Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, the next entry to the long-running historical 4X strategy game, now has a firm release date.
In a game of Civilization, players take control of a leader of a civilisation with the simple task of building a civilisation that can last the test of time. Players can pursue victory by various means including being the first to complete the Space Race or eliminating other civilsations via military dominance. Along the way, players will research new technology, adopt new civics, found and develop cities, pursue diplomatic relations among other rival civs also competing to win the game and more.
Revealed during Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live, Civilization VII showed its first look of gameplay. The game map is even more detailed than ever with weather effects and evermore so sprawling cities as well more fleshed out units that comes in play during war times.
The art style for the leaders isn’t overly “cartoony”, a point of contention for Civilization VI among fans. They are fairly animated, still have close-to-realistic facial proportions.
A longer, deep dive video showcased the many swooping changes this iteration of the historical 4X game is taking on. Among the major changes is the split of timeline into three distinct ages each with a specific pool of civilizations to play as and the ability to pick a leader and pair them with any available civilization.
For the first time for the series, Civilization VII will simultaneously launch on PC (and Mac and Linux) alongside the console versions. For its multiplayer mode, cross-play between console and PC is available.
Publisher 2K and developer Firaxis also shared that Gwendoline Christie will be the narrator for Civilization VII. Christie joins the likes of Sean Bean, William Morgan Sheppard and Leonard Nimoy as the big celebrity that has lent their voice that will be heard on the start of a game as well as the quotes that appear upon researching technology.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII releases on February 11, 2025 for the PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Mac and Linux (Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.