Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Demo

It’s impossible to talk about the 4x genre without mentioning the Civilization series, because it practically helped define this niche. Obviously, there were many problems with the franchise over the years, but it also had the right elements to keep players engaged for hundreds of hours and create lifetime fans. A sixth episode was released a while ago, and it appears to feature a classic approach to the whole thing, much like the original releases.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI comes with a set of fresh ideas to dazzle players, but unfortunately it also has a few issues that make it very difficult to enjoy yourself sometimes. In essence, this is still the Civilization we all know and love, but some of the mechanics are very poorly integrated, and they really hurt the overall experience. The worst part is that you cannot even ignore them most of the time, so you are stuck wishing for the developers to just fix their mistakes.

As with the rest of the episodes in the series, you start by building a capital and working the land in order to extract resources. You can choose from multiple play speeds, in case you want a quick match, or the kind of experience that spans over days or even weeks of play time. The bad part is that by adjusting the play speed you just increase the build and research times, and sometimes this leads to issues like training obsolete units.

The AI works pretty hard on giving you a hard time, but it’s also coded in a way that makes it almost impossible to stay out of trouble if you just want to avoid conflict. Every little action can cause a nearby civilization to declare war on you, and defending yourself always leads to being considered a warmonger. Obviously, this affects your ability to trade or maintain good relations with the other civilizations, all because you had to defend your lands from invaders.

On the other hand, there are great elements in the mix as well, including new features that make each playthrough a lot of fun. Cities can span over multiple tiles now, so it’s a lot more satisfying to watch your empire grow and expand around the map. It’s easier to customize your units and make them a lot better at tackling a specific type of enemy unit, and you can also combine them to increase their effectiveness.

The multiplayer has been improved as well, since it’s much easier to connect with other people over the Internet and enjoy long sessions, which can also be customized in a variety of ways beforehand. Speaking of which, the interface is a lot more intuitive and self-explanatory now, making it a lot simpler for new players to jump straight in and understand the mechanics on the go.

Lastly, the graphics have been improved as well, but the classic look is still there, so it still feels like a Civilization game. Better special effects and detailed maps are part of the deal too, not to mention the fact that you can enjoy features like DX12 support and a few other new-gen effects that improve the experience one way or another. Even the soundtrack is nice, but then again it’s not as memorable as the one from Civilization IV. Granted, that doesn’t necessarily affect the gameplay too much.

In the end, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is obviously a very polished game with plenty of game time and possibilities for those who enjoy long matches with a lot of suspense. However, the AI is truly annoying, not to mention the diplomatic mess you inevitably end up into after the first conflict, given the fact that there’s no way to avoid it.