Sid Meier’s Civilization VII will include the return of Indonesia, but now referred to a name that accurately reflects the specific empire it is based on: The Majapahit Empire.
It’s time to learn to spell Majapahit properly, everyone.
The Majapahit is an Exploration Era civ, with plenty of bonuses to encourage players to play wide (more cities) or tall (more population per city) and go for cultural dominance. This includes increased Specialist limits, reduced Food maintenance for Specialists, and bonus Culture output from specialists outside the Capital.
Majapahit’s unique Civic Trees are all named after specific Javanese concepts using words that modern Indonesians, Malaysians and even folks from Singapore and Brunei who speaks languages derived from Indonesian and Malay may recognise, like Wayang, Nusantara, and Gamelan.
Curiously, the new theme for the Majapahit lacks any gamelan like how Civ V did. Judging from the comments, the Majapahit theme in Civ VII has more Sundanese rather than Javanese, the latter being the culture which the Majapahit empire is closely associated to.
Indonesia, just like the rest of Southeast Asia, has so many distinct cultures that exist within their country borders, so even cross those borders (there are minor Javanese communities in Malaysia, for example). Which is why from the perspective of someone in Southeast Asia, calling what’s clearly the Majapahit civ Indonesia seems silly. It’s like calling the Roman civ Italy, or the Norman civ as France.
In Civilization VII, the 4X strategy game is now broken up into three distinct eras, each with their own early game and endgame. Civilizations don’t carry over to other eras, so players must choose a different civ when they progress from the starting Antiquity Era to Exploration Era, and change again should they make it to the Modern Era.
The change is rather controversial among some of the game’s large fanbase, but it should stop propagating the idea that a civilization or a culture is one monolithic entity. Though for some bigger civs that did last the test of time in real life, there are representations of them across the eras as distinct civs, like how the Han and Ming dynasty can represent China in the Antiquity and Exploration eras respectively.
However, players continue to play as one leader across the eras, and the game does not restrict a leader based on their associated civ. Have Isabella lead Majapahit, if you wish.
Majapahit joins the Khmer (an Antiquity era civ) as representatives of Southeast Asia civs in Civilization VII so far. On the leader’s side, one leader from Southeast Asia is confirmed for Civ VII so far: Trưng Trắc.
There is no leader associated with the Majapahit civ yet in Civ VII. In previous games, Indonesia is represented by Gajah Mada, the “mahapatih” (more or less the prime minister) of the Majapahit and by Gitarja a.k.a. Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi, the third monarch of Majapahit which Gajah Mada serves under, in Civ VI.
Civilization VII launches on February 12, 2025 for the PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S and Switch.