New Civilization 7 update makes huge changes to Ages mechanic, adds sandbox mode

Here I am again to argue that Civilization 7, as much as it may be too radical a departure from 4X game tradition, has the potential to be very, very good. Four months since Firaxis launched the strategy sequel and its Steam user ratings are still relatively dismal. Players find that the Ages system fractures and breaks the flow of your empire building, and that certain mechanics like crises and Legacy paths are too punitive or limiting. Competition is stiff. Stellaris keeps evolving, Ara History Untold is mounting a comeback, and beloved classics like Age of Empires 2 and even Civ 5 and 6 are pulling players away from Firaxis' latest. The new Civilization 7 update, however, feels like it could mark the beginning of a turnaround.

Okay, first up, the Ages system. As it stands in Civilization 7, when you transition from the Antiquity to Exploration Age, or Exploration to Modern, you can only choose from a limited number of new civilizations that you've unlocked in your current match so far. It feels like the 4X game is steering you too severely; if this is a genre all about expansion, customization, and choice, the current iteration of Ages feels like a spiritual antithesis.

With the new update, when you start a fresh game, you can choose to have every civilization unlocked for Age transitions - when you reach a new Age, you can pick from any and all available civs in the entire game. That should allow for more experimentation, but also better roleplaying. If you want a more historically accurate game, where the Romans become, say, the Spanish, and then Mexico, you can do that now, of your own volition.

You can also disable Legacy paths, meaning that you can play Civilization 7 as a fully open-ended sandbox game without any mandated win conditions, even score victories. Crises can also be disabled, or you can handpick which ones to allow in your game and which to block. There are also new options for customizing the difficulty of AI opponents, so if you found Deity too easy, you can now up the challenge even further.

The new Civilization 7 update also introduces large and huge map types, giving you a much bigger play space than before. Firaxis warns that these will put a greater strain on your hardware, but also, large maps allow for up to ten rival civs, whereas huge lets you play with 12.

There are also 24 new city state bonuses, 14 new religious beliefs, and an extra town specialization in the form of Resort Towns, which grant gold and happiness bonuses commensurate with the number of adjacent natural tiles. Firaxis says that other most-wanted features, like auto explore, are now in the works and will arrive in a subsequent update. For now, Civ 7 update 1.2.2 has just gone live, and should be installed automatically next time you boot the game.

Whether you're a major Civ 7 fan or want something a little different, try the best grand strategy games on PC. Alternatively, speed things up a little with the best RTS games available right now.

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