In an attempt to clean up some of the more tedious parts of Civilization, Firaxis has been blamed by some reviewers of making Civ 7 too simplistic. This mostly comes down to the removal of workers as a key part of micromanagement, but also a simplification of the UI, city management, and unit command. And yet, Civilization 7 is one of the most complex games we’ve ever had in the series – especially considering this is still early days, without the years of DLC the previous games received.
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Civilization 7 Is More About Multiplayer Than Ever Before
Many of the changes to Civilization 7 seem geared towards multiplayer, and that’s great for the health of the game.
Most of the changes around simplification have been made to make the game more streamlined. The removal of workers might annoy the micromanagers out there, but I’ve never been happier not to click a thousand extra times per game. Where it counts, the decision on where to place your districts in your cities has instead been made even more complicated, with Firaxis doubling down on adjacency bonuses, a new mechanic called overbuilding, and city planning with more forethought than ever before. You often have to make decisions in the Antiquity Age that will impact a specific district from a specific civilization you haven’t even unlocked yet, much later in the game.
Streamlining
Army management is much more streamlined, with the game returning to an old mechanic from Civ 4 that allows you to stack multiple units on top of an Army Commander. You no longer need to move each unit individually. Rather than creating a deathstack of doom, the Army Commanders introduce a micromanagement of their own, the sort of skill expression that has already made combat more exciting than in previous games. Using an Army Commander to the best of your ability can be the make or break of a war, especially in multiplayer (the AI still isn’t too smart when it comes to its units).
When it comes to the gameplay loop, the Ages system also provides a streamlined experience. It’s received a lot of flak online, but it’s probably one of the most innovative systems Civilization has received in a long time. Each section of the game – Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern – breaks the game down into three manageable chunks. I’ve had so much fun in multiplayer lobbies where we just choose to play the Antiquity Age. It gives you that rounded experience of a full game of Civilization in a third of the time. Streamlined.
Rather than make the game more simplistic, the Ages system introduces so many more strategic choices when it comes to civilization choice between ages. You can modify your empire on the fly, gearing towards a different playstyle that might completely change your game. I agree that this area still needs some work, particularly when it comes to how much information the game provides about the state of your empire between age transitions, and just exactly what changes, which is where simplification has gone too far.
I can’t defend the UI in its current state. It feels rushed, unfinished, and tacky. The homogenous grey of the menus and tooltips is also quite depressing, a far cry from the gorgeous white and gold promo art we got. There’s so much information missing from tooltips as well, the sort of details that Civilization players crave: details about yields, upgrades, and adjacency. Much of this information is hidden away in the Civilopedia, or just not included at all. Modders have already started to tweak this, but we won’t have proper mod support through Steam for a few weeks, at least.
I’ve already written about the lack of customization options in Civ 7, so I won’t go into so much detail here, but they’re pretty poor compared to previous games. There’s also no option for quick move or quick combat, and no way to set your scouts to auto-explore. These feel like oversights rather than deliberate design choices, and I imagine we’ll see these added in upcoming patches.
In its current state, Civilization 7 feels unfinished. But it’s an excellent foundation. Most importantly, Firaxis has achieved one of its standout goals: make players actually finish games of Civ. I’ve finished more Civ games in the past month than I have done in the last ten years.
- Released
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February 11, 2025
- ESRB
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