Civilization VI to arrive this October
Civilization might have just been Beyond Earth, but it's now returning to our little blue planet. According to a recent official announcement, Sid Meier's Civilization VI is set to arrive this fall on October 21st, and it will have a few very interesting changes. At the moment, the game only works on Windows-powered PC and it can already be pre-ordered on Steam, Amazon, GameStop or 2K's shop. In case you were wondering, the regular edition costs $59.99.
For those of you who have never heard about this franchise, Sid Meier's Civilization is one of the longest-running turn-based strategy franchises in the world. The first game of this highly successful series was released all the way back in 1991. As far as gameplay goes, in regular games the player takes control of a civilization starting in the year 4000 BC, then develops it over time by learning new technologies, creating and expanding cities, and building an army. In order to be victorious, your civilization must either conquer the entire world (using its army, culture or diplomacy) or start colonizing other planets.
Civilization VI
In case you want to find out what's new in Civilization VI, the first thing that caught my eye is the fact that cities now actually expand on the map using multiple tiles thus allowing you to custom build your cities and take full advantage of the terrain. Another interesting change is that in some cases you can now group up units in the same tile and embed them together. You can even combine multiple units of the same kind to create more powerful "Corps" units. Additionally, the tutorial has been improved, multiplayer games are now easier to complete in one session, and you can now unlock technology boosts by exploring the map or developing your land.
Finally, the announcement also states that the diplomacy will now evolve over time, from basic contacts between primitive tribes to the advanced agreements of today's reality. As far as I'm concerned, the main reason why I didn't buy Civilization V is that its diplomacy isn't only terrible, but actually annoying, and this has been the biggest problem for the entire series. However, if the developers finally manage to create a decent AI that can actually assess the situations it's in, and act accordingly, Civilization VI might just be the greatest RTS game there is.
If PC games are one of your hobbies, you might also enjoy reading some of our older stories such as: "Will movie games ever be good?" or "Best Episodic Games".
