I not too long ago had the chance to go to Firaxis Video games studio in Sparks, Maryland, the place I acquired to study extra in regards to the studio behind the monumental turn-based technique franchise in addition to get a couple of hours of hands-on time with the upcoming Sid Meier’s Civilization VII. It was nice to see such a passionate group of builders pridefully showcase the following installment within the beloved franchise. As a Maryland native myself, I’ve at all times felt like Maryland recreation studios merely do issues in a different way, and in a great way. And my roughly three hours of hands-on playtime with Civilization 7 solely furthered that sentiment.

Historical past Is available in Layers

Artistic Director of the Civilization franchise, Ed Seaside, has been at Firaxis Video games for over a decade. He kicked off our hands-on preview by telling us in regards to the imaginative and prescient for Civilization 7. As a substitute of simply making “one other Civilization” recreation, the group as a substitute selected a brand new ingredient of focus: Historical past Is available in Layers. Seaside described this imaginative and prescient as akin to what we see in historic areas all through the world. As new empires laid declare to numerous settlements and cities all through the world, they might usually merely construct over what was once there, nonetheless abandoning remnants and glimpses of the previous whereas changing it with new concepts and applied sciences.

To create that very same ingredient of constructing on the previous—historical past in layers—Civilization 7 options an all-new three-stage Age system: The Age of Antiquity, the Age of Exploration, and The Fashionable Age. A full marketing campaign in Civilization 7 will broaden throughout these three ages, permitting the participant to alter their Civilization at first of every new wave. Oh, and for the primary time ever, gamers will be capable to select their Chief individually from their Civilization at first of the sport. That’s proper, you possibly can lead an Egyptian empire as Benjamin Franklin.

The 4 basic Legacy paths will stay all through every Age. That’s Science, Economics, Tradition, and Army, that are the victory situations historically accessible in Civilization. The alternatives and actions you make in every Age will resolve which civilization you possibly can change to as you transition into every Age. So whilst you could begin off as a tradition or science-focused civilization, if you end up participating in loads of wars as a consequence of pesky neighbors chances are you’ll find yourself unlocking a extra war-driven civilization if you attain the following Age.

It virtually feels as if every Age can be form of its personal contained recreation inside an even bigger overarching one. That being mentioned, in my restricted hands-on time I solely acquired to expertise the Antiquity Age, so I by no means acquired to see what civilizations I unlocked based mostly on my actions.

Sprawling cities

The Historical past in Layers mantra of Civilization 7 actually shines via the development of your cities as you advance via the sport and construct up your metropolis. Builders are now not a unit in Civilization, nor are the pre-defined districts you may construct in Civilization 6. As a substitute, you’ll have Rural areas that characteristic the enhancements you make to the close by metropolis, whereas City districts let you construct as much as two buildings per hex.

After all, the visuals of town will change as you plop down these new entities, molding your metropolis into its final imaginative and prescient as you proceed so as to add and construct upon it because it spreads outwards. As a result of my hands-on time solely explored the Antiquity age, I didn’t get to see what kind of adjustments would occur when shifting in the direction of a totally completely different civilization, however I can solely think about it would additional implement Historical past in Layers.

One other massive change that I truly discovered actually promising is that you could select to maintain a City as a City, relatively than progressing it into an precise Metropolis. Doing so means that you can give the city a particular specialization, granting it buffs whereas specializing in a particular job. For instance, a Mining City will get manufacturing bonuses whereas a Farming City will get bonuses for meals manufacturing and development.

You’ll be able to then use these cities, and the Luxurious Sources surrounding them, to funnel again into your metropolis and increase it even additional. It’s a singular gameplay loop on increasing which is a giant a part of Civilization, and I’m excited to see what gamers who’re significantly better than me find yourself doing as soon as they’ve gotten a maintain of the brand new system.

Fight is all about Commanders

One other massive change is how Army Leaders, and extra importantly expertise from fight, work in Civilization 7. In earlier entries within the franchise, every unit gained expertise after fight. You would then prepare or buy numerous generals that would offer buffs when close to sure models, however they might not achieve expertise.

In Civilization 7, fundamental fight models now not get expertise. As a substitute, Commanders achieve expertise based mostly on the fight carried out by models round them. Via expertise, they’ll stage up and achieve entry to buffs which might be additionally then utilized to the models round them.

Moreover, you possibly can hyperlink or stack models right into a Commander, transfer them throughout the battlefield as one single entity, after which deploy the models as needed on the frontline. It’s truly a large change to how fight will work in Civilization, and as somebody who’s a extra informal enjoyer of the collection, I discovered the change to be a superb one each from a quality-of-life perspective and in addition when it comes to gameplay.

I usually usually go extra into Tradition, Science, or Economics after I play Civilization, just because I’ve by no means been an enormous fan of the fight. However within the marketing campaign I performed, regardless of selecting an financial culture-favored civilization, I discovered myself actually stepping into the fight and for certain would have transitioned in the direction of a military-favored civilization had I reached the following age.

A Promising Step Ahead

With a recreation like Civilization, three hours is actually not sufficient time to get a full grasp of the sport. In reality, for an informal Civ participant like myself, I might need solely been midway or so into the primary of the three Ages. However the programs and parts I did get to expertise—the brand new fight expertise and Commanders, mixing Civilizations with Leaders, specializing Cities, or turning them into cities—all felt like strong significant adjustments to the Civilization franchise.

Ultimately, that is nonetheless Civilization. The identical historic immersion and strategic depth we’ve come to count on from the turn-based technique recreation throughout its many many hexagons are nonetheless very a lot entrance and middle. However as a substitute of simply pushing out a prettier Civ recreation, Firaxis Video games appears to be strolling the proper stability of including new, impactful options and programs whereas being cautious to not disrupt the Civilization formulation that many have come to like over the a long time. This was actually a hands-on expertise that left me pining for extra, and I can’t wait to attempt some loopy Civilization and Chief combos to rewrite historical past in some enjoyable methods.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is ready to launch on February 11, 2025 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Collection X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Change.

Observe: I additionally had the chance to interview a few builders from the Civilization 7 group at Firaxis which can be going stay tomorrow. I requested some growth questions, in addition to some enjoyable ones like their favourite chief/civ combos, so hold an eye fixed out for that!