Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Revolutionizes the Strategy Classic by Building History in Layers
Summary
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VII takes player on a new type of journey, one through distinct historical chapters called Ages.
- Build a unique cultural lineage as your empire is represented by unique Civs across each Age.
- Launching on February 11, 2025, with support for cross-play and cross-progression.
From everyone at Firaxis Games, we’re thrilled to finally reveal gameplay and share that Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is launching on February 11, 2025.
In Civilization VII, we invite you to go on a journey never experienced before in the franchise – one through the Ages of human advancement. Ages divide history into distinct playable chapters, each designed to immerse the player in the essence of these time periods. We have three Ages for you to experience:
- Antiquity Age: When agricultural societies began to cluster into urban centers, forming the foundations of the very first civilizations.
- Exploration Age: When the desire for precious commodities from distant lands spurred empires to stretch across the great oceans.
- Modern Age: A period of incredible technological growth and global conflict, where mankind goes from development of the steam engine to the splitting of the atom.
What’s particularly interesting about Ages, and separates it from previous Civilization features like Eras, is that for the first time you aren’t just playing as a single civilization. Instead, you build a unique cultural lineage in Civilization VII, where your empire is represented by different civilizations during each Age. You’ll be able to carry forward your past civilization’s legacy, while also playing as a new Civ in the new Age – one with refreshed abilities, unique units, buildings and more!
This idea is a revolutionary one for Civilization, and merits some more detail. To explain, let me take you back to the original foundational idea for Civilization VII – a design mantra we call “History is Built in Layers.”
History is Built in Layers
A few years after we shipped the last Civ game, the design team at Firaxis Games sat down to begin planning out what we wanted to see in Civilization VII. Designing a new Civ game is a unique challenge and we take feedback from all areas. We think about what we’d like to improve on, we hear what the community is asking for, and we look at what players are doing in our games to see how we can make that experience even better.
One area of inspiration for us is, as you might guess, history itself. So I took a trip to London – a big, sprawling modern city, and thought about its past. London was originally an ancient Roman settlement called Londinium, established on the far reaches of the Roman Empire. Back then, it looked very much like any other Roman town, with a forum, bathhouses, and temples.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Londinium was largely abandoned. Eventually, the Normans, following their conquest in the 11th century, established what would become Medieval London. On top of the old Roman ruins, new buildings were constructed, including fortifications, churches, and markets. However, Medieval London also faced hardships, such as the devastation of the Black Death.
Fast forward a few centuries, and the Industrial Revolution ushered in what would be Victorian London. This era saw the transformation of the city with new constructions like factories, railways, and commercial buildings, replacing or repurposing many older medieval structures.
This sparked an idea for us – what if you could build your empire in the same way? Where you could experience the same type of journey that London went through: going through different Ages, the identity of your empire represented by different civilizations from that time period. And as a video game, what if you could determine which direction your empire evolved? Imagine if, instead of the Normans, the Spanish had taken control of London? How would that change the future?
Forge Your Path Through the Ages
That’s the unique journey we want you to experience in Civilization VII. During each Age, you’ll select a historical civilization relevant to that time. You’ll compete and cooperate with rival civilizations and face the unique challenges of that Age. As you progress from one Age to the next, you’ll choose a new civilization to represent your empire—determined not just by historical connections, but also by the actions you can take as a player. Over the course of a campaign, as you carry your legacy forward from one Age to the next, you’ll build a unique cultural lineage for your empire – one that may even stand the test of time.
Civilization VII promises to be a revolutionary new chapter for the franchise, and today is just the first step in our journey to February 11, 2025. You can watch our official gameplay showcase for more details; for the latest information on Civilization VII, visit www.civilization.com and follow the game across YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
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