A new age begins: Civilization 7 captures the chaos of human history in manageable doses

It’s been eight years since Civilization 6 – the most recent in a very long-running strategy game series that sees you take a nation from the prehistoric settlement of their first town through centuries of development until they reach the space age. Since 2016 it has amassed an abundance of expansions, scenario packs, new nations, modes and systems for players to master – but series producer Dennis Shirk at Firaxis Games feels that enough is enough. “It was getting too big for its britches,” he says. “It was time to make something new.”
“It’s tough to even get through the whole game,” designer Ed Beach says, singling out the key problem that Firaxis aims to solve with the forthcoming Civilization 7. While the early turns of a campaign in Civilization 6 can be swift, when you’re only deciding the actions for the population of a single town, “the number of systems, units, and entities you must manage explodes after a while,” Beach says. From turn one to victory, a single campaign can take more than 20 hours, and if you start falling behind other nations, it can be tempting to restart long before you see the endgame.
That’s why Civilization 7’s campaign has been split into three ages – Antiquity, Exploration and Modern – with each ending in a dramatic explosion of global crises. “Breaking the game into chapters lets people get through history in a more digestible fashion,” Beach says.
When you start a new campaign, you pick a leader and civilisation to govern, and direct your people in establishing their first settlements and encounters with the other peoples populating a largely undeveloped land. You’ll choose the technologies they research, the expansions they make to their cities, and whom they try to befriend or conquer. Every turn you complete or scientific, economic, cultural and military milestone you pass adds points to a meter running in the background. Once that meter hits 200, you and all the other surviving civilisations on the map will transition into the next age.
When moving from Antiquity to Exploration and later Exploration to Modern, you select a new civilisation to lead. You’ll retain all the cities you controlled before but have access to different technologies and attributes. This may seem strange, but it’s built to reflect history: think of London, which was once run by the Romans before being supplanted by the Anglo-Saxons. No empire lasts for ever, but they don’t all collapse, either.
Breaking Civilization 7 into chapters also gives campaigns a new rhythm. As you approach the end of an age, you’ll begin to face global crises. In Antiquity, for instance, you can see a proliferation of independent powers similar to the tribes that tore down Rome. “We’re not calling them barbarians any more,” Beach says. “It’s a more nuanced way to present them.” These crises multiply and strengthen until you reach the next age. “It’s like a sci-fi or fantasy series with a huge, crazy conclusion, and then the next book starts nice and calm,” Beach says. “There’s a point where getting to the next age is a relief.”
Veteran players will recognise the broad strokes of the series in Civilization 7, but this new structure is undoubtedly a foundational change, introducing moments of chaos and high drama to every campaign. Whereas before, you could be confident in your victory (or defeat) after a few hours of play, now each new age, with its climactic crises, presents many opportunities for the playing field to be upturned. “Not everybody will survive,” Shirk says. “It’s a lot of fun to play.”