Different enough from Civ 5 to not feel like an add-on, but still similar enough to make it feel familiar to Civ gamers. So with that in mind Different enough from Civ 5 to not feel like an add-on, but still similar enough to make it feel familiar to Civ gamers. So with that in mind if you like Civ 5 you will probably like this, and if you don't then you probably won't.



I won't list every change and the things I think are better or worse in this game but here are just a few. And I will be comparing this to both Civ 5 and Alpha Centauri, you have been warned.



Tech Web feels fun to explore. In Civ 5 by the end you had everything, all the techs fell in to place. In Beyond they don't. You have to make hard choices about what tech you want and what you don't. I feel this gave more flavour to my civilisation.



Alien Life Forms are and aren't barbarians at the same time. In Civ 5 Barbarians were an aggressive annoyance, they turned up and tried to kidnap your workers and wreck your tile improvements. In Beyond the aliens are the dominant species, you are the aggressive annoyance turning up trying to steal the resources from their nests. And how you treat these native inhabitants determines if they decide to try and crush you out of existence.



Units I felt were a bit weak in terms of their variety. I knew that I wasn't going to get an Alpha Centauri level of customising but I still feel more could have been done.



Quests are enjoyable as they give some sense of your civilisation making decisions and shaping the way it wants to be. However sometimes I felt that these decisions came a little to often.



Apart from that, Virtues are the new Social policies, Affinities are the new ideology, and the orbital layer works a bit like great people providing buffs to whole areas or temporary enhancements.



Overall I am loving this game, it's not perfect, but I am sure I will once again sink hundreds of hours in to a Civilization game. … Expand