“Sid Meier’s Civilization 6” opens with a wonderful cutscene covering huge historical moments from the beginning of history. Exquisitely animated and voice-acted, the new “Civilization” game hits hard from the very second it starts. With new city building techniques, new civilizations to lead to glory, new art style, and increased difficulty, “Civilization 6” might possibly surpass its predecessor in every way.

For those that do not know, the “Civilization” series is a real-time strategy game where players take one civilization led by a famous leader of said civilization, and try to lead it to victory in many different ways. Just like in the previous games, “Civilization 6” has a plethora of victory types, including science, culture, religious, and domination victories. Players can be warmongers and conquer the entire world, or choose to spend production furthering science to send a man to the moon. If that is not your thing, however, players can also focus on culture by building more wonders and providing massive amounts of the arts. Players can also skillfully use religion to bring the entire world under one common ideal to beat the game.  

Unlike “Civilization 5” the graphics of “Civilization 6” are less practical and more cartoonish than ever before. Although it makes the game seem less serious, it is a breath of fresh air that could either turn players off or attract more of them. Many leaders who have appeared in many “Civilization” games, such as Otto von Bismarck and Augustus Caesar have been replaced with new leaders, such as Frederick Barbarossa in Germany and Trajan in Rome, but others have been kept, namely Gandhi, Pedro II, and Montezuma.

City building has been added to the long list of things to do, and players must plan areas for specific districts that boost science, production, or housing, a brand new feature that adds some difficulty. A few classic maps, such as the Earth map, have been removed to the dismay of “Civilization” veterans, but there is still a wide variety of maps to choose from for all different play types. There are 10 difficulty levels, and each one is punishing and unforgiving in its own way.

The variety in “Civilization 6,” wether it be the various maps and civs, or the wide array of difficulties, makes the game addicting with a huge replay value. Firaxis Games really wanted to expand on the “Civilization” series with “Civilization 6” and they succeeded. The game has a huge bang-for-your-buck factor, while also being fun, engrossing, and challenging.

Platform: PC

Price: $59.99