Civilization 6 Announced

Civ 5, the benchmark for modern hex-based strategy games (a surprisingly influential sect of the gaming world) has been sitting on its throne for the past six years, and has enjoyed 3 highly praised expansions in that time. But, like all good things, it must one day end... and be immediately replaced by something EVEN BETTER. To that end, developer Firaxis happily announced the other day the next installment in the benchmark series: Civilization 6.

Check out the trailer, my world-building homies:



The trailer looks cool enough, but then, we won't know how revolutionary it will truly be until we have a list of features. Fortunately, Fireaxis has supplied one:

• EXPANSIVE EMPIRES:

See the marvels of your empire spread across the map like never before. Each city spans multiple tiles so you can custom build your cities to take full advantage of the local terrain.

• ACTIVE RESEARCH:

Unlock boosts that speed your civilization's progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures.

• DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY:

Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations.

• COMBINED ARMS:

Expanding on the "one unit per tile" design, support units can now be embedded with other units, like anti-tank support with infantry, or a warrior with settlers. Similar units can also be combined to form powerful "Corps" units.

• ENHANCED MULTIPLAYER:

In addition to traditional multiplayer modes, cooperate and compete with your friends in a wide variety of situations all designed to be easily completed in a single session.

• A CIV FOR ALL PLAYERS:

Civilization VI provides veteran players new ways to build and tune their civilization for the greatest chance of success. New tutorial systems introduce new players to the underlying concepts so they can easily get started.

So the keywords I'm getting here is: more strategic opens, yet more general accessibility. I'll let Ed Beach, lead designer at Firaxis Games, take it from here:

"Sid Meier's Civilization VI builds on the firm foundation of the Civilization franchise, and we've added many exciting new elements. The visual presentation of the game is inspired by the maps and tools of the Age of Exploration, and we've made several key gameplay changes such as expansive cities and active research that makes Sid Meier's Civilization VI an entirely unique experience while remaining true to what makes the Civilization series so special."

Excited? Sure! There's still a lot of love for Civ 5 and no one is better at what Firaxis does, so I imagine the community is in a buzz over this. Well, keep a tight lid on that hype, folks, because we've got a wait till October 21st before we can grab this goodie for ourselves.