Civilization 7 has a new mechanic, Ages, and a recent datamine suggests a fourth is on the way.
In Civilization 7, a new system has replaced the previous Eras of the game. In Civilization 6, there was both a World Era and an Individual Era, with the former being the median of all civilizations in play.
Now, instead of everyone progressing at their own pace by researching technology and civics, when one Age is completed, all players and opponents level up to the next one at the same time. Currently, you can play through three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern, and then the game ends just before the Cold War properly kicks off. The game currently has mixed reviews on Steam, and the devs have said they’ll keep working to improve it.
As spotted by IGN, a redditor supposedly discovered that a fourth age is on the way: Atomic. The devs themselves have also teased more Ages, so this could be legitimate. In an interview with IGN, Civilization 7 executive producer Dennis Shirk says: “You can imagine the possibilities with this, honestly. The way that the design team set it up so that each age is chockfull of systems, visuals, units, Civs, all specific to that age, and what you could do with that and where you could take it… we can’t talk about the specifics. We can just talk about it in generalities. We’re excited for where this is going to go.”
An Atomic age would likely go from the Cold War all the way to the current day, but it could go even further and throw in some sci-fi such as space travel or strange new nuclear weapons. The possibilities are endless, and it opens the game up for future Ages that speculate on what the years to come could hold.
While you wait, check out all the other best strategy games you can try right now.