A new age begins: Civilization 7 captures the chaos of human history in manageable doses

Firaxis Games needed to move on from Civilization 6 because, its developers explain, it was getting too big for its britches'

It's been eight years since Civilization 6 - the most recent in a very long-running strategy game series that sees you take a nation from the prehistoric settlement of their first town through centuries of development until they reach the space age. Since 2016 it has amassed an abundance of expansions, scenario packs, new nations, modes and systems for players to master - but series producer Dennis Shirk at Firaxis Games feels that enough is enough. It was getting too big for its britches," he says. It was time to make something new."

It's tough to even get through the whole game," designer Ed Beach says, singling out the key problem that Firaxis aims to solve with the forthcoming Civilization 7. While the early turns of a campaign in Civilization 6 can be swift, when you're only deciding the actions for the population of a single town, the number of systems, units, and entities you must manage explodes after a while," Beach says. From turn one to victory, a single campaign can take more than 20 hours, and if you start falling behind other nations, it can be tempting to restart long before you see the endgame.

Civilization 7 will be released on PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch on 11 February 2025.