Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
Providing big historical moments and crises.
Continuing the last couple of Civ games’ predilection for ‘unstacking’, Civilization VI: Rise and Fall has peeled apart more of the series’ fundamental systems. This time, it’s the march through history itself. It’s more dynamic and messy, with civs rising and falling as they enter new eras and experience Golden and Dark Ages. Yet Civilization has rarely felt this structured or cohesive.
Eras divide Civilization, representing a civ’s technological and cultural level. In Rise and Fall, the system has been spun out into two types of era: player eras and game eras. Player eras are the mark of a civ’s individual progress, while game eras start and end at predetermined moments and affect every civ. The result is that you’ll still be rewarded for investing in science and planning ahead, but if you don’t, there’s going to be a fixed point where the new era officially begins, so you’re not going to fall too far behind. It’s a nudge towards parity that keeps things interesting without diminishing the rewards.
It’s with the inclusion of Golden and Dark Ages that things get a bit messier. A Dark Age introduces new challenges. If you’ve not expanded too quickly and your cities are pretty loyal, then you’ll likely make it through unscathed. If you’ve done well and gathered enough era points during the Dark Age, you’ll enter a Heroic Age.
Large-scale international emergencies are new co-op events that task civs with banding together to solve a crisis, targeting another empire.
While the objectives are simple and the AI isn’t a great team player, it’s an effective way to force civs into conflicts, making the world a bit livelier in the process. Perhaps more importantly, it turns what could have been overlooked moments into significant events. We wouldn’t have remembered these crises in any other game, honestly.
That’s what lies at the core of Rise and Fall. It’s an expansion that homes in on single moments or periods and gives them greater impact. It shakes things up, so it won’t convert everyone, but the added dynamism is a massive boon for a series where the pace can be predictable.
Verdict
A tumultuous expansion that finally introduces golf to Civilization.