the game. To win via a religious victory, you need to convert every empire in the game to your religion.

Thing is, if your cities get converted to an opponent’s belief, you can no longer create missionaries or apostles of your founded religion. While that makes sense, in a realistic sort of way, it ends up robbing you of counter-measures for when the shit hits the fan. It is nice and all that there is “theological combat” for religious units, but when they die (which happens too fast), you end up lo?sing your cities to another belief.

As such, I’d recommend turning off the religious victory condition. Also, if you start in the atomic era when setting up a game, you literally c?annot win through religious means (something the game fails to mention). I’m guessing that is mostly an oversight, but why would you allow me to lock victory to religion and then give me no way to utilize religion?

I’m happy that more care was given to a system I thought was amazing in Civ IV, but it seems like Firaxis still doesn’t know what to d??o with religion to make it viable. Unless you hone in on creating holy districts and recruiting a great prophet before everyone else, you aren’t going to win via religion.

As for the other victory conditions, diplomatic wins are no longer in the game. While those were often too easily obtained in V, I do kind of miss their absence. The space/science victory feels harder to come by, but you can often piggyback off of the benefits of culture to further your science research. Having a ci?vilization with a strong culture will boost you along the civics tech tree faster, which definitely provides bonuses to unlocking science-related buildings.

Mentioning boosts, there are small objectives tied to each of the science and civics tech that let yo?u create “eureka” moments for unlocking them faster. If you take out a barbarian with a slinger, you get an advancement towards an early-game tech. These don’t stop once you reach the late game, either; up until the modern era, you can constantly build, explore, or d??estroy things to grant boosts.

It gives short-term goals that create long-term benefits and can even be the deciding factor in a science victory over t??he AI. When playing on difficulties past Prince, you’re going to need all of the advantages you can get (since the AI is given an unfair edge).

Espionage makes a return from Gods & Kings and is fairly robust. You can place spies in enemy cities to steal boosts for techn??ologies, siphon funds, or sabotage different districts. Like the boosts for gaining early-game advantages, using spies in the late game can cut off a civilization's ability to even launch their space program. Than??kfully, you can counterspy your own districts, so you can have backup for when the AI tries to ruin your game.

In fact, a lot of features from the expansions to previous Civ games are present in VI. This leads to me think that we aren’t going to see much in the way of traditional expansion packs for this latest entry. What more could you possibly add, apart from going the route of Beyond Earth and adding space worlds? Civ VI is so feature packed that?? it can be?? staggering for anyone who hasn’t kept up with all of the previous updates to the series.

Sadly, those features don’t extend to supplemental game modes. Scenarios are completely a??bsent, apart from multiplayer &ldquo??;mods” you can select. If you wanted to recreate the barbarian invasion of Rome or the expansion of the US into the west, you’re out of luck.

Steam Workshop is also not implemented yet (and I can’t find anything about official support). Mods are allowed and can even be used in multiplayer, but you currently won’t have an easy time getting them to function. The in-game mod browser from Civ V was a godsend in the early days and it only became better once Steam expanded how mods work with their platform. To not include this from day one feels shortsighted, but a ??free update can definitely fix that.

There is also the looming threat of DLC that hasn’t been given a clear definition for Civ VI. The deluxe edition claims it contains four?? post-release packs, but nothing has been chiseled out for what those might be. If you pre-ordered the game, you were given Montezuma for use in the main game, but one extra leader doesn’t feel all that substantial.

For the life of me, I can’t get a multiplayer game to work. I did manage to join one, but everyone left as soon as the first turn was over. From what I can tell, the game utilizes actual turns instead of the countdown timer that was present in Civ IV. There is also a double-speed g??ame mode (dubbed “online”) that should let you blast through games with your friends, but I can’t manage to play through an entire match.

There wasn’t any noticeable lag, so that is a plus. Still, with Civ VI being one of the m??ost popular games on Steam a few days after launch, why are the servers so barren? Maybe my name carries negative clout, but I’d like to see more customization available ??in the server browser to eliminate people who are going to kick me (like adding password support).

As for performance, the game runs quite smoothly. As you progress into the late game, there can be a little bit of stutter, but the graphics menu has a ton of options to fix a?ny issue you may encounter. You can also cap the frame rate, which is neat for those who want 30 FPS.

The only question that remains is whether Civilization VI is worth your time. My answer is a resounding yes. There are some shortcomings in the package that dampen my enthusiasm a bit, but I haven’t had this much fun with the series since my high school days playing IV.

The old Civ mantra of “one more turn” is stronger than ever. The additions make for a much deeper strategy game and the inclusion of most of the features from previous entries makes for a remarkably well-rounded launch. It will be interesting to see where Civ VI goes, but I have a feeling there won’t be nearly as dramatic a change as Civ V saw.

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

The post Review: Civilization VI appeared first on Destructoid.

Gandhi is pleased

Many empires have risen and fallen throughout the history of mankind. What once stands as a towering achievement to human ingenuity and engineering soon becomes rubble, dust, and bones. The cycle repeats and history moves on; nothing demonstrates that formula so well as Civilization does with each new game.

I mentioned in my preview article that Civilization VI feels like a new beginning for the series. I still believe that is true, but I can&rsq??uo;t say the final product hasn’t left me a tiny bit disappointed. This doesn’t have to do with how the game performs or even the changes?? made to the general design; it has to do with the exclusion of scenarios and a lackluster menu.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (PC)
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: October 21, 2016
MSRP: $59.99

I’ll get most of my negative points out of the way from the start; there is a lot of good and I don’t want anyone to assume I’m being negative about the game. As I mentioned, there are no scenarios to speak of (apart from multiplayer mods). While I was never fond of these mini-campaigns, the amount added to Civ IV and V over the course of their development made me believe we would be getting at least a few with VI.

For that matter, the menu system is really barebones. Now, you don’t need some fully animated background (like in IV) or meticulously detailed borders (like in V) to convey all the?? pertinent information, but just a little bit of polish could have made the experience feel better. The la??ck of explanation in the main menu is also a pretty big bummer.

That being said, the? options for customizing graphics are damned awesome. You can cap the frame rate, if you so wish, push the shadow resolutions well past 1080p, and turn off all manner of superfluous effects to smooth out the gameplay on lower-end systems.

I also need to m??ention Steam’s file compression system; while ??the base game occupies about 8 GB on your hard drive, you only need to download a paltry 3.9 GB to get the game running. It's lightning fast to get up and running from hitting download to pressing play. I give kudos to Valve for introducing such a great solution to download caps.

As for how the game works while in play, I can’t say I’m really disappointed with any of the changes Firaxis has introduced. It can be jarring if you are a veteran of Civ V, but nearly everything is for the better. Almost every feature from Gods & Kings as well as Brave New World has made?? the transition and religion has become an actual way to end a game.

Military has seen a great improvement from V by allowing you to stack a few units. Once you research some of the mid??-game te??chnologies, you can create corps with two units and an army with three; it helps declutter the game world as you sprawl out to the farthest reaches of the land.

Speaking of which, districts have a dramatic impact on how you place your cities. You no longer can just plop a city down and ?expect to have it flourish; careful con??sideration must be taken with what surrounds the area where you plan on settling. If you place a tile near ocean, for instance, it pretty much becomes your de facto harbor district.

Having a holy site next to a natural wonder c??an boost its effectiveness, as does founding a city next to a natural forest. Seeing all of these districts get bigger adds an extra level of ownership and charm to the package, making you care about upgrades more than previous games. I can honestly say that seeing every individual wonder made me extremely happy.

The removal of persistent builder units is also pretty damn huge. Instead of having guys walk around the world and constantly improve tiles, you now need to create units and send them to specific sections to harvest any luxuries or crops to benefit your city. This may contribute to making Civ VI feel like you’re micromanagi??ng, but it does produce a deeper experience in that you can no longer treat builders like a Crock Pot.

Trader units are also the only way to bu?ild roads between your cities, which are crucial for making anything that isn’t your capital produce structures in a reasonable amount of time. Heck, you can even have traders go to different civilizations (or city-states) and then send your armies down the roads to reduce travel penalties.

Actually, that is something I didn’t begin to notice until it was pointed out. Unit movement is dramatically slower in Civilization VI. Without putting roads down (or building scouts), your units will incur movement penalties that hamper their explorative potential. Certain military un??its can get upgrades that allow them to scale cliffs, but that still requires you to trud?ge through marshlands, jungles, and deserts as slow as possible.

There are now different forms of government available to players. Unlike how Civilization V had different policy trees, you now adopt different forms of government that introduce allotments for specialized stats. In the beginning, you a??re offered a single card slot for armies and production, but eventually you’ll unlock social policies and a wildcard slot (which can be filled with anything).

It allows you to customize exactly what bonuses you’ll be earning at any time. It feels a lot more flexible than the policy system from Civilization V, but it also doesn’t allow you to max out every tree and become completely unstoppable. It also makes me feel sup??er smart to see Oligarchy and remember all of my studies from high school.

The final thing I’d like to mention in this piece is the boost system available to the technology and civics trees. Once you perform certain actions (similar to how achievements work), you can tr?igger a “eureka” moment for specific research projects. Improving three land tiles, for example, will give you a huge boost to the research for craftsmanship.

This makes basic actions like stalking ??early-game barbarians or tinkering with different forms of government a viable ?way to get a lead on rival civilizations. Honestly, I’m surprised with how great this works, especially since playing at higher difficulties tends to favor the AI by a tremendous margin.

If there was anything else I would say that I didn’t like, I guess I would have to go with the sluggishness?? of finishing a turn. This has always been an issue with the series, but I’m still baffled by how long it takes to just end a turn towards the later game. I feel like there should be some way to speed up the process (like skipping animations on rival civilizations in an offline match).

I also dislike the emphasis on DLC. While I actually like expansions to the core game, why are certain civilizations being sold as piecemeal purchases? Why not just hold off on expanding the game until you have a larger amount of content ready? For that matter, where is the Steam workshop integration that was present in V?

What is left for me to tackle for a final verdict is the online component. I’d also like to delve further into the differences between each civilization. I’m happy to say that Greece actually has two leaders, so my wish of seeing that choice return from Civ IV got granted. They both of?fer something distinct, as well, so that is wonderful.

If you’re wondering whether or not you should buy Civ VI, I’d say that if you are a die-hard fan, you won’t feel disappointed. Sure, some changes might annoy you and the early game can overwhelm, but all of ??these improvements combine t??o make a game that feels tremendously deeper than previous entries.

As for new comers, you may want to wait for ?a discount, but the game isn’t an insurmountable challenge. There is a lot to learn and so many simple choices can dramatically alter the course of your civilization, but the game does inform you of what each unit, development, and research project does. You won’t need to reference the Civilopedia too often to win.

So, yeah; Civilization VI isn’t perfect, but it looks primed to be the best entry in the series thus far. As a longtime fan, I’m very happy with what I’ve played. I look forward to seeing how the game grows over the years and I hope that Firaxis continues to support the community with mod support in the future. Maybe then I can finally get a Zelda mod that lets me conquer the world as Ganondorf.

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

The post Review in Progress: Civilization VI appeared first on Destructoid.

In Russia, you get led by Peter the Great

I've been playing a lot of the preview build for Civilization VI and I noticed a conspicuous lack of the Russian empire. 2K games has just revealed that the enlightened ruler will be making an appearance in the upcoming Civ, alongside the 10 rulers already announced.

The Civilization website details some of the unique buildings and units that will accompany Peter. These are important because, unlike previous Civilization games, you have to strategic??ally place different districts around the map. You no longer get the benefit of building a city and garrisoning multiple soldiers inside it.

Take a look at this first look video that expl?ains all of the details that are special about Peter. I like that Russia gets a bonus on tundra tiles, since ?I tend to find myself on one of the poles in most of my games.

As for my thoughts on the whole game so far, I greatly enjoy it. I never managed to get Civilization: Beyond Earth, but VI feels like a combination of IV and V. That may be a bit too many roman numerals to comprehend, but the game lets you micromanage on a different level while also better explaining how to accompli?sh the different victory paths.

I'll be sharing more d?etails this Friday when I give an official preview. In the mea?n time, you can rest easy knowing that the game is pretty solid.

The post I (Peter ??the Great) will be a great leader in Civilization VI appeared first on Destructoid.

Gandhi is coming for those coins

Fans of Civilization will be pleased to know that a collector's edition for the upcoming Civilization VI was announced today. The package?? com?es with an art book, commemorative coins, some pre-order DLC and the bonus content from the digital deluxe edition.

I like the awesome looking box, but I'm not quite sure $90 is worth all of that. Who would I even show those coins to? I suppose Gandhi might come knocking for all of that sweet loot, but most people aren't going to care that I have trinkets from Civilization.

The official site does mention that the pre-order DLC will only be exclusive for 90 days, so I suppose that is something. It's bett?er then having the content forever lost to an industry practice that makes no sense. 

Civilization VI Anniversary ??Edition ??Announced, is Extremely Limited [GameSpot]

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Does he make it despite an estimated 40% chance of success?

Last month 2K and Firaxis announced Sid Meier's Starships, a strategy game set in the Civilization universe, continuing the story that Beyond Earth set up. With an impending spring release, it looks like it is pretty far along, and the team at Firaxis has been streaming gamepla?y weekly on its Twitch channel.

In this episode, Sid Meier takes us through the customization of ships, building three vessels that behave differently from one another. One is equipped with lasers for long-range fighting, another is heavily armored and has cannons for short range, ??and the third has fighters and torpedoes to remain out of line of sight of enemy ships. The video above is long; if you want to see the?? customization, check out the window between 5:13 and 7:41.

Some details of battle are shown, like the importance of flanking in order to take advantage of the directionality of shields and the ability for torpedoes to be remotely detonated along the path. The ties to Civilization: Beyond Earth are also apparent; leaders, affi??nit?ies, and structure design all appear here.

The post Sid Meier runs through Starships’ customization and a small battle appeared first on Destructoid.

Thanks, Xenobama

A pretty substantial update rolled out for Civilization: Beyond Earth earlier today, addressing some of the issues that the more hardcore Civ fans have had with the title. I took a read through the extensive patch notes and... damn. I am?? going to have to come up with some new s??trategies.

I previously found a lot of value in the trade routes, but it seems like those are getting a bit of a nerf, and additionally the maximum number of trade routes a city can have is decreasing due to a change to the Autoplant building. Another bummer for me is that Artists no longer contribute positive Health but instead are worth only ??Culture. One of the most obvious changes is a decrease in power to a good number of unupgraded units.

In a way, it s??ort of bums me out that a lot of my favorite stuff was scaled back a bit, but on the other hand, it brings me back to the learning phase where I was trying new things and figuring out what works best. I'd say that's probably a net positive.

The post Civilization: Beyond Earth update is live, make?s all my strategies obsolete appeared first on Destructoid.

Stellar

"Civilization, but set in the future on an alien planet." That is really all Firaxis and 2K needed to say to get people excited for the next entry in the long-running turn-based strategy series. There is a fair amount of new ideas to be found here: new systems to explore??, new technology to research, and new obstacles to overcome.

But even with everything new, Civilization: Beyond Earth is still Civilization, but set in the future on an alie??n planet. And it is exactly as good as that sou??nds.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth (Linux, Mac, Windows [reviewed])
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: October 24, 2014
MSRP: $49.99
Rig: AMD Phenom II X2 555 @ 3.2 GHz, with 4GB of RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700, Windows 7 64-bit

Civilization veterans will be immediately familiar with most of the systems in place here, as they mimic those in Civilization V closely. Players found cities, within which? they manage production, food, energy, culture, science, and health. In the international arena, there is diplomacy, trade, exploration, espionage, and war. Everything is interconnected in some way, and success comes to those who find the proper balance of it all.

The interplay between all of the different systems and resources is complex. While the series has made positive strides with tutorial popups and the exhaustive Civilopedia it is still dense and a little inaccessible for new players. Some information is difficult to find but through trial and error. It is easy to know what Civilization is about, but it takes dedication to really know Civilization.

Fortunately, getting to know Civilization is inherently rewarding. Finding interesting synergies between technologies and powers makes the player feel smart. Forming plans and seeing them through to fruition is intensely satisfying, and it is largely responsible for the series' notorious addictive quality. All of that is present in Beyond Earth.

The most touted new feature in Beyond Earth is the Affinity system. Previously, unique units were tied to specific factions, but here they are dependent on a faction's level in one of three Affinities: Purity, Supremacy, and Harmony. Each Affinity represents a fundamentally different philosophy for how humanity should interact with the al?ien world. Purity followers believe that humans are special and should change the new world to be more Earth-like. Supremacy followers believe that humans should be cybernetically augmented in order to respond to environmental hazards. Harmony followers believe that humans must biologically adapt a?nd become more like the indigenous life in order to survive.

The Affinities are level-based and the choice is always open to increase any of the three through technological advances and mission rewards. It is generally smart to specialize in one?? Affinity, since the more powerful units require a minimum level, but it is possible to maintain a broad approach and take a little of each.

The choice between Affinities sets the trajectory for the narrative of Beyond Earth. Though it is e?asily ignored for any who get into this strictly for the gameplay, the story is emphasized more strongly here than any any previous title in the series. It always starts the same: Humans wrecked Earth and have to find a new place to live. Which Affinity is focused on (if any)?? determines which victory condition is most easily attained, and each victory ends the story in a different place than the others.

Another new tweak to the systems is in the Virtues. Breaking from Civilization V's syst?em and instead following the same philosophy behind Affinities, none of the Virtues are mutually excl?usive. Each time a new Virtue is earned, players may choose to develop down one of four trees: Might (military power), Prosperity (food), Knowledge (science and culture), and Industry (energy and production). There are benefits for generalizing as well as for specializing, and no one strategy is clearly better than another.

One completely new aspect of Beyond Earth is the orbital layer. Set above the normal ground-level action, there is a hex grid layer representing the position of satellites in geosynchronous orbit. These orbital units can have various effects over areas, including increasing output of affected til??es, improving combat prowess for units underneath, or attacking from relative safety with a planet-carving laser.

Placing an orbital unit near another civilization is not considered an outright act of war, though most will not take kindly to it. One memory I will keep for a long time involved General Kozlov placing a tactical support satellite near my borders, so I retaliated w??ith an orbital laser in range of three of his cities, just waiting to be fired if he should misstep. It was the sort of cold war stuff that is often absent in games like this.

The technology system received a substantial overhaul in more ways than one. Naturally, the science-fiction setting demands the imagination of new technologies. Those found in Beyond Earth range from currently existent (titanium mining) to really "out there" (constructing a giant flower that allows a neural connection between all humans and the living pl?anet), though most are based firmly in plausible ideas for future technology.

The most obvious change to the technology system is that it is set up as a radial web, expanding outward from a central point. The choice is available to set up a strong base of general knowledge, to make a beeline for any of th?e furthest techs, or to do anything in between. Most Affinity gains occur through researching specific technologies, so the tech web is also the arena that has the greatest effect on how a given civilization approaches the new world and how it plans to seek victory.

There are five victory conditions: one for each of the three Affinities, one reliant on non-Affinity technologies, and the standard "destroy all the other civilizations" vict??ory. Purity is attached to The Promised Land victory, which seeks to settle Earthlings who stayed behind on the new planet. Supremacy is attached to the Emancipation victory, whose goal is to return to Earth and demonstrate the power of cybernetics. Harmony is attached to the Transcendence victory, which aims to meld minds with the planet itself. Contact is the Affinity-agnostic victory; it involves building a beacon to communicate with an intelligent alien race.

Narratively, each victory represents its corresponding philosophy well. The three Affinities approach the world with entirely different ideas, and their stories have appropriately different endings. However, the biggest failing of Civilization: Beyond Earth is that four of the five victory conditions feel too si??milar to one another from a ga?meplay perspective.

Though the narrative reasoning varies, the basic framework for The Promised Land, Emancipation, and Transcendence is as follows: Research the required technologies, level up the corresponding Affinity to 13, build a planetary wonder, then defend ??it for approximately 30 turns. Contact largely follows the same path bu?t without the minimum Affinity requirement. What happens after a planetary wonder is built varies between victory conditions, but not enough to make the individual experiences feel unique.

From a balance perspective, it is easy to see why Beyond Earth adheres to this formula. It ensures a similar timeline regardless of path and it gives opponents clear warning that a player is nearing th??e end, allowing last-ditch efforts to race for another victory or topple the leader. For a series known for having multiple paths to victory, and especially for a narrative emphasizing just how divergent the ideologies within it are to one another, it is disappointing how similar each win condition is. There is no cultural, economic, or peace victory. There are only what amount to four science victories and a military victory.

That said, the journey to get to the end does have a different feel depending on which Affinity is followed. The unique units bestowed to each Affinity interact with the environment differently and the benefits afforded allow for varied play styles. Where Purity and Supremacy fight against the planet's toxic miasma, Harmony learns to harness its power. Where Supremacy and Harmony benefit from leaving alien life alone, Purity gains combat bonuses against it. Where Purity and Harmony are geographically limited, Supremacy leverages? its superior engineering in order to easily spread its influence across the map.

Following the orbital escalation with General Kozlov described a ways above, he eventually did attack. After beating back his forces and teasing a peace treaty out of him, I dropped several tiles w?orth of ?miasma on his cities, just as a reminder for what happens when one messes with the African Union. He was cleaning it up for years, choking on it the whole time. Classic.

In a separate encounter, Hutama of the Polystralians made note of my relative military weakness and, fueled by avarice and envy, broke our neighborly trade relationship in hopes of coming out a few cities richer. Although I was outgunned, he grossly underestimated the severe tactical disadvantage the local canyons and mountains put him at, an??d his force?s were sunk to the bottom of the ocean before they could make landfall.

That all highlights one of Civilization's greatest strengths: It provides the framework for totally awesome stuff to happen and lasting memories to be formed. Beyond Earth excels in that virtue with its new additions.

Aesthetically, Beyond Earth really nails?? it. The three different planetary biomes add visual variety, and the rich colors pop. The palette features a lot of teal, pink, and ??purple, which conveys the idea of an alien world well. The soundtrack is appropriately grandiose during the climaxes and subdued during the lulls. Upon a dastardly betrayal or the completion of a planetary wonder, sweeping string pieces evoke a feeling that history is being made.

In all, Beyond Earth is excellent. It maintains the secret sauce that the series is known for while adding setting-appropriate systems that change the gameplay up in interesting ways. Orbital units are inherently cool and add depth to international encounters. The narrative is thoughtful and important without being too preachy. Affinities show that the team put a lot of effort into considering ??how differing viewpoints may tackle the challenge of founding an alien world, as well as the consequences of those actions.

If only there were more variety in the structure of the victory conditions between divergent philosophies, Civilization: Beyond Earth would be a perfect game. Even with that dissonance, it is damn close. The Civilization pedigree holds a lot of weight after all these years, and Beyond Earth more than lives up to its name.

The post Review: Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth appeared first on Destructoid.

Sci-fi strategy coming later this month

Last week I detailed a lot of the new experiences that Civilization V veterans will find in Civilization: Beyond Earth. I loved what I played of it and you can read about that if you want, but those who are more visual learners will ??want to check out the trailer above.

The nearly ten minute video goes through the details of settlement, exploration, affinity, technology, diplomacy, espionage, quests, and ultimate victory. Then it ends with ??a playful jab at a typical player's willpower with the line "The future is but one more turn away." I know, 2K; I have a problem. You don't have to rub it in.

The post C??ivilization: Beyond Earth?? trailer outlines the new features appeared first on Destructoid.

$15 for Civ III up through Civ V: Brave New World

The latest Humble Bundle is one to avoid if you've got a bunch of responsibilities to take care of in the immediate future. Featuring the games of veteran designer Sid Meier, this package is broken into three tiers. First up, pay-what-you-want pricing covers the complete editions of Civilization III and IV, Ace Patrol, Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies, and Railroads!

Paying above the average adds two more games -- Civilization V and its Gods and Kings expansion -- while paying more than $15 unlocks access to the game's Brave New World expansion. All of the featured titles are Steam compatible for PC and most of them (i.e., Civ IV and newer) are also playable on Mac. Seriously, though -- don't start playing Civ on a weekday.

The post Civilization aplenty in th?e Humble Sid Meier Bundle appeared first on Destructoid.

Now through Jan. 2

Publisher 2K has a holiday sale going for its mobile games now through Thursday, January 2. This is a great opportunity to pick up the iOS version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, though, fair warning, it's a comparatively expensive download for the Apple App Store. Still, it's XCOM!

• XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($19.99/$9.99)
• 2K Drive ($6.99/$0.99)
• NBA 2K14 ($7.99/$2.99)
• Sid Meier's Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies ($4.99/$2.99; also on Steam)
• Sid Meier's Pirates ($4.99/$0.99)
• Civilization Revolution ($2.99/$0.99)

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Despite developing for mobile, the design legend is open to all platforms.

Sid Meier is a legend to PC gamers for strategy games he lent his name to but the man himself admits that the Meier name doesn't mean much to mobile players. In an illuminating interview with GamesIndustry, Sid revealed his new iOS title Ace Patrol do??esn't signal a departure from PC and console development, rather a more flexible approach. "I could see myself doing a PC game next or a mobile game or console game; it's really not platform driven," he said.

"What we're seeing is that a lot of those core players are getting iPads or they have their phones and are looking for things to do that have the stra??tegy element and the gameplay of some of the games they are used to on PC or console," explains Sid. "That's really kind of the market we're going after, the player who is looking for strategy but they can't take their PC with them everywhere."

Between consoles, PCs, and various mobile devices there are more platforms to play games on and it would seem sho?rt sighted to concentrate on just one. Sid reassures us that you'll still see his games on PC:&n??bsp;"Firaxis is committed to PC -- that's been our bread-and-butter and where a lot of our audience is -- but we're interested in console and we're interested in iOS," he explained. It's a really interesting interview where Sid also talks about his views on crowdfunding and his praise for publisher 2K as well.

Sid Meier: We must not for??get the value of the core gamer [GamesIndustry International]

The post Sid Meier says core gamers should not be ?forgotten appeared first on Destructoid.

Knock other civilizations off the block with your sweet culture

It has been over a year since the release of the Civilization V's last expansion, Gods & Kings, but Firaxis and 2K have been hard at work on injecting some new units, civilizations, and culture with the next expansion, Brave New World. Lift those pinky fingers, good people, we??'re going in!

Brave New World brings a wealth of new content for the avid and casual Civilization fan alike. Along with nine new civilizations, and their own unique units, this expansion will also introduce eight new Wonders to construct; such as the Parthenon and the Globe Theater. One of the new key elements that Brave New World will bring forth is setting up international trade routes for your cities and civilizations. Fostering trade with other cities wil??l not only bring in more economic support, but also spread your culture and influence to others.

Civilization V: Brave New World will be landing on North American ?PC on July 9, 2013. All other territories will be receivi?ng it on July 12, 2013.

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New mobile IP from 2K and Firaxis

Game designer Sid Meier's newest title has just been revealed. Ace Patrol is a mobile strategy game based on WWI air combat. You'll defend camps in allies in the sky in any of 30 aircraft, in more than 120 missions. You'll be able to upgrade and promote pilots as the game progresses, too. Aside from the campaign, there's also two-player and asynchronous multiplayer modes through Game Center. All?? of th??is was designed and programmed by Meier himself.

This sounds good. Well, turn-based stra?te??gy always sounds good to me. 

Sid Meier's Ace Patrol will come to the App ??Store for all iOS devices very soon: May 9. It will ?be a free download.

We have some new screenshots in?? our gallery below.

The post Sid Meier’s new game Ace Patrol comes to iOS next month appeared first on Destructoid.