Generally it's a fun game with some flaws. The core mechanics are good though some people obviously don't like the changes to age resets & choosing a new civ each time, I think it adds a lot of fun and variety. The new combat mechanics are incredible - combat has never felt this good in civ (especially post square tiles + death stacks), navigable rivers are very nice. Each civ gets its own civics policies on top of the base, making them all feel pretty unique. The new resource systems are a big improvement, particularly the changes to strategic resources.

The city planning stuff feels simpler than 6 which probably makes it more approachable but I find it to be a step back personally as city planning was my favourite part of 6. It has the potential through expansions to become more complex though, the foundation is solid and if you want to min/max your settlements you definitely have some flexibility which is cool.

The main drawback is the godawful UI. They have promised fixing it is a priority. There are some bugs but haven't seen too many that are game breaking and no more than previous releases. We're owed a roadmap per Firaxis' recent messaging.

I've played civ 4, 5, 6 and now 7 at release. IMO this launch isn't the best but it's better than the travesty that was 5 and feels better then 4 & 5 at release IMO (except those games all had UIs that didn't suck lol)


It also abused FOMO to sell deluxe/founder editions just like most AAA releases which sucks but pretty expected from most AAA releases 🤷‍♂️

<3 DotA