Everything You Need to Know About Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII drops on February 11^th 2025 – and we’ve got everything you need to know.

The seventh instalment to this much-loved franchise, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII brings new features, stunning graphics, and the same strategic gameplay that we love. Build your civilisation from the ground up to create the greatest empire in the land, with none other than Gwendoline Christie narrating. (Lowkey most excited about that, not going to lie!) We’ve got the gameplay deets, specs, and some great PCs to play Sid Meier’s Civilization VII on for you today.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Gameplay

Building on 30 years of experience, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is a turn-based grand strategy game all about making the greatest empire the world has ever known. Developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K, this latest chapter has the perfect blend of classic gameplay and revolutionary new features to make this a fresh addition to the franchise. Plus, you know, Gwendoline Christie. I cannot overstate her importance.

Build an Empire That Stands the Test of Time

The Sid Meier ethos for sequels is to create a game that is 33% new features, 33% improving on existing features, and 33% staying roughly the same. This tried and tested method has brought us six game which are all distinct yet still feel like a Civ game. The same principle has been applied to Sid Meier’s Civilization VII.

At its core, Civ VII uses the same building blocks that we love. You pick a famous leader from history, with more than fifteen to choose from, and lead your civilisation through a series of ages – balancing expansion, resource gathering, military power, scientific development, economic growth, and culture.

Each campaign is broken down into three ages – the Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern Ages. They last between 150 and 200 turns, and have age-exclusive civilisations that boast their own unique abilities, units, civics, improvements, and buildings. As you progress through the ages, you’ll unlock new resources, technologies, and even have more of the map to discover. What’s more, each age has certain game systems available only to them, making each their own individual experience.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII game still from Steam

Creating a Legacy and Crisis Management

To give Sid Meier’s Civilization VII excellent replayability, your campaigns will be shaped by the choices you make. Even who you pick as leader will influence which civilisations you can choose and develop into. Then there are Legacy Paths. These provide goals and objectives for you to strive for, granting great rewards down the line as you achieve them. Fully completing a Legacy Path unlocks a Golden Age Legacy to access in the following age, but even missing one milestone will give you an associated Dark Age Legacy. These Legacy Paths are designed to bring out the essence of each time period and even provide the opportunity to unlock non-historical progression – like Egypt “turning into” Mongolia.

Adding a new element to your strategy, towards the end of each age you’ll have to deal with a Crisis. Themed to each age, these multi-stage events are something you must navigate and adapt to as they intensify over time, adding a different challenge to maintaining your empire. Plus, they come with their own Crisis Policies, which are much like the social Civic policies but with a negative effect instead. There is no one right way to deal with these crises, so you can test different strategies every campaign!

Military Might

Another cornerstone of Civ gameplay is the combat – how else will you conquer new lands and defend your own? In Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, the combat system has been updated to build on improvements from previous instalments. With the introduction of Commanders, combat, travel, and unit experience has been streamlined. Using the discipline tree, you can specialise each Commander and use their buffs to benefit the whole battalion attached to them. Plus, there are dedicated commanders for ground, naval, and aerial troops, each with their own discipline trees.

The siege mechanics have also been updated for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, in line with the changes to how you build your cities. New urban districts and special military buildings or wonders can be used as a line of defence, forcing your enemies to take them first before seizing control of your city centre. Provided they break through! Of course, any claimed territory will no longer give the original owner yields or benefits, so you must make sure they are up to the defensive task.

Finally, combat has received a visual update, too. Instead of each unit taking their attack one at a time, battle is animated to look much more organic with continuous motion. Unit-facing mechanics have also been introduced, meaning you can take advantage of flanking bonuses, too!

Cinematic Opening

Purely because I keep mentioning her, here is the opening cinematic scene, complete with Gwendoline Christie’s narration.

Is Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Multiplayer?

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII does offer multiplayer gameplay. You can compete in online and LAN battles against your friends in epic multi-age or single age campaigns to see who is the greatest leader among you.

On top of this, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII has full crossplay support! A 2K account is required and there are some limitations on numbers in select cross-platform pairings – more details on that here (external link). Still, we are all for this era of gaming where we can play with our friends, regardless of platform!

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Platforms

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is available to play on PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. For PC, it is available on both the Epic Games Store and Steam – which also supports Mac and Linux.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Official Specifications

Is your gaming PC ready to take on your lofty goals of world domination? Here are the official specifications for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII:

Component	Minimum Specs	Recommended Specs
Operating System	Windows 10 64-bit	Windows 10 64-bit
Processor	Intel Core i5-4690 Intel Core i3-10100 AMD Ryzen 3 1200	Intel Core i5-10400 AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Memory	8GB RAM	16GB RAM
Graphics	NVIDIA GTX 1050 AMD RX 460 Intel Arc A380	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 AMD RX 6600 Intel Arc A750
DirectX	Version 12	Version 12
Storage	20GB available space	20GB available space

Best PCs to Play Sid Meier’s Civilization VII

Those stunning graphics take some powering, but the combination of 10^th Gen Intel or AMD Ryzen 3000 with an RTX 20 or RX 6000 Series does make the Sid Meier’s Civilization VII specs relatively accessible. Still, we want to see those wonders in glorious 4K! If you’re in the market for an upgrade, there is an extensive range of gaming PCs and laptops at Overclockers UK that will bring Sid Meier’s Civilization VII to life in magnificent detail. We’ve picked out our faves here, but you can explore the full collection below.

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