Game Details Developer: Firaxis

Publisher: 2K Games

Platform: Windows, Mac

Release Date: October 21, 2016

Price: $59.99 (standard edition) / $69.99 (digital deluxe edition)

ESRB Rating: E-10+ for Everyone 10 and older

Links: Steam | Official web site Firaxis: 2K Games: Windows, MacOctober 21, 2016: $59.99 (standard edition) / $69.99 (digital deluxe edition): E-10+ for Everyone 10 and older

This time it’s not just Civilization’s version of history that’s virtually spotless and free of pesky complications. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a nearly spotless game—freer of the menu-diving, micromanagement, and spreadsheet reading than just about any turn-based 4X strategy game I've yet played.

If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating ahistorical societies, but were always too afraid of numbers to give Civ a shot, there’s never been a better time to dive in. Newcomers will also be spared the trouble of un-learning all the franchise lessons that Civ 6 throws out of the series’ window. Civ 6 is both the easiest-on-the-eyes Civilization yet and the series’ biggest departure from tradition (among the mainline “numbered” games, that is).

But Civ’s newfound cleanliness comes at a cost that’s not immediately obvious. While most new mechanics are easy to spot, established Civ conventions aren’t well explained this time around. That’s thanks in part to a greatly reduced “Advisor” system. In previous Civ games, AI advisors for military, economics, and culture popped up to give you detailed advice on what step to take next and why.

The concept is still there in Civ 6, but the uniquely themed talking heads have been replaced by just one. As before, her icon appears next to suggested projects. Yet she gives no details on why she’s suggesting you should build a Granary, Settler, Warrior, or what-have-you. You’re forced to take an educated guess.

Objective objectives

The one excuse for less specific instruction—besides Firaxis possibly wanting to let go of players’ hands—might be the inclusion of “Eureka” and “Inspiration” objectives. These aren’t super well-explained themselves, but once you do notice them and understand how they work, they provide a good baseline for what you should be doing at a given level of development.

If you want to research Archery, for instance, killing an enemy with a less advanced "Slinger" unit puts you on the research path to a basic military and edges you toward a combat-focused play style. It also triggers the “Eureka” moment for Archery, which cuts its research time in half. Similar objectives exist for every bit of tech in the game, as well as all the cultural advancements (for those, the sub-goals are branded as “Inspiration” instead).

These work as a replacement for Advisors to ease new players into the basic flow of Civilization, and they also suggest logical paths forward. Yet Eurekas and Inspirations are static; the objectives for each development stay the same between games, Civ 6 gives no indication of which specific Eureka or Inspiration might be wise to pursue next. That does little for veteran players who liked to lean on Civ 5’s minor hand-holding when they otherwise didn’t know what to do next.

Together, though, I think the research objectives and low-impact advice blend to make a smoother, less paint-by-numbers method of nudging players in the right direction. They do take getting used to, however.

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In the process of writing an entirely new way to teach players, Firaxis might have skimped on some of the in-game lessons. Returning players ought to know—or at least be able to guess—a lot of little details that have been left unaddressed at the game's top level for newcomers.

For example, “destroying” your own units earns you some of that currency back. Why Civ 6 doesn’t call this process “selling” instead of “destroying” eludes me, and I’ve played Civilization before. I can only imagine that someone who isn’t familiar with the game will sit on units long past their prime, missing out on a useful influx of gold in dire times.























Then there are “amenities,” which... well, ask me anything about amenities, and I’ll tell you that I still don't know how amenities affect the growth and happiness of my cities (and the game isn’t eager to tell me).

Those are just two of many similar, niggling faults with the way Civ 6 explains itself. It’s as if, in the quest for making the most attractive, minimalist Civilization yet, the developers were overzealous in scraping away “unnecessary” information that turned out to be necessary after all.

All that paring down does succeed in creating an attractive package, though. The newer, cleaner look to Civilization VI does the game nothing but favors, aesthetically. The game’s “fog of war” manifests as an old-timey map on yellowing parchment of the “here there be dragons” variety. The map starts off blank, naturally, but as you discover new details, it draws them in 3D. When they leave your line of sight, the details remain, but now they’re inked in thin, delicate quillwork that leans into the dissolve of historical aesthetics.

Civ 6’s soundtrack is similarly seamless. Each track folds over the next as you progress through the ages, and each one represents different styles, eras, and cultures. The tracks are like pages in a book—all one part of the whole after another and another. Not since Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge has video game music scaled such an interactive peak!

Couldn’t find it with a map...

Then there’s the enemy AI, which is not so good. This time around, developer Firaxis opted to give each civ leader an agenda that plays to their unique strengths. Queen Victoria is all about that base building. Her Majesty is intent on colonizing new continents, even if those continents are already stacked with opposing cities and her time would be better spent elsewhere.

That gives you, the player, a massive advantage, since you can adapt to changing politics, resources, and information on the fly, secure that you know the central drive of the opposition. Civilization VI’s way of balancing this advantage is by painting a huge target on your back. Failing to meet a faction’s specific desires or infringing on their agenda the slightest bit is an instant trigger for war (at least for every difficulty level above the midpoint).

The AI’s aggressive posture isn’t a huge hindrance, though. That’s because, in my experience, enemy civs don't know how war works in their own game. They send cavalry, cannon, and carpet bombers into my territory to loiter until they soak up enough damage to convince HQ that it’s not worth the effort. Then the offending official offers me gold to accept a peace treaty. Hooray! I win!