Sid Meier's Civilization 7 review - A competent but undercooked successor

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is a brand-new entry in Firaxis Games' long-running series, arriving nearly a decade after the last game. With such a long gap between releases, the developers have ensured that this is not merely a safe sequel but rather an overhaul of the Civilization formula in many ways — for better or worse. Simply put, while there are many intriguing changes here, it is clear that the chicken needed to spend some more time in the oven before being served.

Here's what's good and what isn't about Sid Meier's Civilization 7 in our full review of the game. Read on to know more.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is a mixed bag of strategy and confusion

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The goal of Sid Meier's Civilization 7 remains the same as is tradition: to start an empire from scratch and bolster it to new heights by investing in resources to grow economic and military powers, tech research, and exploration across a turn-based format. This is simultaneously a race against time, as players compete against leaders of other civilizations, engaging in diplomatic actions, trade, and even warfare with them (as well as other independent powers if needed).

To start, players will pick three things: a leader, their civilization, and the era to begin in — which can make for funny combinations, like Napoleon Bonaparte of Ancient Greece. The biggest change that Civilization 7 introduces is that instead of one long session, building a civilization is now split across three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Furthermore, as the civilization evolves, its leaders can change depending on which has been picked.

Food helps grow settlements and keep people happy (Image via 2K)

I went with the Maurya civilization led by Ashoka the World Conquerer in Sid Meier's Civilization 7. While establishing my city of Pataliputra, things were fine enough at the start. I learned the basics of setting down buildings to generate resources (namely Gold, Food, Production, Science, Culture, Happiness, and Influence) and managing units (be it those focused on exploration or combat).

Players will have the option to pursue between any of four varied victory conditions — Military, Economy, Culture, and Science — before the Age ends. So for example, players must establish several Wonders to achieve a Cultural victory in one Age or achieve Flight and launch a space rocket in another. Unit exploration, researching new tech (like Currency, Academics, etc), and really all actions in general take place in turns.

Set sail to discover new lands in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 (Image via 2K)

The former sees units (such as Scouts or Explorers) traverse the terrain (looking for ideal resource tiles to settle down on) and navigate the waters of an isometric map (with the Exploration Age introducing tech that allows crossing the deeper waters without taking damage). Yes, all units have set healths, and players can engage in combat with hostile units to dissipate their territories, have a friendly leader take over, or turn it into a City State as a Suzerain.

I will admit that the core gameplay is fun enough. Managing relations with leaders (even though their AI can be random at times), taking care of crises (such as declining Happiness) and natural disasters, calculating ideal tiles to put down buildings in, settling in distant lands, and much more, will keep players engaged at each turn.

Be wary of hurricanes, floods, and other random threats (Image via 2K)

Overall, no matter what players do or focus on, they will have an incentive to keep moving forward even as they wait for research to finish after a couple dozen turns. This is on top of more complex mechanics, like government civics, Religion (and missionary work to convert other civilizations), Memento perk bonuses, building fortifications, and so on.

However, for me, the cracks began to appear sooner than later.

I did not know why my merchant could not set up a trade route, or why a certain AI leader I was on good terms with turned hostile with me. Furthermore, I am not a fan of Age Transitions. As mentioned before, there are three Ages to conquer, and each comes to an end after 160 turns. The Antiquity Age is about initial growth from humble roots, the Exploration Age focuses on going beyond the shores of an empire to expand territory, and the Modern Age is all about aiming for the skies.

As the ages go on, civilizations also evolve (Image via 2K)

The problem is that players will essentially be starting from scratch at the dawn of a new Age, as most units are gone while others are replaced with entirely new ones. This awkwardly disrupts the pacing of the game. The worst part is that the Modern Age ends in the 1940s, which is bizarre for a 2025 video game, especially since past entries would end in the mid to late 21st Century.

There are updates and DLC expansions planned for Sid Meier's Civilization 7, with murmurs of a Fourth Age among other changes and additions — however, these should have been part of the title from the get-go instead of players getting what is virtually an unfinished product.

Problems surmounting

Players must make tough decisions in Civilization 7's campaign, but the game has issues beyond those of the virtual variety (Image via 2K)

There is so much to talk about here, that I would rather just point out the main problems. The game's UI is the main culprit, and it feels like something made for consoles rather than PC. The tiles do not tell you much about a building, and the map on the bottom left of the screen is practically useless as well, with no way to track units.

All actions are mapped to a radial button on the bottom right of the screen, and the same is used to skip turns. Weirdly, I often had several units on the field be omitted from being highlighted entirely, as I lost track of them in the sea of map icons on the screen. At any time, if players are unable to proceed, they will likely not know what is barring their progress.

The Civilopedia (an in-game journal consisting of various entries regarding mechanics and other elements of the game) also does not tell players enough about a resource, unit, or what it does. It is clear Firaxis Games has aimed for a streamlined experience, but how far is too far? There isn't even a way to skip all unit turns entirely.

As easy to get into as this latest entry is, newcomers will undoubtedly be left scratching their heads on countless occasions through no fault of their own in Sid Meier's Civilization 7.

Graphics, sound, and performance

The Influence-driven diploma screen shows the detailed leader models in Civilization 7 (Image via 2K)

Thankfully, Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is a visually solid game. The isometric graphics are detailed even upon zooming in, though it is hard to discern between buildings thanks to their homogenous design. The leader character models are well-detailed and expressive enough as well. The highlight of the presentation of course is the art and soundtrack.

Each culture's heritage is represented authentically in its various visual art pieces and musical compositions, with the Maurya/Chola theme being one of the best. On the performance side of things, there is little to worry about besides performance getting lightly choppy as players expand their empires and horizons across the map.

In conclusion

Queue units and buildings to expand the empire (Image via 2K)

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 makes a strong first impression. However, it is quickly evident that many of its mechanics don't really work well in the grand scheme of things, largely due to not being explained well, and many others will no doubt be a turn-off for hardcore series fans due to poor design decisions.

The game excels with its visuals, soundtrack, and some snippets of gameplay; however, a lot of this is marred by odd development decisions that bog down the experience in more ways than one. It's a shame that the game does not live up to the flashy pre-rendered intro cutscene that is a delight to watch on each boot.