Sid Meier's Civilization VII Q+A: Everybody wants to rule the world!

It’s been nine years since Civilization VI. We’ve had generations of advancement in gaming tech during this time – how has that helped you in bringing Civilization VII to the world?

So many things have changed since the launch of Civilization VI – not just in terms of technological advancements, but also in our approach to what it means to bring a Civ game to the world.

When we launched Civilization VI in 2016, we were only available on PC and Mac for the first year, and then slowly brought the game to different platforms. Our first foray on console was for the Nintendo Switch in 2018, and then Xbox and PlayStation in 2019.

Throughout this time, we’re working on DLC and expansions and eventually things like New Frontier Pass – and that led to moments where releases weren’t coming out at the same time for all platforms.

With Civilization VII, we’re launching across console and PC all on day one – and we’re supporting things like cross-play and cross-progression right from the beginning. This might seem like a relatively straightforward thing, but it really is a massive undertaking and rethinking of how we approach development – so I’m excited to be able to have Civ be on all the platforms that our community is already invested and engaged in.

Gaming technology, of course, has obviously advanced in the last couple of years, with more processing power on both the console and PC side. With Civilization VII, we made it so the game scales well across all the platforms that we’re supporting, playable on a wide range of systems and specs.

We want Civilization VII to be a great experience, whether you’re running on older hardware or if you’re trying to push your new system to the max.

What would you say are the biggest improvements that you’ve brought to the game?

There are plenty of quality-of-life improvements and new systems and features added to Civilization VII, but by far the most important and consequential system we’re adding is Ages.

Ages represent a new way to play Civ, which will take some time to get used to, but that’s also part of the appeal. We want to make sure that a new Civ game feels meaningfully different from past ones, especially because so many people still actively play older Civ games.

Can you please tell us more about Ages, and what advantages it brings?

Civ games, and 4X games by extension, have a challenge where many players don’t finish their games, usually opting to restart rather than complete them. While that doesn’t stop a game from being fun, it does indicate that the late game is probably not as fun as the early game, and we set out to understand why this happens and figure out what we can do about it.

We looked at past Civ games, player data, community feedback, and we identified a few reasons why we think this is happening. One of the big reasons is scaling complexity – the concept where the more you play the game, the more complex it gets – to the point where it becomes too difficult or frustrating to manage.

Ages is our solution to this challenge – dividing the game into digestible chapters, designing deeper mechanics for each Age, reducing the importance of antiquated units and mechanics in later periods, and balancing our civs on a per-Age basis.

That last point is particularly important – veteran Civ players know how frustrating it can be to wait many hours for your civ’s unique units to become accessible, maybe only becoming available when most of the exciting things have already happened. Now, you’ll always be playing as civs at their height, making each Age feel like an epic clash of historical powers.

There’s a new art style this time out. What was the inspiration for Civilization VII’s look?

The art team developed a new look for Civilization VII called “readable realism” which, as the name suggests, leans more on the realistic side, but also prioritises the ability to easily understand what you’re looking at from a distance.

As part of this art style, the team was inspired by many things – dioramas, as well as the paintings of Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole.

How much has community feedback factored into the advancements in Civilization VII?

We absolutely love the amount of feedback we get from Civ players, and think that we have some of the smartest fans out there.

Community feedback plays a major role in helping us understand what players like and dislike, and we were thrilled to add some features they’ve been asking for – navigable rivers is a key example of this.

How involved in the development is original series creator Sid Meier these days?

Sid continues to be a great mentor to many of the folks at Firaxis, often acting as a sounding board for many of the designers.

There’s a complexity to the Civilization games not found in other genres. How have you gone about making Civilization VII accessible for those new to the series, and the 4X genre generally?

It’s a tricky balance, as what some people find complex, others may find deeply rewarding. For us at Firaxis, we benefit from having some strong design principles that Sid laid out right from the start – the one third rule, to make sure the player is having the most fun in the moment.

One of our design principles specifically for Civilization VII is the idea of depth, not complexity. Complexity can be there in the form of having to click through lots of menus, but that doesn’t necessarily make for meaningful gameplay.

Depth is all about giving you meaningful choices, whether that’s small ones like which narrative event decision you’ll go with to big ones like which civ do you want to swap into in the new Age.

Do you have any top tips for aspiring empire builders?

Don’t neglect your early military, especially if you’re playing on a harder difficulty. Study the Discipline Civic for a free Commander unit, and level that unit up by completing combat within its radius to get those powerful buffs!

Do you have a personal favourite leader to play as in-game?

I tend to pick different leaders based on what I’m planning to do, but I do find myself going to Harriet Tubman I think more than anyone else. The bonus towards starting Espionage really helps try to steer the game where I want it to go, but without having to go into open war.

But if war is declared against me, then I’ve got her other ability giving me huge amounts of War Support. It’s a great combo, plus the movement bonus for all units is always a huge help, in war or exploration.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is out February 11.