YoIt’s been eight years since Civilization 6, the latest in a long-running series of strategy games in which you take a nation from the prehistoric settlement of its first city through centuries of development all the way to the space age. Since 2016, it has amassed a wealth of expansions, scenario packs, new nations, modes and systems for players to master, but series producer Dennis Shirk of Firaxis Games thinks enough is enough. “It was getting too big for its britches,” he says. “It was time to do something new.”
“It’s hard to even get through the entire game,” says designer Ed Beach, pointing to the key problem Firaxis aims to solve with the upcoming Civilization 7. While the first few turns of a campaign in Civilization 6 can be quick, when you’re just deciding actions for the population of a single city, “the number of systems, units, and entities you have to manage explodes after a while,” Beach says. From turn one to victory, a single campaign can last upwards of 20 hours, and if you start to fall behind other nations, it can be tempting to restart long before seeing the end of the game.
That’s why Civilization 7’s campaign is divided into three eras (Antiquity, Exploration, and Modernity), each of which ends in a dramatic explosion of global crises. “Breaking the game into chapters allows players to navigate the story in a more digestible way,” Beach says.
When you begin a new campaign, you choose a leader and a civilization to rule, and you lead your people in establishing their first settlements and encounters with the other peoples who populate a largely undeveloped land. You’ll choose what technologies they research, what expansions they make to their cities, and who they attempt to befriend or conquer. Each turn you complete or scientific, economic, cultural, and military milestone you pass adds points to a meter that runs in the background. Once the meter reaches 200, you and all other surviving civilizations on the map move on to the next era.
As you move from Antiquity to Exploration, and then from Exploration to Modernity, you select a new civilization to lead. You’ll keep all the cities you controlled before, but you’ll have access to different technologies and attributes. This may seem odd, but it’s designed to reflect history – think London, which was once ruled by the Romans before being replaced by the Anglo-Saxons. No empire lasts forever, but not all of them fall apart, either.
Dividing Civilization 7 into chapters also gives campaigns a new rhythm. As you near the end of an era, you’ll start to face global crises. In Antiquity, for example, you can see a proliferation of independent powers similar to the tribes that overran Rome. “We don’t call them barbarians anymore,” Beach says. “It’s a more nuanced way of presenting them.” These crises multiply and strengthen until you reach the next era. “It’s like a sci-fi or fantasy series with a huge, crazy conclusion, and then the next book starts off nice and quiet,” Beach says. “There’s a point where getting to the next era is a relief.”
Veteran players will recognize the series’ broad outlines in Civilization 7, but this new structure is undoubtedly a fundamental shift, introducing moments of chaos and drama into each campaign. Whereas before, you could count on victory (or defeat) after a few hours of play, each new era, with its climatic crises, presents plenty of opportunities for the playing field to be turned upside down. “Not everyone will survive,” Shirk says. “It’s a lot of fun to play.”
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Civilization 7 will be released on PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch on February 11, 2025.