Civilisation is the perfect blend of history and entertainment

Created by legendary games designer Sid Meier, the epic turn-based strategy series puts the player in charge of a civilisation and tasks them with leading throughout history, from the Stone Age through to the future.

Starting with a single settler unit, establishing a city, developing technologies, building units, exploring the world, establishing more cities — it’s a familiar formula to anyone who has played a Four-X (Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate) game.

And if you’ve played a Four-X game, it’s probably one of the Civilization series, which has been the cause of countless strategists’ cries of “just one more turn” since 1991.

The most recently released game in the series, Civilization V, was a marked departure from its predecessors, making a number of changes (including limiting tiles to one unit each) and providing a more streamlined experience — a contentious point which hardcore fans of the series still debate today.

The series is set for a new addition on October 21, though, with Civilization VI releasing on PC; being developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K.

I was able to get some hands-on time with a development build of the game at an event in Sydney recently and was impressed with what I saw.

If you have played the earlier games, it will be easy to pick this up.Source:Supplied

The fundamental experience was similar to Civilization V; meaning I was able to leap right in and find my way around without any hassles at all.

While Civilization V had an Art Deco/Progress theme happening, Civilization VI evokes an Age of Discovery vibe, right down to the fog of war being rendered like an 18th century woodcut. Overall the game seemed a little smoother visually than previously, with a cleaner interface.

From a gameplay perspective, there were a few changes — firstly, cities no longer occupy a single tile as in previous Civilization games. As your city builds particular elements — notably districts and Wonders — they occupy tile spaces surrounding the city, making their placement an important consideration.

Another interesting change is that gameplay events can boost your research — for example, meeting a new civilisation for the first time can help with your research on a related technology, while fighting barbarians might give you a boost in another tech area. Building cities by the ocean makes researching maritime technologies like sailing easier, while having access to a quarry helps with the discovery of technologies like masonry.

Civics — representing your civilisation’s form of government — are unlocked through research and come in three flavours; military, economic and wildcard. Different elements provide different bonuses, giving players the chance to mix and match to find something that suits their plans best.

Unlike Civilization V, religion will also be present in the launch version of the new game, with players able to found one with a Great Prophet and establish a pantheon.

Wonders — special buildings and projects which can add significant bonuses or effects to a civilisation — are also back, accompanied by an animation of them being built when construction is completed; a welcome change from the static watercolour image used last time around.

Probably the only gameplay change which I wasn’t all that keen on was how workers — the folks who build your farms and roads and mines and what have you — now only have a finite number of uses and can’t be automated.

Diplomacy is still an important part of the game, and your interactions with the other civilisation leaders have been redesigned to appear more like a conversation while still incorporating the key elements required for things like trading items, agreeing to treaties and sharing technologies.

The cast has had some changes too, with some interesting choices heading up the civilisations in the game.

16th Century queen Catherine de’ Medici, for example, leads France — an unusual choice which Civilization VI associate producer Sarah Darney said made sense in light of the game’s enhanced diplomacy and espionage mechanics.

“We’re very excited about who she was and how she used the resources at her disposal to bring France forward,” she said.

“She was one of the first people to institute and espionage and gossip system so she’s a good fit.”

The cast has had some changes, with some interesting choices heading up the civilisations in the game.Source:Supplied

Other leaders announced for the game include Queen Victoria (Britain), Qin Shi Huang (China), Hojo Tokimune (Japan), Cleopatra (Egypt), Pedro II (Brazil) and Teddy Roosevelt (USA).

“For Civilization VI we were looking for big personages who could stand on their own and lend themselves to different gameplay approaches,” Ms Darney said.

“Like Cleopatra — historically she’s known for creating alliances with powerful historical figures to further her agenda.”

Ms Darney has been a fan of the Civilization series for a long time and said one of its strengths was its ability to blend history with entertainment — something that has carried over into the latest iteration as well.

“We want people to enjoy the game and learn something at the same time,” she said.

Ms Darney said the series’ complexity remained in Civilization VI, but with a range of different approaches — and difficulty levels — there was something to cater to everyone from complete newcomers to veteran civilisation rulers.

“It’s the 25th anniversary of Civilization and we have this legacy of the franchise,” she said.

“It’s different, it’s fresh, but it’s also going to be Civilization.

“It’s going to be great.”

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI releases on October 21; Royce Wilson travelled to Sydney as a guest of 2K.