Civilization VII review – your empire strikes back in glorious new detail
Civilization VII review – your empire strikes back in glorious new detail
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PC, PS4/5, Switch, Xbox; 2K Games/Fireaxis The fiendishly addictive sim returns with compelling fresh challenges across the ages. Prepare to say goodbye to a lot of free time.
Many years ago, when Civilization II was on its way, I’d just started as a writer on the video game magazine Edge. As a fan of the original Civilization, a complex turn-based strategy sim about building vast kingdoms through thousands of years of human history, I was keen to review the sequel and my editor let me. Reader, I became completely addicted. I played the game for two weeks non-stop, leaving many pages of the magazine unwritten. This earned me a very severe written warning. In short, Sid Meier’s series almost ended my career in games writing – which is perhaps why I didn’t review the following four instalments. Now it is back, and I can no longer avoid it. I must face my seductive nemesis.
In many ways, this is the game that I, and many thousands of other fans, have always known and obsessively loved: a complex, far-reaching and fascinating simulation tracking the rise of empires from ancient tribal groups to modern-day superpowers. As a player, you found towns and cities, gather resources and research new technologies, from literacy to nuclear fission, while sending out settlers, merchants and armies to expand your reach and either placate or destroy other nations. Victory can come from military might, cultural cachet or economic domination, depending on how you play and what you’re interested in. No two campaigns are ever the same.
