Available on PC
The Civilization series of games is one of the most beloved in the turn-based strategy genre. They’ve helped send their creator, Sid Meier, to almost god-like fame within the gaming industry. But all of this is for a very good reason. The latest installment of the series, Civilation VI is on caliber with the previous games, and it’s probably the best game yet.
The Basic Gameplay
If you’re not familiar with Civilization games, here’s the scoop. The game is about picking a civilization and building it and evolving it over time – from the prehistoric ages to the modern day and beyond. It’s played on a tiled board that represents city size and citizen movement. Though it sounds simple, these games are amazingly complex and have levels of depth not seen in other games. You start off by founding your first city. At the start, you’ll also find yourself with a “warrior” unit that can explore the world and fight enemies if necessary. Once your city has been founded, you can produce different types of groups, like builders, scouts, and other military units. The type of military units you can make depends on how far you’ve progressed in learning different things.
That’s where the second aspect of the game comes in. There are multiple areas of study for you to pursue that can help advance your civilization in different ways. If you want to work on being a civilization focused on the power of its military, you can do that. Likewise you can focus on science or culture. None of these are mutually exclusive, though, so you can take your civilization in many different directions.
Finally, just like in the real world, you’re not the only civilization on the map. There will be foreign entities that you need to interact with. You can have peaceful deals where you share trade and open borders, or not-so-peaceful tactics, such as declaring all-out war. It can sometimes be difficult to read what the leaders of those civilizations are really thinking, so a large part of the strategy is knowing how to deal with each one individually.
So how does the game end? It doesn’t really have to if you don’t want it to. Adjusting a few options can let the game on indefinitely, but there are a number of win conditions. These include science, culture and military feats. If you’re able to complete them before any other player, then you win.
Due to the complexity of the gameplay, each game can take hours to complete. And I mean HOURS. You can sit down and start a game in the morning and might not even be finished by dinner time. I’ve done that quite a lot actually. It’s a game that’s really easy to get lost in. However, since it’s a turn-based game, you can save at any time, so that helps to alleviate that a bit.
The Difference Between Civilization VI and the Rest of the Series
Civilization VI is still a Civ game. The series has been great about incremental changes that take the gameplay in slightly different paths. In Civ VI, the difference comes in the expansion of your cities. Rather than the building being done for you by the game, you now have to build each segment of the city itself. If you want to build a library, you have to select a tile around your city to build it on. That means making the decision of where to place your buildings very strategic. You only have so many tiles to work with, so you have to prioritize what you build and where you build it. Your city expands a bit gradually without you needing to do anything, but you can also purchase additional tiles with gold.
I like this new challenge. I often found my cities filling up rather quickly and was faced with the decision to replace a resource tile, like a farm or mine, with one of the Wonders of the World that I wanted to build before someone else got a chance to.
That’s the biggest change. The game also includes changes you would expect, like better graphics and more civilizations to choose from. There are also different leaders and sometimes their dialogue can be quite amusing. For example, Teddy Roosevelt will ask you to sample America’s goods like “stuffed bears.”
The Rating
Civilization VI is rated E10+ with descriptors for Drug Reference, Language, Mild Violence, and Suggestive Themes. A big part of the gameplay involves units attacking each other. While you can see the battles happening, the units themselves are fairly small and there’s no blood. The language and suggestive themes come from interactions with other world leaders, some of whom will call you names, and some of whom are dressed in a provocative way. Finally tobacco is one of the special resources you can farm.
The Takeaway
Civilization VI is the perfect next step in the series. It’s got a great amount of changes that improve the gameplay, while still feeling like the same game at its heart. This is a must-buy for existing Civ fans. If you’ve been wanting to dip your toe into the turn-based strategy genre, you can’t really find anything better. Just be prepared to tell yourself, “just one more turn” over and over and over.
