Review: Sid Meier’s Civilisation VI

Sid Meier’s Civilisation VI from 2K Games is the latest installation of the Civilisation series that I have played since the second instalment of the series on the PlayStation. This 4X turned based strategy game goes deeper than past games and makes city planning all important. It has also seen huge improvement in graphics and the UI has also been improved to make it easier to play. The addition of Sean Bean as the narrator for the Civic, Science and Wonder Screens make for a wonderful addition, and really sets the mood for the game.Gone are the days of building all your wonders and every building possible in one hex, you now have to plan out you your cities with districts to build specific buildings. For example, you need a campus district to build a library and university, while a commercial district is needed to build markets and banks. This means that location is everything when picking sites for your cities. Wonders now take up a full hex meaning that you need to account for this when building them.Workers, too, have been overhauled, and now can only build three things before being used up, so use these wisely. They can’t build roads anymore, that’s what you need trade routes for, as well as for earning that useful gold.Whether you’re a life-long Civ player or a complete newbie, the advisor is excellent at guiding you through the basics of the game. From getting your first trade route up and going (which is how you now build roads) to understanding the districts and civics available to you as you progress through the game.Diplomacy has seen a major overhaul with each civilisation being giving two aims: One which you know about, and one which you will find out about as you progress your contact with the other civilisations. Also the addition of Eureka moments to speed up research into science and civics is a great way to speed up the acquisition of new technology or civic cards.For each of the plays I have had, Theodore Roosevelt (US), Peter the Great (Russia) and Trajan (Rome) have ended up at war with Victoria (GB) and been threatened with deterrents by Gandhi (India), who is as nuke-happy as ever.Civilisation VI is by far the most in-depth of the Civilisation games to date, and builds heavily on the Religion and Trade components brought in the later games. Forcing you to think about planning your cities adds a huge dimension, as mountains and coastlines limit cities in terms of space to build in in the early game before your borders expand. It is as engrossing as ever and give you many hours of gameplay.