Dating back to Civilization 4, the strategy series has had fantastic narrators. From Leonard Nimoy’s iconic Sputnik “Beep… beep… beep” in Civ 4, to the deep tones of William Morgan Sheppard in Civ 5 (“My horse…my horse…my kingdom for a horse!”), to the iconic lines of Sean Bean in Civilization 6 (“I like pigs”), the narrator has always been an important contributor to the atmosphere of each new entry.
Related
Why Amazon’s Acquisition Is Bad For Bond
In Amazon’s hands, James Bond can never be the cultural powerhouse he was as an independent star.
Civilization 7 features Gwendoline Christie, of Star Wars and Game Of Thrones fame, as the narrator – but she is bizarrely underutilized. Much like the previous games, she narrates every technology and civic discovery, but her voice lines are severely lacking when it comes to reading out the leader and civilization information at the beginning of the game. Compared to Sean Bean in the game directly preceding it, Christie’s introductory voice lines are extremely short.
Why Aren’t Her Voice Lines Longer?
Take the introduction for Ashoka, the World Conqueror in Civilization 7 as an example:
“The path to glory requires the guidance of a steady hand. Can Maurya, hardy as the Himalayas, become the stewards of the world?”
Beautifully read by Christie, for sure. But it’s about 200 words shorter than the intros for Civ 6, largely because Sean Bean also read more details about the history of the civilization. I’m not sure why the narration has been cut so severely in the newest game, but it’s got a quality that Civ 7’s features share: it’s all pretty phoned-in.
The Civilopedia – which has unfortunately never been a narrated part of the game – is also unusually barren in Civilization 7. This useful tool is meant to provide information directly relating to the game, but also provide some neat historical context.
When I played Civ 4 as a child, the Civilopedia was a major factor in my burgeoning love of history. I just can’t see the current iteration having the same impact on the next generation of gamers. It’s a sorry state of affairs when it feels like some of that passion for history has been lost from a game that is supposed to be all about history.
Publisher Pressure And History
A Reddit user is also posting information about the various Independent Powers in Civilization 7.
Like previous games, these independent people are based on factual historical locations – such as the Lycians, an ancient people who lived in Anatolia, renowned for their sculpture. But the game doesn’t tell you this. There’s no mention of who the Lycians actually are, not when you first meet them, and not in the Civilopedia. It’s the sort of stuff that I’d expect to find in a Civilization game, and I’m not entirely sure why it’s absent
I think it largely boils down to publisher pressure, and there’s mounting evidence that 2K pushed Civilization 7 out the door early. Redditors are hunting through the code for the game and have found many missing features, with some code actually stating “remove until working” and references to large chunks of the game that feature code around currently missing civilizations, such as Great Britain. I’m under the impression that they were told to remove the civilization from the game so that it could be sold off as DLC a month after the game’s release.
Civilization is one of my favourite series of all time. It holds a dear place in my heart, and it’s full of nostalgia. The old games were crafted with so much love and care – Civilization 4 had impressive historical detail for no other reason than it added to the experience of the game in a non-tangible way – and it’s sad to see the series tumble in the way of live-service guff and cutting corners. Gwendoline Christie has a voice and cadence made for Civilization. It’s such a shame she didn’t get to really show it off.
Related