Civilization VII was released this week on Steam and all major gaming consoles, but the biggest news was that it’s also coming to Meta Quest 3 and 3S in the spring. That means you can play one of the best strategy games ever made in virtual reality.
I’ve always been a big fan of strategy games and Civilization has been one of my favourites. Civilization Revolution saw the game move from its comfortable home of PC gaming into the console world for the first time and this simplified version was particularly addictive.
More recent versions have seen the game grow more complex, though it looks like that has been scaled back again for the release of Civilization VII. My biggest question though was, how will this translate into VR?
Watching the trailer, it appears the game takes shape in a giant virtual game table. This allows you to walk around the playing surface, and lean over to move your troops or make changes to your cities. You are then joined by the side of the table by the various characters, such as the advisors and other chiefs, as you make deals or declare war.
This feels like a sensible way to manage the gameplay having tried various sim-builders that put you right into the environment and leave you dizzy. Civilization is after all a version of a strategy board game that works on turns, so placing it on a big table feels appropriate.
I’m hoping that menus don’t become overly complicated though. As this version has been designed for consoles (like Civilization Revolution and its follow-up) it should be better placed for simple operation than previous editions.
What I like about the trailer is the way the cities come alive, from the building of wonders to the blasting off of the space rocket. For me, it’s strategy games like this that could really suit VR. As much as I love a good driving game in VR and the odd first-person shooter, sometimes you want something a bit more chilled out. I can imagine losing myself in Civilization VII VR for hours – just hope the battery holds up.
While Apple has largely avoided the games route for the Vision Pro, titles like this would make sense for its headset too. The power of the Vision Pro’s mixed reality could certainly shine through here. Maybe there’s still a chance.
