Brace yourselves Civ fans: Civilization 7 is going to be contentious among critics and fans

Digital Ben Franklin looking very perturbed on dark background
(Image credit: Firaxis)

Civilization 7 will be out soon on February 11, and so far our coverage has focused on explaining all the changes Firaxis has made to the first new Civ game in nearly a decade. You'll find the same kind of thing on YouTube, where previews dissect the new ages system, the difference between towns and cities, or how best to utilize the new commander units. We're overloaded with information about a game that isn't out yet, and all that buzz could give the impression that the historical 4X is primed for total critical victory—but I'm confident that it's going to be more contentious than Civ 6, Civ 5, or Civ 4.

I'm not reviewing Civ 7 myself and I don't know where our reviewer will land on it, but I have been playing a pre-release build and talking to other PC Gamer editors about it. (We can currently share details about parts of the game, but not all of it.) I like Civ 7, but along with all the praise it'll get, I expect sharp criticism, wrathful Steam reviews, and heated Reddit threads as 4X grognards and Civ lifers digest not just how different Civ 7 is, but how they feel about its differences.

As the most dramatic change, Civ 7's ages system has been the natural focal point so far. Rather than leading one civ from early history to the moon, we'll now progress through three distinct ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. The transitions between those ages are soft resets that end wars, shuffle city states, and most significantly require picking a new civ for the new age—Han China might transform into Spain, for instance. Because it alters the overall structure of a game of Civ, the ages system feels like an even more significant change than the switch from a square grid to hexes in Civ 5, or the addition of city districts in Civ 6.

Firaxis hopes that breaking up a game of Civ in this way will keep us from getting bored of mid-game micromanagement and starting over—the stats on how many people were actually finishing games of Civ 6 were apparently an eye-opener—and based on what I've played of the first two ages, I think it works as intended. The soft resets do motivate me to plow ahead when things start getting messy and sluggish. But I also miss the feeling that I'm guiding one distinct civ from ancient history to the present day in a straight line—as ahistorical as that sense of total continuity may be, it is a fun fantasy in the context of a game.

Another 4X game, Humankind, tried a similar idea a few years ago. It wasn't a bad game, but neither was it a standout hit (we're a lot more excited for Amplitude's next 4X game), and the cultural mixing-and-matching wasn't the highlight. The choice to try something that wasn't particularly successful in the last 4X game that tried it is going to raise some eyebrows, even if Firaxis has provided lots of design and historical justification for the change.

(Image credit: Firaxis)

Beyond that soon-to-be controversial change, Civ 7 is also going to have the same problem every Civ has: Those who've been playing Civilization 6 with the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions and all the other DLC may find that it feels slight. I like the new diplomacy and espionage system, which is simplified and uses one resource you start gathering immediately, but that streamlining won't necessarily please Civ 6 veterans. Other systems have been pared down, too.

I think there'll be a bit of a brawl over this one.

And although I understand why Firaxis did away with workers—training and using them was one of those rote tasks you just had to do—I miss those little guys and I'm sure others will feel the same. Some long-time Civ players still complain about the decision to end unit stacking in Civ 5, so to some degree the critical fracas I expect is just the usual new Civ discourse cycle. When you make changes to series people have been playing for over 30 years, they react.

Strategy sickos should still find plenty of complexity to experiment with in Civ 7—someone has already broken the game by stacking food and growth bonuses to absurd effect—and as for me, I'm a laid-back Civ player. What makes me happy is building the longest unbroken Great Wall I can and then admiring it, and the new environment art is the series' best yet. I've giddily mentioned the simple addition of navigable rivers in several articles, and there are probably lots of casual Civ players out there who also care more about the sandbox than the strategy.

But I also expect some fans to be seriously put off by the omissions and changes, while others will be disappointed that Firaxis didn't do something more radical. Civ 7 is quite different from past Civ games, but I haven't seen anything that 4X diehards are likely to say pushes the genre as a whole forward. So if you're anticipating Civ 7, be prepared to encounter mixed opinions and lots of declarations of "I'm sticking with Civ 6/Civ 5/Soren Johnson games!" I think there'll be a bit of a brawl over this one.

Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

Read more
A still from the Civilization 7 opening cinematic.
Sid Meier's Civilization needs to keep reinventing itself to stay relevant
Civilization 7 leader image
Civilization 7 is off to a rocky start as it receives 'Mixed' Steam reviews from its premium backers: 'Comparing this unfinished mess to the Civ 6 release is night and day'
A still from the Civilization 7 opening cinematic.
Civilization 7: Everything we know about the first new Civ game in nearly a decade
Civilization 7 review screenshot
Civilization 7 review
Confucius as he appears in Civilization 7.
Some 20 hours in, I can say that Civilization 7's age transitions are the series' most radical and disruptive mechanic yet
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Latest in Strategy
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
A massive beachhead assault in indie RTS Beyond All Reason
Over 110 players and 10,000 units clash as this free RTS celebrates its growing multiplayer scene with some of the biggest multiplayer battles ever fought
Latest in Features
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Ragnarok Battle Offline
After punishing my graphics card with Monster Hunter Wilds, I've returned to the rock-solid frame rates of my old hunting grounds: Windows XP
Ghoul in sunglasses
I'm convinced being a ghoul in Fallout 76 is the best way to vibe in West Virginia, thanks to these powerful perk cards and my new true love: Radiation
Steel Hunters hands-on
Steel Hunters is like a more tactical Titanfall, but as an extraction shooter it's undermined by boring loot
A close-up photo of an Nvidia RTX 4070, with its heatsink removed, showing the AD104 GPU die and the surrounding Micron GDDR6X VRAM chips
With Nvidia Ace taking up 1 GB of VRAM in Inzoi, Team Green will need to up its memory game if AI NPCs take off in PC gaming
While Waiting
While Waiting is a game all about chugging through life's most mundane tasks with a heaping side order of whimsy