It’s almost time to dive back into the world of Sid Meier’s Civilization, as the franchise releases its seventh mainline entry tomorrow – or tonight depending on your plans! Civilization 7 has been long awaited, with this year marking nine years since the release of Civilization 6. Support for that game lasted a long time, making this wait feel a bit shorter, but either way it’s time to move onwards and upwards, and there’s some surprises in store from developers Firaxis Games.
We’re going to break down everything you can expect to see from Civilization 7 tomorrow, from the time it’s expected to release in your area, to what’s new in the series, what early access players have said about the game, and more! Read on, as we disperse any fog of war in your mind about what Civilization 7 has to offer.
What time does Civilization 7 release? And on what platforms?
Civilization 7 will be releasing on Steam, Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Thankfully, we already know exactly when Civilization 7 will be releasing on all the platforms it’s coming to, because they put a post on X (formerly Twitter) detailing just that! Civilization 7 will be released at midnight local time on February 11 in almost every region on almost every platform, but there are a few little things to be aware of. Firstly, the USA will be receiving the game at a few scattered times across the entire country based on your location. The game drops in the USA at midnight EST on the east coast, and at that same time across the entire nation. For example, those in San Francisco will receive the game at 9PM local time, as that’s midnight in New York.
However, the Nintendo Switch release of the game will be released at midnight local time, no matter your country or region. Therefore, a Switch player of Civilization 7 in California will need to wait until midnight local time to play, whilst a PS5 or PC player need only wait until 9PM.
Additionally, it has been possible for a few days now to already be playing Civilization 7, as those who purchased the Civilization 7 Deluxe or Founders Edition have been able to play the game since February 6, alongside all their other bonus goodies for ordering the extra expensive editions. Either way, the bottom line is all players will have access to Civilization 7 tomorrow at midnight local time, unless you’re a non-Switch player in the USA who doesn’t live in the EST timezone, where you’ll have it a few hours earlier.
What’s new and what’s returning in Civilization 7?
As you’d expect, Civilization 7 introduces new gameplay features that separate it from all other past entries and give it a unique approach to the series’ classic gameplay. The first and probably most apparent change for returning players is the new approach to how time passes. Instead of the eight eras of Civilization 6, the new title divides the game into just three key ages – antiquity, exploration and modern. Each has its own different focus on how your ability to develop your civilizations and technology progresses, and encourages the player to consider making bigger changes and adaptations as time passes, due to their being fewer times that ages change compared to the eras of the past.
This need for adaptation and evolution continues through to the new gameplay feature which caused some commotion online when it was revealed – which is civilizations being locked to certain ages, needing to change as time passes. For example, if you played as one civilization through the antiquity era, you must let go of that civilization as you reach the exploration era, and evolve it into an appropriate civilization based on either your geography or gameplay options in that moment. To be more specific, an antiquity civilization like Egypt can become Mongolia in the exploration age if that original civilization has a lot of horses, based on the real-life history of war horses using in the time of Genghis Khan. Despite your civilization changing however, you will retain the same leader character that you chose at the start of the campaign. This gameplay element has been controversial, as it’s quite a new idea that’s only been seen in fellow simulation game Humankind.
That’s not all though! There’s a wealth of smaller changes that all lead to big differences in how you play strategically as you advance through the game. For starters, builder units have been removed, meaning that tiles with potential land improvements like mines or fishing spots automatically have those improvements built upon either natural annexation or purchasing of the tile. Barbarians have been replaced with independent nations, which operate more like city-states and can even turn into them over time should they remain peaceful, along with the addition of rivers that can be navigated for new movement options and enhancing strategic gameplay. There’s a lot of changes, but these are the biggest you need to know before diving in.
What do the reviews say about Civilization 7?
So now we know what to expect in Civilization 7 alongside when we can get our hands on it – but what is the consensus on the game for those that got to play it? On the critics side of things, it currently sits at 81% on Metacritic, with 66 positive reviews, 9 mixed and just one negative. The positive reviews praise many of the bold changes to the formula, in particular the age system, alongside the cleanliness of the UI and the streamlined elements of some returning features.
However, the Steam reviews made by actual players (though note these are the ones that paid extra to get the game early with the deluxe copies) show a more critical assessment of the game. Currently, Civilization 7 has only 51% score on Steam, giving it the ‘Mixed’ label. The Steam reviews all point towards a similar note, which is the game for some feels unfinished. Reviews by gamers point out poor balancing in some areas, lacking content in others, and also criticize the streamlining as having gone too far in certain areas, such as within the UI. Similar complaints can be found in the mixed or negative reviews on Metacritic, so it seems that some may be expecting a little more than they’ll receive from Civilization 7.
What post-launch support is coming for Civilization 7?
As with past Civilization titles, it’s widely accepted that the developers over at Firaxis will likely support Civilization 7 after release with additional content, and we’ve already got some confirmation of things to come, alongside some bigger things in the form of potential leaks. Firstly, Firaxis is already releasing patches on PC to address some player feedback that came from the early access players, with 1.0.1 Patch 2 already available right now. Firaxis confirmed that this is only the first in a series of post-launch patches coming to address player feedback, so whilst the game launches in full tomorrow on February 11, the game may look a little different in just another few months time.
Alongside patches and updates to address player feedback, there was a potential leak found by Redditor ‘ManByTheRiver11’ over on the Civilization subreddit, as he found mention of an entire new age in one of the games files, known as the Atomic age. The Civilization games of the past did feature eras that went beyond modernity and into futurism, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see this feature added post-launch. Alongside the potential new age, there’s also mention of new leaders, and new civilizations, including a Pirate republic! Whether these will be free updates, paid add-ons or a mix of the two remains to be seen, but there’s plenty more to come for Civilization 7.
That’s everything you need to know in the lead up to Civilization 7. At time of publication we’re only a few hours away from launch, so whether you’re about to get in a last minute preorder or you’re reading this as the game downloads, I hope you have a great time! Still unsure of any Civilization 7 features or their mechanics? Feel free to drop a comment below and we’ll do our best to respond and help out.
