Civilization VII (PC) Review – Update 1.1.0

Change is good. Well, change can be good. For the case of a series of games spanning 30 years, change has the potential to reinvigorate and reinvent the series for newer players who come to the table with fresh eyes and preconceived notions of how contemporary games can and should be played. For that same 30-year-old series, significant change can also push diehards away because of what they have been taught to expect from the series.

Civilization VII has changed more than any of its predecessors. It has also been criticized for changing up the game to the extent of it losing its identity. I don’t agree with the latter, but I can see why folks have expressed frustration since its launch.

Yes, Civilization VII launched on February 11, 2025. Technically, it was made available earlier for those who pre-ordered the Deluxe/Founders editions. We spent some time playing it at launch, and then Firaxis notified players and the press that not only have they been listening to what we have been saying, but they have several massive updates planned for the game to go live in the month of March. The first large-form update, Update 1.1.0, includes a litany of fixes to the UI and AI, balance adjustments, and some additional paid content in the form of Ada Lovelace, Carthage (Antiquity Age), Great Britain (Modern Age), and four new Natural Wonders.

Seeing as this is the first major update to Civilization VII, it feels imperative for us to review Civilization VII in its current form as opposed to its original release. If you want to know what folks were thinking about the game at launch, feel free to pop on over to Metacritic or the Steam reviews. It wouldn’t be fair for us to assess a game that has already been modified and assign it a score based on what it was rather than what it is at this minute. Don’t worry, though, I have many things to say about the game’s larger changes that I’ll add alongside the updates.

That said, Civilization VII has substantially improved. Is it in a perfect state to the point of me recommending folks to drop everything they’re doing and pick it up immediately? Not really. But, the first round of changes have softened some of the unfinished edges of its launch state. Let’s get to it.

Civilization VII looks just like its predecessors at the surface level – a 4X turn-based strategy game where the player manages a civilization from rudimentary settlements to a modern culture over hundreds of turns. Multiple win conditions exist to encourage players to find their way. If they want to overtake their enemies by force, they can declare war and knock them down one by one; if they want to secure an economic victory, you can stack up on trade routes and outspend opponents all the way to the end.

Traditionally, players would select a single leader that would persist throughout the entire game. That leader would have unique abilities and perks, like a warmonger who would get a unique army unit at the beginning to help amass a domination victory at the end. These leaders have amassed notoriety over the years, such as the ever-peaceful Gandhi who would suddenly pivot away from a cultural victory path by choosing to nuke opponents into oblivion once the appropriate scientific perk had been unlocked. Every Civ game has their own cast of leaders with unique playstyles to encourage players to change up how they play on a game-by-game basis.

Civilization VII still has leaders, but they’ve been neutered by its “Ages” system which I’ll cover momentarily. The leaders in Civilization VII have been relegated to the background as they’re no longer tied to specific civilizations. They no longer evolve throughout the game, either. Instead, the leaders’ attributes change depending on the civilization that is chosen on an age-by-age basis.

The “Ages” system dramatically overhauls how Civilization VII by breaking up the game into three discrete segments, each of which having unique win conditions, civilizations that can be selected from, units, and more. This Ages system turns what would have been a 210-turn Civilization game into three miniature 70-turn Civilization games. It’s quite a bit to get used to, but it ends up making things for the better.

I had a very hard time with the Ages system for the first several hours. When the Antiquity Age ended and turned into the Exploration Age, I was shocked to see the game wipe my board free of units and change up how I thought I was supposed to be playing the game. Sure, I got some of those units back (upgraded to the new Age’s standards), but I was confused as to what and how the win conditions functioned.

Much of that confusion can be explained by Civilization VII’s haphazard and confusing user interface. In so many of the launch reviews, reviewers and players alike decried how information is presented on-screen. In Firaxis’ defense, some of that UI has been polished as of V 1.1.0, but there’s still some ways to go beyond text that is now aligned along with some icons moved around in a pleasing fashion. Version 1.1.0 has fixed several errant notifications and popups that didn’t make sense. The next update hopefully should address a clearer understanding of where to find the right information along with what things mean.

In theory, the Ages system changes up Civilization VII in a meaningful fashion that aligns with longtime issues with the Civilization series. In their first Dev Diary, the developers explained how Ages solve for the late-game of a Civ game being unfun, especially for players who opted for a “late-game” leader who became strong in the last 50-or-so turns. I won’t lie, Ages makes it so that I’m continuously planning in every stage of the game instead of frontloading the decision making and going on autopilot in the second-half of a game. Thus, Ages is working. The degree to which Ages is working, however, remains to be seen.

Ages function as a means for players to get back into the game while also preventing early-game snowballing from getting out of control. Of course, it’s still possible to snowball and get strong very quickly, but that progress gets effectively trimmed down at the start of a new age. In one of my playthroughs, I had a terrible Antiquity Age and fell behind because I got distracted by wars and skirmishes that ultimately resulted in stalemates across the board. An opponent who had remained neutral and focused entirely on scientific discoveries managed to win the age. At the start of that new age, that opponent got a small boost at the start, but I was able to catch up and overtake him through careful planning and focusing on exploration and expansion during the Exploration Age.

I fear that longtime players set in their ways will be turned off by Civilization VII being broken up into its three Ages. I also fear that players will realize that the only Age that matters is the final Age, as the Modern Age will effectively decide which one civilization will win the game. In my final playthrough during my review period, I reigned supreme during the first two ages, but I ended up losing the final age (thus, the game) because I was confused as to how the Explorers and Artifact Discovery worked as the win condition for a Cultural Victory. As a result, I wasted several turns trying to figure things out while an opponent snuck up and overtook my Cultural lead.

I appreciate how Firaxis removed the leadership restrictions that were tied to each leader. If I wanted to play as Harriet Tubman leading the Songhai, I can do that now. If I want to be historically accurate and have her lead the Americans during the Modern Age, I could do that, too. Civilization VII allows players to play more flexibly than ever before. It just feels weird that some of the leader’s power comes from an age-specific Civilization instead of an innate ability unique to that leader. I was reading some recent criticisms online about Ada Lovelace making the game trivial thanks to her science and cultural leader bonus, but…she isn’t as strong as players think. It’s the Maya civilization with its science boost in the Antiquity Age that makes the game feel easy.

I won’t lie, I became hooked at the 12-hour mark well into my third playthrough. I gave up on my first two because I was flat-out confused about how to get the win condition and I needed to start fresh on the newest 1.1.0 update to get a feel of how the game should be played against/as Ada Lovelace along with the changes to the Explorers as part of the Cultural Victory win condition. The lack of districts (from Civ VI) made it so that I could focus more on evolving my cities’ output instead of nitpicky building placement restricted by asinine rules. Once I was able to figure out how to min/max each of my cities’ compositions to ensure that I could take advantage of my leader and civilizations’ specialties, it felt like I was evolving at a greater pace than ever before.

Instead of the traditional “one more turn” of Civilization games’ past, I was focused on “one more age.” The biggest compliment I can give Civilization VII is that I’m not only interested in more turns, but I’m also interested in the evolution of the game throughout its discrete stages as the Ages manage to keep the game fresh.

Do I wish that there were more leaders? Absolutely. Seeing two Ashokas (with different personalities and specializations, sure) but only one Amina (new to the Civ series!) feels like a miss in selecting a greater number of personalities from Civilization’s past or figureheads who have been overlooked. There are 25 leaders now, but only 20 of them are unique. I would love to see Constantine or Margaret I of Denmark.

I’m relieved that Firaxis was able to accomplish UI refinement, the addition of a new leader, and a wealth of balance changes one month post-release. They’ve committed to additional UI changes later this month and throughout the rest of the Spring. The first round of improvements were great in fixing some of the top-level visual issues, but there are several things that I hope Firaxis can resolve in the future.

First, there needs to be a clearer and consistent explanation of win conditions across Ages. When playing, I had several questions that were unable to be answered via the in-game Civipedia. For instance, how are settlements linked via railroads? Was the counter in the Modern Age bugged, or was I missing something? In the Exploration Age, how do I acquire relics? How do I transport luxury goods from distant lands? How do I acquire artifacts? Some of these questions I was able to answer over trial and error, but in-game there should be a clearer push so that the player can understand what they’re doing right instead of a brief win condition explanation.

Second, the UI is currently more confusing than helpful. I didn’t know about managing resources and the benefits of assigning/not assigning them for bonuses until my partner told me about it during the 10^th hour. Did you know that if you assign a camel resource to a city, it adds several more resource slots? I know it says that if you hover over the resource, but getting to the resource screen and figuring out the benefits of the resources (and other mechanics, too) needs to be made a priority.

Finally, leaders feel less like charismatic figureheads of the Civilization franchise more like silent puppets who have been augmented by their current civilization. I miss the days of seeing a leader sitting on their throne or in a background unique to their history. In the context of Civilization VII, I know full well that historical accuracy is an option, but making it so that the characters look and feel unique will help in giving them a personality that stands the test of time. Remember, Civilization VI is nearly 10 years old at this time, but Cleopatra and Gandhi’s silliness have stemmed from ridiculous AI shenanigans stemming from abusing their unique abilities.

Again, I fully understand that Firaxis Games are hard at work making improvements to the UI, AI, and more. They’ve demonstrated such with this first major update alongside another update that is coming in but a few weeks. My biggest concern is that these issues I outlined above will push new players away.

Civilization VII will be many players’ first experience with the series. I fear that many of these new players will be put off by the user interface and cluttered elements, especially in the later Modern Age when maps are full of bustling cities and moving parts. Of course, there will be a subset of new players who will be just fine with Civilization VII as it is and will not carry forth the high expectations of longtime fans. The fact remains that a greater focus should have been placed on the former player population – that is, focusing on new players who’ve become accustomed to refined and a simplistic UI. If Civilization VII is to have its moments, the unfamiliar Civilization player should have an experience that spans beyond one more turn, but one more Age.

In case you missed it, Firaxis and Meta announced that Civilization VII will be coming to the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S. As both a Quest 3 owner and a fan of the Civilization series, the idea of seeing a civilization I’m building rise up in front of my eyes and responsive to my hand inputs (via hand-tracking or whatnot) would feel especially cool. I know full well that hand-tracking gaming is more of a pipe dream, but hey – a boy can dream, can’t he?

Let’s see what the future brings from the folks at Firaxis. I’m already liking what I’m seeing on the improvements side, so I’m eager to see what they refine and add to the core Civilization experience.

Rome was not built in a day. The wonders in Civilization VII take a good many turns to be built and come at the cost of food, happiness, and a city’s production. With the new 1.1.0 update to Civilization VII, it’s clear that Firaxis understands what needs to be fixed for the future of the game and is already on track to improve UI, AI, and more of what makes the Civ series so great.