Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Review – A Fine But Flawed Foundation

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Sid Meier’s Civilization VII marks the latest installment in Firaxis’ enduring 4X strategy franchise, where players delve into the realms of exploration, expansion, exploitation, and conquest on randomly generated maps. Each campaign stands alone as a captivating journey spanning various epochs that can easily consume your attention until you suddenly remember it’s past your sister’s birthday! Civilization VII transcends being merely a time-passer on weekends; its immersive gameplay becomes the weekend, and perhaps even stretches into several workdays of your life as well.

In Civilization VII, Firaxis has introduced significant modifications, primarily in the way players advance through historical periods. Many of these innovations are appreciated because they address issues from past games and add excitement to campaigns. Yet, some design choices might stir controversy, particularly among dedicated fans, as these mechanics can affect the player’s influence on certain results.

In Civilization VII, one notable shift is that you now choose leaders and nations separately. Previously, selecting Augustus Caesar or Napoleon would invariably lead to playing as Rome or France, respectively. However, this time around, leaders possess distinct traits shaping their gameplay, and you can independently pick a country to suit these characteristics.

For example, Hatshepsut, who held the title ‘God’s Wife of Amun’, benefits from advantages derived from foreign resources and navigable rivers, and interestingly enough, she starts near these same rivers. As Pharaoh, you might initially believe that Egypt, which also offers extra production on rivers, would be the ideal civilization for Hatshepsut. However, it’s worth considering alternative choices, such as the Maya due to their science bonuses or the Maurya for their additional pantheon beliefs. In essence, while Egypt seems a logical choice, exploring other civilizations could yield interesting results.

This idea is remarkable because it provides an unprecedented level of adaptability for every play session. It encourages you to develop strategies from the outset: Will you choose leaders and nations that work harmoniously together, potentially following a more structured approach, or will you opt for unconventional pairings to create unique dynamics?

In a similar fashion, there’s a system for advancement tied to individual accounts where you can accumulate Mementos. These Mementos can be assigned to leaders, enhancing their abilities with extra skill points or higher returns. This feature can be turned off during multiplayer sessions. Notably, the game includes the Complaint to Ea-nāṣir, an ancient Babylonian tablet recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest known customer complaint. This artifact awards Economic attribute points for certain leaders.

The Memento system is an intriguing concept that caters to individuals who enjoy specializing in a specific character. In my experience, I engaged in numerous battles while controlling Jose Rizal, a revered national figure from the Philippines. Rizal’s distinctive characteristic yields superior rewards from story-driven events, introducing fresh questlines for each leader and thereby enhancing the roleplaying element as you delve deeper into these historical personas. Given his versatile gameplay style, I had the liberty to pursue conquest, scientific breakthroughs, or alternative paths of progress, taking on a variety of missions and elevating him through levels during the process.

In Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, the gameplay experience should be a blend of novelty and nostalgia for veterans of the series and similar 4X strategy games. At the onset of a game in the Antiquity Age (substituted for the Ancient Era and Classical Era), you establish your capital city and dispatch Scouts to investigate your surroundings. Notably, Scouts have been endowed with a new ability that uncovers nearby ruins providing beneficial advantages, simplifying the process of locating “goodie huts” significantly.

As you progress, your Settlers establish new outposts to form settlements and broaden your territorial reach. Simultaneously, you tap into resource sites nearby. A significant shift in Civilization VII compared to earlier versions is that these fresh settlements don’t start as cities but rather as specialized small towns, similar to colony planets in Stellaris. Over time, it’s possible to transform towns into cities, which raises intriguing questions that add complexity to the gameplay–should I let this growing town maintain its specialization or convert it into a city to have more control over its growth and development?

In Civilization VII, the process of expanding your cities and towns has been made simpler. The need for Worker units has been eliminated entirely. Now, you simply select a tile to place an improvement like a mine, plantation, farm, or camp instantly and at no cost. Additionally, buildings can be combined to form a quarter, which offers benefits, and can later be built upon with more sophisticated structures in subsequent eras. This new feature is sure to excite players who enjoy optimizing resources.

In simpler terms, these strategic levels also apply to defeating your opponents using the Commander system, a replacement for Great Generals and Admirals from previous Civilization games. Commanders can group several units together, similar to the old “doomstacks,” allowing them to launch combined-arms attacks where multiple units attack the same target simultaneously. Units no longer earn skill points but it’s the Commanders who do, and their abilities affect all nearby units. This simplified process is beneficial because it reduces the need for micromanaging numerous units during mid- and late-game stages.

In the updated diplomacy system, influence becomes more prominent, featuring elements like treaties, espionage, aid in warfare, and interactions with independent city-states or peoples. For example, if you find yourself falling behind your opponent, you might encourage city-states to attack their territories, steal their technologies, and escalate their exhaustion from constant warfare. Each of the key mechanics in the 4X gameplay experience shines brightly, creating thrilling instances where you must skillfully employ all your resources to triumph.

The game’s beauty enhances the overall experience, as it features stunning landscapes, creative design elements for each thematic unit, and cities that reflect the unique cultural aspects of your chosen civilization. For example, a Shawnee city looks completely different from a Mongolian or Ming Chinese settlement, or any other civilization for that matter. Civilization VII encourages you to zoom in and appreciate the intricate details of smaller settlements that have grown into thriving metropolises with distinctive architecture and artwork.

In the discussion before, it was noted that one of the major changes in Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is the method of progression through each era. Unlike previous games where campaigns were lengthy, continuous, and you stayed with the same nation throughout your gameplay, in this new version, the eras – Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern – are distinct standalone periods, each offering different civilizations, buildings, wonders, crisis events, and progression landmarks. What might come as a shock is that you are now compelled to transition to a new civilization when entering the Exploration Age and the Modern Age.

Changing civilizations at different eras isn’t something entirely novel – it resembles Humankind, a strategy game from Amplitude Studios and Sega. This feature gives a fresh twist to the traditional Civilization gameplay by promoting a comprehensive strategy for the entire campaign. However, one downside of Humankind was that cultures didn’t have unique characteristics despite numerous possibilities. Fortunately, this isn’t as significant an issue in Civilization VII, as each leader maintains their individual identity and goals, even though some titles might seem unusual – like Benjamin Franklin belonging to the Normans or Himiko being the High Shaman of Aksum.

During my reign as Xerxes I, King of Persia, I built monumental structures, altars, and marvels reminiscent of the Pyramids and Angkor Wat. However, I faced a challenging situation similar to the “Raging Barbarians” scenario from past games, which were groups of fiercely independent people. As part of my strategy, I pursued Legacy Paths, which were objectives that guided me towards a gradual advancement. These included accumulating numerous codices (Scientific Legacy) and establishing multiple settlements (Military Legacy).

In the transition from the Ancient Era to the Age of Exploration, I chose to seize the scientific advancements of the Abbasids. During this time, I built both Machu Picchu and the Forbidden City, transforming monuments and altars into universities and kilns. Additionally, I faced the tragic impact of the Black Death pandemic that swept through my empire. Among other goals, I organized treasure expeditions from distant lands (creating an Economic Legacy), and spread my Zoroastrian faith to acquire sacred relics (establishing a Cultural Legacy). Although these endeavors were vast, they resulted in captivating journeys, offering insights into how empires rose, fell, evolved, and endured throughout the tapestry of human history.

In Civilization VII, each individual feature is delightful for veterans like me, as it represents the ongoing advancement of the series. Regrettably, these very features are contributing to some of the most significant issues I’ve encountered in a 4X game.

The primary challenge lies in the requirement for civil-switching based on unlock conditions in Civilization VII, which contrasts with Humankind where all period-specific cultures are accessible but it’s a race to pick them first. In Civilization VII, certain civilizations like the Abbasids or Qing China can only be played if specific prerequisites are met, such as previously picking Egypt or Persia for the Abbasids, improving three camel resource nodes, or choosing Ming China and having three tea plantations for Qing China. In some cases, you may not have control over meeting these conditions or it might not be feasible due to limitations in resource availability or suboptimal locations resulting from procedural map generation. This can leave you with a limited selection of civilizations to choose from, making it a challenging design decision given the variety offered by leaders, nations, and Legacy Paths, especially since choosing another civilization is one of the most significant decisions made during each campaign. The rigid rules for swapping civilizations are counterintuitive considering the flexibility they otherwise offer.

The issue here is that there are conspicuous absences and oversights in the present selection of countries, as illustrated by the inclusion of Rome and Greece, yet the successive Byzantine Empire, contemporary Great Britain (to be included in future DLC), Ottomans, Aztecs, India, and any Scandinavian nation are missing. I found it puzzling when Jose Rizal from the Philippines was depicted as unlocking Hawaii, given that there’s no option for Southeast Asian nations with anti-colonial movements. Vietnam is a leader but not a civilization, while Indonesia is represented during the Exploration Age and not in the Modern Age. Thailand is the only Modern Age Southeast Asian civilization, despite the fact that it was never colonized by European powers.

Consider this: Each period transition is like a soft restart for all players. When your progress bar reaches 100%, whether through turns or achieving Legacy milestones, all ongoing projects, wonders, and related objectives cease instantly – for everyone. One second you could be immersed in activities such as sending out treasure fleets or expanding your religion, the next those aspects are permanently gone. Moreover, all your units, no matter their location, vanish from the map. In their place, period-specific units appear randomly across your empire at the beginning of the new era. It’s akin to Mehmed the Conqueror arriving at Constantinople’s gates, only to mysteriously find himself in Edirne because the Aztecs found the last sacred relic they needed.

This measure might be put in place to prevent an escalating situation, ensuring fairness among all participants. However, it seems like a form of penalty for excelling, which could particularly affect those who are more aggressive or competitive.

Unfortunately, Civilization VII seems to be lacking completeness as it only covers history up to the Modern Age, which includes the industrial era leading to Yuri Gagarin’s space flight in the 1960s. Notably, the most advanced military units are tanks and fighter planes, but there’s no Information/Contemporary Age included at all. It’s true that Civilization games can become grueling as they progress, often leaving players to abandon their games unfinished. However, eliminating an entire historical period doesn’t seem like the optimal approach for addressing this issue.

Beyond observing a few difficulties with the user interface that initially puzzled me, I’ve found some areas requiring clarification. For instance, there are panels lacking explanations about how merchants function, and the use of civ-specific Great People on hexes, which led me to investigate multiple tiles in my cities because the appropriate locations weren’t clearly marked. In addition, regarding buildings, I’ve encountered instances where civ-unique facilities can’t be built on specific tiles, and since there’s no option to demolish previously constructed structures, I was unable to complete certain quarters as a result.

The “one more turn” feature in Sid Meier’s Civilization VII remains captivating, and I thoroughly enjoyed large parts of my gaming sessions. Aspects like diplomacy, espionage, crises, and combat have addressed long-standing problems. On the other hand, Legacy Paths and narrative events provide fulfilling paths for progress throughout history. Regrettably, while playing Civilization VII, I found some issues during brief but crucial era transitions detracted from the experience. However, over time, the series has made significant improvements, such as the square tiles versus hexes debate, the “one unit per tile” issue, and city-planning with districts, which have ultimately led to a better gameplay experience. Despite some initial controversy or complexity, these changes have been beneficial in the long run. Although Civilization VII has a strong base, its full potential may not be realized until later in its lifespan. However, consistency is one area where the franchise excels.

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2025-02-03 17:40