But this is also Civilization 7.
Theres a twist in the formula.
Between every age - Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern - you change civilization.
However, over my many hours, I began to adore the strategy of civilization changes.
From Romes overpowering infantry to the Mongols cavalry horde, your options vary wildly game to game.
New unique units, buildings, and ways to dominate your opponents open up step-by-step.
There are just so many choices to be made.
I cover some other game mechanics more in-depth in my preview.
Civilization 7 takes the art style of the two previous games and slams them together.
Its bright and colorful like 6, but detailed and realistic like 5.
Each Age feels like its own distinct era, with unique victory conditions.
In previous games, it often felt like the game snowballed out of your control early on.
One civilization has an excellent start and that is all it takes to ruin your chances of winning.
Civilization 7 isnt like that.
Strategies develop over the entire playthrough rather than at distinct breakpoints.
via 2K
Theres more diversity to the key in of victories you might go for.
This flexibility is achieved via the new Legacy Points system.
But even if you lose, you’ve got the option to attempt a Dark Age.
These provide interesting tactical choices which reward you with potentially powerful buffs, though they come with a downside.
Why not try for an all-out war on one of your neighbors?
It might give you the opportunity to get back into contention.
via 2K
Builders are gone, which means theres one less unit to worry about.
Cities now grow by simply clicking on empty tiles and resources.
The reinforcement system allows you to transport units across the map without having to manually move them.
via 2K
But much of the slow and repetitive grind of moving units and choosing buildings to produce is gone.
I was able to jump into a small multiplayer session and the experience was extremely smooth.
Again, this will be divisive.
The idea of my beloved Civilization turning into a fully-fledged live-service title doesnt fill me with joy either.
What on earth is happening here?
It wont be for some years.
Both Civ 5 and Civ 6 were not finished on release either.
Theres no option to turn on quick-move for units.
This does my head in completely.
Some units move so unbelievably slowly.
Theres also no option to set your scouts and units to auto-explore.
Game customisation also feels quite lacking compared to previous games.
There arent many options to change your starting bias, map throw in, or civilization distribution.
The AI is classic Civilization, so its not brilliant by any means.
Theres always the next game in ten years.
Maybe theyll get it right that time.
Thankfully, in terms of bugs and performance, Ive had very few issues.
It just seems to happen occasionally.
Ill say Civilization 7 has completely surprised me.
Instead, Ive fallen into a deep obsession with Civilization again.
I cant wait to spend hours figuring out unique strategies for each leader and civilization.
Oh, and the Mongolian theme music is the greatest Civilization music weve had to date.
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