Revolutionizing the Game Structure
Be honest: when you play Civilization, do you dutifully guide your subjects from the dawn of history to the moon landing, or do you get bored sometime around the Renaissance and start over? If you’re the dutiful type, you’re in the minority. Firaxis has been collecting statistics, and although it wouldn’t share specifics, the developer told me it was surprised to discover how few Civilization players had finished a game. In response, Firaxis has substantially changed Civilization’s structure for the next game, which is out in February.
Three New Ages in Civilization 7
In Civilization 7, you no longer begin in the ancient era, advancing through and beyond the classical, medieval, Renaissance, industrial, and modern eras. Instead, there are just three ages: Antiquity, Discovery, and Modern. The tech tree has been somewhat simplified, a change that might turn out to be the most controversial since Civilization 5 ditched unit stacking or Civilization 6 adopted a cartoonier art style (which has been walked back in Civ 7).
New Features and Exciting Tweaks
Firaxis hasn’t just simplified things; they’ve also added, tweaked, and expanded. You can now build towns, not just cities, and there are powerful new units called commanders. Navigable rivers make their debut, allowing players to have their own Mississippi or Nile. Major features from the Civ 5 and 6 expansion packs, such as religion and natural disasters, are included. It’s still Civilization, a judgment I arrived at after playing for three hours.
Keeping the Essence Intact
Creative Director Ed Beach shared that Firaxis was very mindful of how much they were changing. “You’ve probably heard the Firaxis mantra that 33% of the game stays the same, 33% of it gets updated, and 33% is brand new. We absolutely followed that again,” Beach said to a group of press, including myself, who were flown to Firaxis’s office in early August to try the game.
History in Layers
One big change: despite leading Rome, I played as Egyptian Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Your leader no longer has to match your civilization. This relates to a key part of the new three-act structure: in the transition to a new age, you’ll select a new civilization. Each age has unique civs, and the choices available depend on your leader, but also what you’ve accomplished so far.
