Right out of the box, Civilization VI is at a point that took it’s predecessor almost three expansions to fully flesh out. It is refreshing to see design choices that build on what came before included as part of the base package, instead of them being farmed out through shallow DLC.
You will find the full options of religion, culture, and military available to you right from the start as you develop your fledgling civilization into a world power. For the most part, it all works in familiar ways that will allow a veteran Civilization 5 player to jump in without too many problems. Then before long, the new features will make the experience feel fresh.
Notable additions are the Civics or the Government options. These are now presented in a fashion very similar to the technology tree. You will unlock various perks that you plug into available slots that vary depending on your chosen government. Overall the experience feels new and adds more choice into how you govern your people and allows you to select rewards tailored to your victory conditions.
There seems to be a greater focus on the various victory conditions with it being more challenging to be a jack of all trades, and the game forcing you to tailor your civilization based off of how you want to win. A great example of this in action is the new City Districts.
The tiles within your city are not only where you will upgrade farms and find precious resources to exploit, it is also now where you will put your entertainment district, or your encampment; IE the military district. Having things like religion or the harbor be separate districts forces you to make crucial choices on where the next upgrade will go. It also has the effect of making your cities more unique and personable.
Furthermore, the are additional adjacency bonuses that will come from having the right district next to another district or natural feature. With all of this going on city building is a lot more than just picking the right spot. There are choices and limitations that add a sense of depth that was previously lacking.
The only downside is that the series continues to miss the mark on intelligent AI that feels like a human player making smart choices. Opposing units will often dance around instead of engaging with strategy and through diplomacy will make some strange requests. Though Firaxis seems committed to refining and improving this through patches, the latest one just dropped recently with some balanced map additions as well as various fixes.
The main question I have moving forward is where expansions may take this game. Most of the minor issues with the game all rotate around balance and can be easily fixed in the patches that are being deployed. Of course, we know that new leaders are coming but tat is hardly befitting of an expansion. Perhaps that is what has me truly excited, the unknown. The sky and beyond are all possibilities for future content and it will be fresh instead of something that was needed.
If you are a fan of the civilization series this is the latest and greatest and a sure buy. It certainly fulfills the “one more turn” mentality and provides the most feature rich Civilization experience available to date.