Civilization VII

First impressions: Civilization VII

by
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Civilization VII

I’m midway through my first game of Civilization VII, having recently started the Exploration Age, the second of the game’s three eras. Thoughts so far:

My empire early in the Exploration Age of Civ VII. I sent off the damaged Cog in the top-left to explore in search of new continents — what the game calls “distant lands”. Divodurum in the south, of Asterix fame, was an independent city that joined me through diplomacy. Assur in the northeast started as an independent city, thwarted my early expansion, and leagued themselves with another civ — I eventually conquered them.

1a. This is a breath of fresh air for the series. It feels new and original, far more than Civ VI did. The gameplay has been engaging turn-to-turn, whether building up my military to defend against hostile independent cities (incidentally, I think this is the first Civ game where barbarians/independents have been challenging by default — at times this felt more like fighting the stroppy minor factions in Shadow Empire or the tribes and barbarians in Old World), waging war later on, or focusing on internal development.

1b. The design feels pared back, but in a good, elegant way. Each turn moves at a brisk pace. Playing it side-to-side with Old World is an interesting experience. Even in the early game, Old World feels much grander: it has a bigger and more-zoomed out map (even playing Civ VII on a “large” map versus Old World on a “medium” map), more distance between settlements and factions, and more moving parts.

For a scale comparison, this is my very early current Old World game. Note the distance between Babylon and the barbarian camp in the west — there are 9 empty tiles in between on a Medium map, whereas there are only 6 empty tiles between my capital, Chang’an, and Divodurum, the nearest formerly-independent settlement, in Civ VII on a large map.

2a. It feels rough or unfinished. Others have pointed to examples such as auto-explore only just being patched into the game. For me, the giveaway is non-functional, vestigial bits of the interface — there is a “form alliance” button on the screen for independent cities that does nothing.

2b. Other parts of the interface still seem inadequate — by clicking the down arrow I can find an itemised list of everything that increases city happiness, but just where can I find the corresponding list for deductions? Similarly, when examining or changing social policies (“+1 influence on science buildings”), it would be good to know what exactly the effect would be.

There is an opportunity to add more detail to Civ VII‘s UI. I’ve picked a simple example — why can I itemise happiness income but not deductions?

3. I’m glad I bought Civ VII — so far I enjoy it a lot. But I’m also very glad that I waited for a discount (more than 50% off a boxed PC code, before shipping), because I would be much, much less forgiving had I paid full price for this at launch.

Initial thoughts on Civilization VII’s gameplay showcase video

by
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Civilization VII

Firaxis has released the first gameplay showcase video for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII. The gameplay itself begins at 5:36:

Lots of interesting ideas — many of them from Humankind

My first impression is that Civ VII is the sincerest form of flattery to Humankind. In particular, it adopts Humankind’s signature mechanic, switching civs each era — albeit with differences:

  • Civ VII will only have three ages (antiquity, exploration, and modern).
  • In Civ VII, unlocking later civs will have in-game requirements. In the video (see approx. 17:35), playing as Ancient Egypt has automatically unlocked Songhai, whereas Mongolia would require access to horses.

Settlements beginning as towns, and upgrading to cities over time, also reminded me of Humankind.

Other mechanics also seem influenced by Humankind, although it’s too early to be sure:

This cements a tradition of cross-pollination with Amplitude games — Civ VI’s districts system seemed clearly inspired by Endless Legend.

Finally, some mechanics appear entirely new to the historical 4X genre. These include:

  • The concept of endgame crises from games such as Stellaris, Total War: Attila, and the Total War: Warhammers — here reworked into “end of age” crises.
  • The playable map expanding with each new age; and
  • The ability to sail ships down rivers.

My questions so far

Given how early it is, there is still plenty to learn about Civ VII. A couple of questions that occurred to me:

  • What is the overall design philosophy?
    • For example, Civs I through IV were empire builders, whereas from Civ V onward, the focus switched to specialisation: picking a path to victory before even starting, then choosing an appropriate civ.
    • My guess is that the ages system will shake things up — let’s wait for more detail on how this plays out.
  • How well can the developers execute on their vision? And how well will the computer be able to play the game?
    • The infamous example here is the military AI in Civs V and VI, which was never able to adapt to the “1 unit per tile” rule.
    • This, we won’t know until launch.

Pricing — starting at A$120/US$70/€70/£60

A separate point is the price, which is not cheap.

In Australia, Civ VII will cost (per the headline prices on Steam) A$120 for the standard edition, A$160 for the deluxe, and A$200 for the founder’s edition. SteamDB tells me that in other regions, the standard edition is US$70, €70, and £60. These are the kind of prices I associate with niche wargames and milsims, rather than mainstream 4X games, and I wonder what effect they will have on players’ willingness to buy at launch.

Speaking for myself, I will take a punt on something half or a third that price; for anything close to that, the game had better be very, very good.

Overall thoughts so far

At this stage, I feel curious and hopeful about Civ VII. I’m glad that it has plenty of new ideas on display — I think it’s what the series needs in order to keep feeling fresh. Time will  tell how well the game implements those ideas — and if that implementation is good enough to justify the price.

Links

Most of the available previews contain similar information. I found IGN’s the most informative.

Enjoying this site? Subscribe to updates here: