A beefy new update for Civilization 7 is coming soon, featuring "several long-awaited features" including Large and Huge maps, new advanced game options, town specializations, and Steam Workshop support.
The full low-down for those who want to dive deep is up on the Civilization website, but here's the crash course version:
- Large and Huge map sizes, with a note that "bigger maps have bigger hardware demands," so you may notice slower turn times or performance drops while playing on them
- New Advanced Game Options including selectable crisis types, customizable AI difficulty, and the ability to bypass Civ unlocks so you can select from any civilization during age transitions
- Steam Workshop support for better mod support, with documentation, "best practices," and a few example mods made by members of the development team
- New Town Specializations will see the addition of a new Resort Town, reworked Urban Center, and "small but meaningful" tweaks to other town types
- New City-State Bonuses, Pantheons, and Beliefs: 24 new City-State bonuses, 2 new Pantheons, and a big batch of 14 new Religious Beliefs (across Founder, Reliquary, and Enhancer Beliefs)
Naturally, bug fixes, UI updates, and quality-of-life improvements are also in the works, along with "some surprises"—all will be revealed in the full patch notes, which are "coming soon."
Firaxis also touched on what's coming beyond this update, including some features targeted for July, and bigger-picture issues including overly abrupt Age transitions, lack of replayability, and a need to improve the "sense of empire identity and continuity throughout a multi-Age campaign."
"These are significant areas of the game that are incredibly important to get right, but are more complex to solve," Firaxis wrote. "Addressing this feedback in a satisfying way will take time, over the course of several updates. That said, you’ll start to see some smaller changes in July focused on end of Age countdowns and improvements to Age Transitions.
"For the longer-term and broader changes, we’ll share more detailed plans here when we’re ready. We’re invested in making these changes and empowering you to enjoy what sets Civ 7 apart."
Civilization 7 has indeed struggled since its release earlier this year. It remains stuck with a "mixed" user rating on Steam, and user reviews are not currently headed in the right direction. Player numbers are also not where they should be: Civ 7's concurrent player count on Steam is lagging well behind that of Civ 6 and, more worryingly, Civ 5. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of publisher Take-Two Interactive, said in May that the company is "really happy" with Civilization 7 overall, and that "in the fullness of time, it'll be just great," but how much time the company is willing to give it before it decides to move is the big question right now.
Firaxis said it's aiming to have the next update for Civ 7—update 1.2.2, if you're tracking these things—on June 17, but for now that remains subject to change.
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