80
Civ VII features a welcome gameplay shakeup that makes the gameplay punchier and less predictable. Its exploration of history - and how different cultures and advances have shaped today’s world - is utterly engrossing.
40
Once the one that would show the industry how things should be done, Civilization VII is an unpolished, pale imitation of what a Civilization instalment should be. There are a myriad of problems with this, but the biggest one is that the wonderful feeling of freedom for which the series was always known for is now completely gone, as players are forced to go down very specific paths in every single match. Unless there’s a very, very big sale, it would be best to stay away from this bundle of disappointment.
70
I think the group at Firaxis Games had their hearts in the right places when they tried to overhaul this series, but so much of this lands with a thud, I cannot tell people to buy this game. There's plenty of things I like, but the bad outweighs the good. The condensed age system coupled with a modern era that seems to be condensed for the sake of simplicity is a huge disappointment. There are some good ideas, but this game needed another six months to a year of cooking. I hope patches and DLC can help this game out, or else I worry about what Civilization VIII is going to look like.
8
-Quick Review-From the dawn of humanity, Civilizations have risen and fallen. Egypt, Greece, Rome, Teddy Roosevelt. Onetime the Norwegians conquered Japan by spreading the power of God. Do you all remember that one time the Aztec’s launched a rocket into space?Oh yeah, I dropped my profound inspirational rhetoric to embrace video games absurdity really quickly, didn’t I? Civilization VI was developed by Firaxis Games and released in 2016, Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy game where you suddenly lose track of time as you continue to click “Next turn” only to discover it is now 3:00 in the morning and you need to get up in a few hours to go to work. -Detailed breakdown review- Gameplay: A typical Civilization session will start with a settler and a combat unit. After you build your city and you send your warrior off to explore, then you’ll explore and build a few scouts, a building or two, then oh look you can build that wonder, oh dang I found a city state and another civilization. Then as you keep playing the other civilization will get pissed off at you because you haven’t been building a navy because we’re all landlocked on this map, then they denounce you, and sometimes they declare war on you, and when you’ve pummeled all their armies into dust and taken over all their cities, the other civilizations accuse you of being a warmonger.WELL GUESS WHAT, I GUESS THIS IS A SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY! I’LL BE THE WARMONGER MONSTER, YOU ALL KEEP ACCUSING ME OF BEING. I DIDN’T START THIS WAR BUT I SURE AS HELL WILL END IT.Sorry, I’m working through things.That’s how you end up getting hooked on a game of civilization which was only supposed to go for a few hours but now way past your bedtime.
I think the best place to start with Civilization games is talking about the win conditions. How do you win in Civilization VI? By Domination, Science, Culture, Religion, and **** Civ 6 you don’t need to take all of your enemies' cities to win, just their capital cities.Science has several steps to it, first you need to unlock the technology toward the end of the track, then you need to build a space city district and finish 3 different projects, launch a satellite, land of the moon, establish a mars colony, and then lastly launch an Exoplanet Expedition to win. (So, you’ll need high science and then the economy/production to be able to finish those projects before anyone else)I think the Cultural victory is kinda weird, it’s all about having tourists visit your civilization. It’s also the main reason I turn to violence in my play sessions because much like religion victories it’s sneaky if you’re not paying attention to it.Speaking of Religious Victory, that’s a thing now. You can win by converting other nations to your religion. But religious Victory hits differently when you make a custom religion called “You F Snakes”, and every time you spread your religion you see that text pop up on screen.Lastly, Score Victory is the game saying “Hey, why didn’t you win already? Now you’re out of turns and we’re going to tally up who was doing the best.” Conclusion: I forget how technically complex Civilization games are. It’s kind of hard to narrow down and explain key gameplay mechanics and changes between the different versions. Or maybe it’s just that I haven’t pumped in enough thousands of hours to understand the system well enough to articulate those details?…Maybe we can just split the difference and go with “Civ 6 is pretty easy to pick up and learn (adequate tutorials throughout the game), however Civ 6 takes a long time to master because of all its different systems and mechanics.”For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed playing the game. I spent more time in Civ 5 and still prefer it’s gameplay, and maybe if I ever get around to buying and playing the DLC for Civ 6 I might change my opinion in the future.Thanks for taking the time to read my review! …There's more to the review, but I'm out of Characters... If you want to know more, please check out my YouTube Video or Steam Review.
0
Fan de Civ depuis le 1, surtout le 6. Mais là, dans le 7, je ne sais pas ce que je vois, je ne sais pas ce que je fais ; Bref, aucun plaisir avec ce "truc" woke et injouable (même avec les modifs Test Of Time). Vous m'avez définitivement perdu... Je vous souhaite un déclin heureux.
Un ex-fan de Civ
1
Merci d'avoir tué le jeu. J'y jouais depuis le premier, et maintenant je l'abandonne complètement ou soit je vais retourner sur une version ultérieure.
Sid Meier's Civilization VII
Released On:
Feb 11, 2025
Metascore
Generally Favorable
79
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.9
My Score
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All Platforms
Based on 105 Critic Reviews
79
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
78
Based on 4 Critic Reviews
76
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Based on 2 Critic Reviews
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iOS (iPhone/iPad)
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
79
78% Positive
79 Reviews
79 Reviews
19% Mixed
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
3% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Feb 3, 2025
100
Civilization VII is very much the Civilization for now – deep and complex, but with an emphasis on human drama and achievement rather than the sweep of faceless units across a mathematical matrix. There are still few moments in video games as pleasing as building the Hanging Gardens, or discovering a bountiful new location for a town, or marching a phalanx of troops into a battered enemy capital. This game, which once almost cost me my job, will gracefully sneak away with hours, days and possibly months of your life. But then, nobody ever conquered the world in an afternoon.
Feb 3, 2025
90
Regardless of my minor gripes with the game, Civilization 7 is a ton of fun. The Ages system is a major game-changer and really enhances the genre in a big way. Firaxis probably could have gotten away with a safer approach with this installment, opting for just better graphics. Instead, it boldly revamped a lot of the core systems to make the entire game more streamlined for both newcomers and veterans alike. I’m glad Firaxis is still finding ways to improve a genre it has mastered over the years, and as a result, Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 has the series in its best shape yet.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.9
24% Positive
104 Ratings
104 Ratings
18% Mixed
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
59% Negative
259 Ratings
259 Ratings
Apr 3, 2025
10
Took me a while to fall in love with this as much as previous versions but I got there (60 odd hrs).
Love the new age mechanics and how they alter the experience. I’m sure they will play with these parameters further for more bespoke experiences.
Looking forward to the next age!
Mar 13, 2025
10
I've thoroughly enjoyed Civ 7. Is it Civ 5/6? Nope. But if I wanted to play Civ 6 I would load up Civ 6. It's a little different take on Civ but it's still a great and fun Civ game IMO. It runs very well on our hardware. My wife's laptop used to go into super fan mode on 6 a lot. It rarely even turns on maxed out on 7. I also enjoy the new systems and I've started caring about aspects of the game that I never cared about before. I also like the age system. I think the end game could be improved and there is some room for growth, but overall, it's a very enjoyable game and I feel like our money was well spent.
Mar 24, 2025
85
Civilization VII is well worth jumping into for newcomers, and with a bit of assistance you'll be taking over the world like a pro.
Feb 18, 2025
80
Civilization 7 brings strategic changes, a focus on multiplayer, and fewer eras. Progression is more rigid, and the interface can be confusing. Still, it remains strong in the 4X genre, despite its limitations. Although many of the new features may arrive via DLC.
Feb 3, 2025
80
Civilization VII refines its strategic depth through era transitions and civilization changes, though the most thrilling moments feel more spaced out. Despite these shifts, the game retains its signature "just one more turn" appeal—undeniably Civilization.
Feb 12, 2025
70
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII improves on areas of the franchise that would make any Civ fan excited. However, a feeling of incompleteness makes the game feel rushed and hard to engage with, leading to what may be an example of a game that was launched too soon but may become better with time.
Feb 3, 2025
40
A competent entry with some poorly executed ideas and a striking lack of personality.
Feb 27, 2025
10
The best Civ ever. City growth is exciting, glad to say goodbye to workers, new additions are clever and give depth (era endings and renewals, war support, ressource management, towns/cities). I had pleasure all along a game while I used to be bored after middle age. Some stuff to make better in time (fights, religion, influence usage) but what a good shot! I was super disappointed by Humanking, half interested in Millenia. This Civ 7 is **** good stuff! And for the first time I wanna play on divinity difficulty.
Dec 30, 2025
7
A combination of a rough launch, basic UI, dumbed down gameplay and the splitting of the game into multiple acts with sometimes convoluted victory conditions, makes this iteration of Civ a hard pill to swallow. It's not all doom and gloom though: Firaxis are committed to updating the game and there have been many improvements in the few months since release. Civ VII is heading in the right direction, but in the meantime, if you're able to appreciate the game's idiosyncrasies, there is still fun to be had.
Oct 21, 2025
7
Nice approach for civ game would be 9 if there was hotseat. I enjoy really this new approach to building cities, and mostly the fact that nuber of cities are limited so late game does not turn into 30min turn clicking same things over and over again
Aug 21, 2025
4
Civilization 7 is fundamentally broken and follows a monetization style similar to Madden/the Sims/2K Sports. Civilization 5 and 6 were games that had a solid foundation to build on. Civilization 7 gives . It is an amalgamation of game mechanics repurposed from other 4x games with little depth, uniqueness or fun gameplay. -None of the leaders or civilizations provide any variation or replayability. Every age is simply rebuild base production, culture, science or gold building for the corresponding age with maybe 1 special building or unit to provide something unique. The game was developed to evolve into civilizations that make "sense historically", yet you can pick ANY leader to rule any civilization. An inconsistent approach and obvious strategy to sell DLC. I cant play the USA in ancient times or evolve the Mississippians into the Mongols, but Harriot Tubman can lead the Khmer empire? -New age transitions are jarring and completely interrupt all immersion resulting in the game feeling like 3 mini games instead of 1 whole experience. Multiple times I was 1 or 2 turns from capturing an opponents last city only for the age to abruptly end. Hooray, you're no longer at war this age, but of course they still hate you. Worse yet the transitions were referred to as a "soft reset" when in fact its about as hard of reset there can be short of a complete reset of the game. Spend all that time building a large army in the previous age? Good-bye to those units because they will be gone. You "get" to choose, more like forced to choose, which one of your cities remain as cities in the next age. Imagine your 2nd best city in the previous age getting relegated to a town in the next age. Don't worry, if you follow the LEGACY PATH you get the "option" of keeping your cities as a cities in the next age. -Legacy paths make a linear 4x game even more linear. No longer are you allowed to approach victory in unique or rewarding ways. It is always the same generic paths. Furthermore, I will never understand the Civilization franchise's obsession with the "Exploration Age" or what people of non European descent call the Colonialism/Slavery Age. When has being forced to build colonies or collect resources half way across the map ever been a fun game mechanic. -Wonders as a whole have been downgraded. There is very little satisfaction in completing one. In fact, you are virtually guaranteed one based on your civ's bonus. It may sound nice, but it locks you into a pathway in an already very linear game. -Constant "nerfing and buffing" of elements in the game as if Civilization is a FPS, MOBA or sports sim. Civilization franchise is barely a multiplayer game, but the development is treated as it is. "Balance" is not an issue in the franchise and never has been. It's exhausting how everything changes monthly. This is not evolution, it is lazy development. Every previous generation each civilization was fundamentally different which provided unique experiences based on the selection of civilizations. This generation is vanilla. More vanilla than the UI. -Specialist are poorly incorporated and a huge missed opportunity. In previous editions there were multiple types of specialist that provide unique benefits. In Civ 4 there were 7 types of specialist. Even In Alpha Centauri a game pushing 30 years old there were 7 as well. In Civ 7 there is 1 specialist. Literally the least special and most generic specialist in the franchise. In the end, Civilization VII feels fundamentally broken, adopting a monetization model more in line with 2K Sports than with its own storied legacy. Where Civilization V and VI provided solid foundations to refine and expand upon, Civilization VII offers little hope. It comes across as a patchwork of recycled mechanics from other 4X games, lacking the depth, uniqueness, and engaging gameplay that once defined the series. With 2K’s influence overshadowing Firaxis, the franchise has lost much of what made it special.
SummaryThe award-winning strategy game franchise returns with a revolutionary new chapter. Sid Meier's Civilization VII empowers you to build the greatest empire the world has ever known! Rule as one of many legendary leaders from throughout history. Establish your civilization, construct cities and architectural wonders to expand your terri... Read More
Rated E +10for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- PC
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
- Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Switch 2
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
Initial Release Date:Feb 11, 2025
Developer:
Publisher:
