Civilization VI
Discovering, decoding and developing a living world.
Civilization VI is the ultimate digital board game. More than ever in the series, the map is the soul of every opportunity and challenge. I’m playing for, with and against the board. Forests and deserts and resource-rich tundra influence the growth of my civilisation, granting it boons and burdening it with lasting weaknesses.
While Civ VI is probably the most transformative step forward for the series, its changes shouldn’t trip up longtime players too much. You still settle cities, develop tiles, train military units, wage turn-based warfare and conduct diplomacy. It mirrored my memories of past Civs closely enough that hints from the in-game advisor were all I needed.
All the same, there are so many new features that it could feel overwhelming at times. It resembles a Civ game that’s already had two or three expansions added on top. What binds everything together is the map. I have reservations about the art style but the map itself, and its cities, iron mines and festival squares, is more alive than ever. I never needed to pull up an overlay to see which tiles were being worked, for example, because the models and animations did that job for me at a glance.
Spending a lot of time staring at hills, valleys and potential pyramid locations isn’t just enjoyable and informative, however. It’s critical to getting the most out of the game. Terrain and tile types have always been a factor but they’re at the heart of nearly everything in Civ VI. With districts and wonders taking up a tile each, and being the most powerful tools I had to catapult myself toward victory, city planning became a huge focus.
There was never a time that I felt I could fill every tile with the most obviously ‘correct’ district or improvement and call it a day. The need for foresight is unending. There’s a level of trial and error that caused me some frustration in my first few races to the space age. The map also ties into the tech and civics tree. Every technology and civic has an associated mini objective that will trigger a ‘Eureka’ moment and pay off half the cost immediately.
Founding a city next to an ocean tile sped up my progress toward sailing. Building three industrial districts with factories jumped me ahead in my quest to embrace communism. These advances are often tied to having room for specific districts, access to specific resources, or contact with other civilisations. It’s not all reinvention. The Civ staples of war and diplomacy have returned, recognisable but honed to the sharpest edge. I particularly enjoyed the way AI leaders now have agendas (one public, and one that must be uncovered) that make it theoretically possible to stay on everyone’s good side if you’re willing to jump through a lot of hoops.
When I looked down upon everything that I’d built as my Mars colonists blasted off to barely snatch victory from Peter and his moustachioed cronies, every tile struck me with a sense of history. For each valley, steppe and oasis, I could tell you why I’d developed it the way I did. As the board shaped my empire and I shaped it, the history of my civilisation and my decisions accumulated and followed me right up to the threshold of the stars. And that, more than anything, is why I’ll never need another Civ game in my life besides this one.
Verdict
Sight, sound and systems harmonise to make this the liveliest, most engrossing and rewarding 4X on Earth.