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Whenever a new Civilization game rears its head, entire months are swallowed up in hazy scheming and half-remembered turn-taking. It's a tale as old as time – er, the '90s – and over the decades, Firaxis has proven itself ruinous to any strategy fan's productivity. Civilization 7, which was revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live and a follow-up gameplay deep dive stream, will likely gobble up just as much free time if not more, as for the first time in the series history, it will launch on both PC and console when it releases on February 11, 2025.
Yet, also for the first time, I truly don't know what Civilization holds in store. Civilization 7 has been introduced with a slew of massive, foundation-level changes, and it looks like an all-new beast in comparison to its predecessors. On one hand, I'm a little worried that too much is shifting – but on the other hand, I can't remember the last time I was so excited to dive into a new Civ game.
Next turn
Whether you're a returning fan or console-curious newcomer, Civilization 7 looks set to shake up so much that it will be a little alien for everyone involved. Leaders and civilizations are no longer tied together, and you'll now pick a new civilization at the beginning of each new age – Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. In the gameplay deep dive, this was demonstrated with Egypt evolving into the Songhai Empire, but how it pans out will depend on your original civ's historical connections, which leader you're using, and decisions you've made in the game leading up to that point. As designer Ed Beach tells The Guardian, each campaign will also be divided between these three ages – which will each have climactic finales – to make the whole playthrough feel more "digestible".
Part of me is worried. I'm concerned that these ages could make campaigns feel fragmented, and get in the way of Civ's one-more-turn flow. Will it feel like one cohesive story as they currently do, or a series of focused sandbox events? I'm also unsure if playing pick-and-mix with civs and leaders will lead to factions' distinct identities becoming washed-out – one of my favorite parts of the game is trying a new civ and learning to follow their unique playstyle, and I don't know if that will still work when so much will change from one campaign to the next.
Even so, I'm far from ready to sound the alarm. Change is scary, yes, but it's also healthy. Winning formulas aren't born immaculate – they take time to grow, along with the occasional missteps. Many were initially skeptical of Civilization 6's districts, but they added a depth to city-building that many fans now struggle to play older Civ games without. I'm a die-hard Civilization 5 fan, but even though I'm constantly drawn back to it for its simplicity, it was admittedly a little too shallow until expansions Brave New World and Gods & Kings introduced much-needed layers like espionage, richer cultural playstyles, and religion.
As much as some of these bigger shake-ups worry me, I've never felt so impatient while waiting for a new Civilization game. I can't wait to mix-and-match leaders to civs until I create the strongest economic-military powerhouse known to man and god, and the thought of having to react to crises – a feature I love in Civ's strategic siblings Total War: Warhammer 3 and Stellaris – delights my inner prepper. And these are the changes I'm anxious about. Sailing along rivers? Towns growing into cities? Narrative events? Gwendoline bloody Christie as the narrator? These are objectively phenomenal additions, as is the sleek UI and gorgeous new visuals – I could've spent the entirety of the deep dive gazing into Civilization 7's tasty-looking water, or watching Egypt's presumably-historically-accurate elephant battles.
So yes, I'm still a little nervous. But I have faith in the developer's creative vision, and there's so much to look forward to that I've already started counting down the days until launch (it's 174 days at time of writing, if you were wondering). Firaxis has managed to reinvent itself many times over – albeit never as dramatically as this – and that willingness to take big leaps is the reason Civilization has stayed fresh for so long. This is arguably the best strategy game series on PC, and Firaxis hasn't maintained that position for so long by churning out annual rehashes. I can't predict the future, but one thing's for certain: I've never been so keen to see how a new Civ game pans out.
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