Civ 7 is finally here, and you can play a week earlier than everyone else by picking up the Deluxe or Founders Edition of the game for early access. If you're a Civilzation series fan, this week is a big one, with the Civ 7 early access release giving players a head start to dive into the game over the weekend. You'd have to be a big fan to be shelling out the extra cash needed to play early, with both the Deluxe And Founders Edition letting you play ahead of the official launch next week on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox (last and current consoles).
It's been a long time since the last mainline entry, and as you might expect, after such a big break, Firaxis Games has made some changes to how things work with Civ 7. The most notable changes are how Ages and Leaders work, which aim to tackle the problems with the late-game, that is says is "just not that fun to play" in a dev diary delving into the introduction of Ages. You can now mix and match Ages and Leaders, with the criteria for the figures themselves expanding to "great figures of philosophy, human rights, science and more" which you can read more about in the dev diary on Leaders.
Ahead of the Civ 7 early access release, Firaxis has already released an update for the game with patch 1.0.1, which includes an improved minimap and quality-of-life features, which you can get up to speed with on the official blog, so you know what lies in store before you hop in. If you're keen to play this week, ahead of the official launch, here's everything you need to know about the Civ 7 early access release, including how to get in, and what time you can start playing.
The Civ 7 early access release is set for Thursday, February 6 on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation as shared on the game's official Twitter account. Preload is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, but if you're a PC player, you're out of luck as there's no preload for you. You'll need 20GB free space on PC, between 15-20GB on PlayStation and Xbox, and 5GB on Nintendo Switch.
The exact Civ 7 early access release time depends on your platform time zone, so just scroll down to find out when it launches for you. Monday, February 10. Tuesday, February 11. The Civ 7 early access release time on console is 12am local time in your region unless you're in the US, where the release time is 12am EST. Here's how the Civ 7 early access release time works out for US players:. First off, if you've pre-ordered the standard edition of the game, you'll be rewarded with the Tecumseh and Shawnee Pack, but you won't be able to play early. To get Civ 7 early access, you need to pick up the Deluxe or Founders Edition of the game. Here's how much they cost and the bonuses they come with:.
You get Civ 7 early access with the Deluxe Edition as well as all of the perks below for £89.99 / $99.99 / AU$159.95:. The Founders Edition also grants Civ 7 early access, all of the Deluxe Edition perks as well as additional bonuses for £119.99 / $129.99 / AU$199.95:. The standard edition of the game will set you back £59.99 / $69.99 / AU$119.95 so if Civ 7 early access plus the slew of bonuses is worth the extra cash, you can start playing this week.
