After nearly nine years of Civilization 6 expansions and updates, it's finally Civilization 7's turn: early access started February 6, and the full launch commenced on February 11.
The new game in Sid Meier's distinguished grand strategy series is a major departure from Civ 6, restructuring our progression through history and tweaking many of the systems we've grown used to, including city planning, warfare, and diplomacy. I love Civ 7's new environment art, and the three-age structure strikes me as a smart experiment, introducing soft resets on the way from antiquity to modernity that inject some of the early game fun into the midgame. But there's a lot for Civ 5 and 6 fans to pine for, too—I expect this to be a controversial game among Civ lifers, and sure enough it's started life with "Mixed" user reviews on Steam.
We'll be covering the response to Civilization 7 and all the other launch news here with regular updates. Scroll down for info on our review, launch times, and more.
Our Civilization 7 review: 76%
Reviewer Robert Zak had plenty of criticism in our Civilization 7 review, but ultimately enjoyed Firaxis' latest 4X game, noting that its flaws exist in comparison to Civ 5 and Civ 6—two exceptionally good strategy games that have both had years of post-launch updates. In his conclusion, he wrote:
Civilization 7 feels like a reaction to the maximalism of its predecessor: sleeker and speedier, colder and less complex. Being the first game in the series to come out on consoles at the same time as PC, I can't help but feel that some of the complexity cutbacks are made with gamepad players in mind. Some of these cuts are positive, and they help the game flow better (especially, I imagine, in multiplayer), but the simplification of systems like religion, diplomacy, city-states, and espionage means that the journey through history doesn't feel quite as rich or rewarding.
It's as if Civ's gone through its own age transition—a few steps forward, a few steps back. While it's addressed some longstanding issues, there's a little too much that's been stripped away for veterans like myself to call this meaningful progress on the legendary series' Legacy Path.
Civilization 7 review round-up
Civ 7 reviews dropped on Monday, and so far there's a mix of high praise and cooler-but-still-optimistic takes (like you'll find in our review), as well as a handful of mostly negative assessments.
I think the conversation's going to get more heated once Civ 7 is available to the public and new and old fans start playing, but for now, here's a sampling of what critics are saying:
- The Guardian — 100
- Windows Central — 4.5/5
- Destructoid — 9/10
- GamesRadar — 4/5
- TechRadar — 4/5
- GameSpot — 8
- PC Gamer — 76%
- IGN — 7
- Eurogamer — 2/5
Civilization 7 launch times
Civilization 7 is launching in two phases:
- Early Access: February 5 at 9 pm Pacific (must pre-purchase Deluxe or Founders Edition)
- Full release: February 10 at 9 pm Pacific
Firaxis put together the graphic below with launch times across the globe:
Learn the Civ 7 basics while you wait for it to unlock
Civilization 7 simplifies things in some ways, but I definitely wouldn't say it's simple, and if you've been playing Civ 5 and 6 for a long time, some of the changes might throw you at first. We've got more guides coming, but for starters, here are some introductions to Civ 7's systems:
- Civilization 7 victory guide: Civ 7's win conditions are similar to those of previous games, but the new ages and Legacy Paths add some wrinkles.
- Civilization 7 age transition guide: Not everything that happens in one of the new age transitions is explained in the game. This guide will help prepare you for your first historical long jump.
- Civilization 7 settlements guide: Along with cities, you can now control towns. The way you grow and build up these settlements has also changed (RIP Workers).
Our Civilization 7 performance testing
Our Civilization 7 performance analysis was done before the launch patch, and if things improve a ton in the retail version we'll reassess it, but our initial verdict is that the frame rates aren't as steady as we'd like. As is often the case with strategy games, expect things to slow down in the late game, especially if you have an older CPU—those AI turns can still make 'em chug.
Civ 7 will run on a variety of systems, though, and is Steam Deck Verified. Careful, though: The ability to take the 'one more turn' experience to bed with you sounds dangerous.
The graph below shows our AI benchmarking—see the full performance guide for more.
Civilization 7 early access launches, first user reviews in
The Civ 7 early access period—the annoying FOMO-upselling-tactic kind, not a beta—has begun for those who pre-purchased the $100 Deluxe Edition or $130 Founders Edition.
That means that the first Steam user reviews are popping up. I don't think we can draw too many conclusions about what the overall reception will look like from these hip-fired early impressions, but, as predicted, it's contentious—the first 400 or so user reviews have averaged out to Steam's "Mostly Negative" rating.
Civilization 7 earns an early 'Mixed' review rating on Steam
After 11 hours, Civ 7's Steam user review average is sitting at "Mixed," with just 41% of nearly 2,600 reviews coming in as positive. The main complaints so far are related to the new entry's UI, with critical reviewers describing the interface as feeling unfinished and frustratingly unintuitive. That said, despite our prerelease predictions that Civ 7's changes to age progression would prove decisive, even negative reviews are praising the new mechanics as interesting updates to the Civ formula.
This is still the early access period, so only those who've paid $100 or more for one of the special editions has access, and is able to leave a review. We'll see what happens when February 11 comes around and the gates open fully.
Firaxis is "aware of and looking into feedback" about Civ 7 UI woes
As early Civ 7 reviews continue to be defined by interface frustrations, with some players declaring the "UI is so bad I can't sleep anymore," Firaxis has already acknowledged the UI criticisms from its earliest player cohort.
"We are aware of and looking into feedback on the game's UI," Firaxis said in replies to at least three Steam user reviews. "We're continuing to make improvements to Civilization 7, and appreciate you taking the time to drop your feedback."
Stock replies are only so reassuring, but it's nice to see Firaxis getting out ahead of the issue early. The studio's already pushing out updates—a patch hit yesterday with minimap and City Detail screen adjustments, for example—so it's possible some of those interface frustrations will be alleviated before long.
How do you feel about Civ 7's "readable realism" artwork?
I didn't care much for Civ 6's bright colors and smooth-looking surfaces, and when I pointed out that common criticism to Civ 7 senior art director Jason Johnson during an interview for a magazine feature last year, he informed me that he had also been Civ 6's lead environment artist, and that he still loves Civ 6's art. If I grinned stupidly in that moment, it was only partly due to embarrassment for not having looked up his previous credits—I actually really enjoyed the reminder that we really do contain multitudes. Multitudes of ways to make fun little guys and trains and things, at least. I really like Civ 7's unit and environment art.
They're calling the style "readable realism" at Firaxis, and it takes miniatures and dioramas as primary inspirations. That's not exactly a big leap for what's essentially a boardgame on the computer, but it does go beyond that obvious connection for Johnson, who told me he's "obsessed" with miniatures.
"I'm an only child," the senior art director said, "so I would spend all this time in museums looking at dioramas and just staring at them and telling a story: What was going on in this non-animated scene?"
Civ 7 players are already meme-ing their favorite leader/civilization combos
god emperor benjamin franklin of the mongols from r/civ
Civilization 7 breaks from series tradition by breaking apart leaders and their respective civs. Because the new age structure has you pick a new civilization during the transition into each era, you might have a game where Machiavelli is the pharaoh of Egypt, then the Abbasid caliph, and finally the king of Buganda.
Unsurprisingly, early access players are finding a lot of joy in the unexpected pairings, like in this fanart from redditor feralsilverine depicting God Emperor Benjamin Franklin of the Mongols.
Civilization 7 is rolling out across the globe now...
Civilization 7 has been available since last week for those who preordered the pricey Deluxe or Founders Editions, while the full launch for the regular $70 version is Tuesday, February 11 (also pricey by the old standards, but that's the baseline these days).
If you're on the US west coast, Civilization 7 releases at 9 pm Pacific tonight, February 10. Elsewhere, it's out at midnight in the local time zone—that means the launch has already happened in Japan, Australia, and China, although it's the middle of the night, so presumably only Sid Meier's biggest fans have fired it up so far.
New patch fixes some UI problems, tweaks AI
Firaxis has put out a quick patch that aims to address some of the complaints in the currently "Mixed" Civilization 7 Steam reviews, where early access players have especially taken issue with the interface. Patch 2 fixes a number of bugs related to the UI, and also makes some gameplay and AI tweaks—you can see the full patch notes on Steam.
The update is just for the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Civilization 7—patching console versions tends to take longer—which means that the PC and console versions have now diverged and PC/console crossplay has been temporarily turned off as a result. It'll come back once there's version parity between platforms, and in the meantime PC/PC and console/console multiplayer should work fine.
Firaxis says to expect "larger, more substantive updates" in the future.
Civilization 7 global launch completed
Civ 7 should be available around the world now, and is rising up Steam's top concurrent players chart. If you're downloading it now, you could pass the time with our intro guides, which explain some of the big changes:
- Civilization 7 victory guide: Civ 7's win conditions are similar to those of previous games, but the new ages and Legacy Paths add some wrinkles.
- Civilization 7 age transition guide: Not everything that happens in one of the new age transitions is explained in the game. This guide will help prepare you for your first historical long jump.
- Civilization 7 settlements guide: Along with cities, you can now control towns. The way you grow and build up these settlements has also changed (RIP Workers).
- Civilization 7 influence guide: How the new Influence currency works.
Civ 7 scouts have really good eyesight
You can see distant land civs in the antiquity age, but can't meet them despite how much waving and shouting you do! lol from r/civ
One of the consequences of Civilization 7's new ages system is that voyages to "distant lands"—other continents, more or less—can't be accomplished until you get out of Antiquity and start the Exploration Age. But as the Reddit poster above discovered, just because you can't cross the ocean doesn't mean you can't see across the ocean.
