In 4000 BC, we found a small village in Egypt. We develop new agricultural methods, build more and more roads and ornate palaces over the centuries, repel invaders from distant lands, and rise to a new era.
But then we must abandon the successful Egyptians of antiquity and choose a new people for the age of exploration, one more adapted to new challenges, like the Mongols or the Songhai of Africa.
This demographic change is the most important innovation in Civilization 7, which Firaxis Games detailed for the first time at Gamescom 2024. Unlike all previous games in the series, we do not control the fate of people until they are launched into space.
There will be three eras in one round, and after the Age of Discovery, the modern era will be the last chapter. For something to be permanent over the centuries, the leader remains constant.
This should not belong to the uninitiated, but can be freely chosen – this is also new. And whoever wants to can consign his Egyptian to history with Benjamin Franklin, who will find his true role only as one of the founders of the United States in modern times.
The rest of Civilization 7 is devoid of such revolutionary changes in terms of gameplay: we continue to build our settlements, develop new technologies, establish diplomatic relations with our neighbors or fight them in turn-based battlefields.
Civilization 7: Release and Availability
The graphics will be much more 3D, but they will still look very clear in trailers and screenshots. On the other hand, there is a slight platform revolution: the game, which was announced on February 11, 2025, will be released simultaneously on more platforms than any other title before.
Specifically, it will be released for Windows PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), macOS, Linux (Steam), PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. For now, only mobile devices have been ruled out, but there will likely be a specially modified version for Android and iOS sooner or later.
(The article was originally published on the German website golem.de.)