Strategy games, in general, don’t really have the same pick-up-and-play ability that games from other genres do. Players can’t just hop into a match of Age of Empires, Stellaris, or Crusader Kings, play for about 30 minutes, then log out and feel totally satisfied like they would with a quick round of Call of Duty or Marvel Rivals. The gameplay loop of a strategy title is designed to last much longer, and by their nature, they require a lot more from the player than other games on the market. That’s certainly the case for Civilization.
Civilization is one of the leading names in the 4X strategy genre, which stands for “Explore, Expand, Exterminate, and Exploit.” Each match of Civ requires the player to balance all four of these key elements at once, each of which comes with countless interweaving mechanics and systems. It’s a lot for newcomers to learn, and Civilization 7 seems to be fully aware of that. Civilization 7 is arguably the most accessible mainline entry in the series to date, though there is one much earlier spinoff that might still be a newcomer’s best option.
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Civilization Revolution Might Be The Franchise’s Most Accessible Entry Still
Civilization 7 Goes Out of Its Way to Welcome Newcomers
When booting up Civilization 7 for the first time, players won’t be able to find a separate tutorial mode to teach them the basics. Instead, the player’s first match is essentially one long tutorial, with pop-ups that occur frequently, detailing every new mechanic when it’s introduced. And that’s just scratching the surface of Civilization 7‘s attempt to welcome newcomers.
Civilization 7‘s new three-Age system does a good job of breaking the game’s exceptionally long duration into much more manageable chunks, which in turn does a good job of keeping players from feeling too overwhelmed by all of the game’s overlapping systems. That all goes hand-in-hand with Civilization 7‘s Legacy Path system, which gives players clear objectives for each Age that will gradually set them up for one of the game’s four main victory types.
Civilization Revolution Offers a Completely Streamlined Experience
But while Civilization 7 is undeniably more accessible than some of its predecessors, it still loses the battle to Civilization Revolution, a 2008 spinoff designed specifically to introduce console players to the basic core formula of the mostly PC-exclusive Civilization series. Originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Civilization Revolution sees players embark on the same general gameplay loop as its mainline predecessors, albeit with some significant cutbacks in the mechanical department.
Civilization Revolution can still be played today on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S via backwards compatibility.
Practically every element of the Civ formula was paired back and streamlined in Civilization Revolution. City management is practically non-existent, with players not even needing to build on top of individual tiles. Unit management is incredibly easy as units can be bundled into armies. Advisors pop up constantly throughout a match to tell players they should or shouldn’t be doing something. Diplomacy boils down to just a handful of options that range from declaring war to purchasing technology for gold. And given that Civilization Revolution released in 2008, it obviously doesn’t have features that were added in Civ 5 and beyond, like City-States and religion.
Naturally, Civilization Revolution‘s approach to accessibility is a bit of a double-edged sword. While Civ Rev is an exceptionally approachable game for 4X and Civ series newcomers, it also isn’t quite representative of the mainline series’ gameplay loop, only teaching new players the basics of most mechanics. That’s especially true now, given how increasingly complex the series has gotten over the years. But as an entry point to the franchise, there’s no title more effective than Civilization Revolution.
Grand Strategy
Turn-Based Strategy
4X
- Released
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February 11, 2025