'Civilization VII' review: Plenty of changes, but also some bad ones

Leading a human civilisation over thousands of years to scientific, military or even cultural dominance: that's the idea behind the "Civilization" series. First released in 1991, the seventh edition of the strategy game has now arrived.

Developer Firaxis has taken a few risks in devising the latest version but the general game principle is unchanged: Everything begins with a world map.

You start with a settler unit in the year 4000 BC and establish the capital. Little by little you discover more areas of the world map with additional units.

You have to research technologies and choose forms of government, expand cities and enter into diplomatic exchanges with other peoples.

This is how your civilisation slowly finds its place in the world. Over time, state leaders then turn to one of the four victory conditions — cultural, economic, military or scientific.

Probably the biggest change in "Civilization VII" is that you no longer commit to one people for the entire duration of a game. The game is divided into three ages: antiquity, the age of discovery and modernity.

New era, new civilisation

Each time you move into a new era you can choose a new civilisation — depending on which goals you have achieved and want to pursue next.

Each people bring different bonuses, such as their own buildings, units or research. There are also alignment trees with which a culture can be further specialised.

The constant throughout the game is the character you select at the beginning. These include historical celebrities such as Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin or Queen Isabella I of Spain. All characters bring their own advantages and disadvantages and more characters will come in future with paid expansions.

If you want to avoid war with the other leaders, you need to practice diplomacy. That system has been fundamentally revised. Instead of negotiating deals with the other civilisations to achieve certain goals as previously, you now collect influence points in each round. These points enable actions such as sanctions, agreements or espionage.

Another major change is the construction and management of cities. In the series, they have always been the production centres: resources are mined here, units are produced, and research is carried out.

In "Civilization VII" a distinction is now made between cities and communities. The latter are support branches that don't have to be managed as extensively as cities. For example, their production is automatically converted into gold, which is then available to the entire empire.

Simplification overall — but not always in a good way

In addition, there are no more craft units. If you want to improve the surrounding fields of a city with a farm or a mine, for example, you can now do so directly using the city menu.

New improvements are unlocked there as growth increases. The biggest improvements are the wonders, mega-buildings that bring great advantages but also require a large investment.

The trend towards simplification can be seen in many areas of the game and especially in the user interface (UI), which is not particularly visually appealing and has received criticism from fans and reviewers for lacking important information.

Firaxis has pledged to improve the UI as a priority as well as making improvements to the AI of the computer-controlled opponents and the crisis and diplomacy systems. At the same time, the modding community has already addressed some of the problems.

Certainly when compared to its predecessor, "Civilization VII" seems a little incomplete. Perhaps that was unavoidable: "Civ VI" was released in 2016 and was subsequently improved, restructured and expanded with numerous expansions and patches.

Buy now or wait for improvements?

Fans have been upset by the release of an incomplete game that will only be made complete by paid expansions. For example, the Britain civilisation, vital for the entire second age of the game, has to be purchased as paid content.

Whether it's worth buying the game depends on whether you like the new features, such as the three ages and the changes of civilisation. If you're willing to wait a bit longer, you'll probably get an improved UI and revised mechanics - as well as a cheaper price.

For those who can't wait: "Civilization VII" is available for PC, Mac and Linux computers and the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles. It costs upwards of around €70/$70, depending on the version. The age rating is 12 years.