At just before 0200 GMT our own Noble Zarkon set out on his first Civ 7 adventure and recorded it for us to share.
The Game Design Roundtable podcast: Civ Series – Where are we now with Soren Johnson
https://thegamedesignroundtable.com/ has posted a new podcast, this time with Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civ4 and Old World.
In this podcast Soren and the hosts talk about how the gaming landscape have changed, that more time is spent on specific titles, how your empire is managed (Millennia vs Civ7 vs older games), the order system in Old World, the complications of designing a new civ game, and various details more.
In case you are not playing Civ7, then listen to this podcast and comment it here.
Civ7: Already available? Also: Mughal game guide
According to multiple reports Civ7 seems to have been released 6h early, and is already available for download. Due to the download size we do not yet have reports if you can actually already play.
In case you can not, then you can still check out the game guide for the Mughals. They are an economic and expansionist civ with a starting bias for flat tiles. Their associated wonder is th Red Fortress, and they have a bit of a military focus. For more information please check here.
Civ7: First look Napoleon, Civ7 contest winners, and Firaxis at the Shawnee language center
Today we got again interesting Civ7 news for you!
Firaxis has released the official first look for Napolen. His 2 personas are either diplomatic and economic, or cultural and militaristic. His agendas are related to military, and the revolutionary persona’s ability gives you more movement for your troops. For more details check here.
Today we also announced the winners of our banner contest, modding raffle and story contest. Firaxis was so generous to give us some founder editions, which we distributed among the community. KKSSep, happy.ant and potworny won the prize for the banner contest, seelingcat in the modding raffle, and chasethemage for the story contest. Check their entries and congratulate them here!
As last item, we got a new news article (in addition to all the reviews) from the Oklahoma news network: The Shawnee have inauguriated a language center, and Firaxis was present. They gifted the tribe a recording studio, as a part of their collaboration for Civ7. Read the news article here and discuss it with us here.
Civ7 early access release times, reviews, and XBox controllers
Firaxis has today released when exactly Civ7 will be released during the early access. The console releases (not displayed here) will mostly be earlier. For more info please check the thread.
The first reviews are also in. We created a subforum for the reviews, and you can find a selection below:
- GamesRadar https://www.gamesradar.com/games/strategy/civilization-7-review/ 4/5
- ArsTechnica https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025…a-major-overhaul-solves-civs-oldest-problems/ (no rating)
- Polygon https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/polygon-civilization-7-embraces-a-new-era-no-rating.694627/ (no rating)
- VideoGamesChronicle https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/civilization-7-review/ 5/5
- IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/civilization-7-review 7/10
- Eurogamer https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre…-a-good-time-to-come-at-him-2-5-stars.694624/ 2/5
And as last item of the day, Firaxis has released some Civ7 inspired colour designs for XBox controllers. For more information please check here.
Civ IV Hall of Fame Update
The Civilization IV Hall of Fame has been updated – 11 games were accepted since the previous update.
Congratulations to ariosto for the highest score of the update with a Small, Normal, Prince, Domination game for 992,022 points.
fizbankovi was the most active player during this update, submitting 3 games.
Only 2 players were brave enough to take on Deity this update:
- fizbankovi – 1874 AD, Standard, Normal, Deity, Diplomatic game for 126,122 points.​
- fizbankovi – 1908 AD, Standard, Normal, Deity, Espionage game for 43,096 points.
- fizbankovi – 1917 AD, Standard, Normal, Deity, Domination game for 95,396 points.​
- Wednesday – 360 AD, Standard, Marathon, Deity, Cultural game for 599,364 points.​
​New Number One Entries:
A number of players gained number one positions:
- Wednesday with a 360 AD, Standard, Marathon, Deity, Cultural game for 599,364 points.
- nocho with a 1464 AD, Duel, Marathon, Immortal, Space Colony game for 456,005 points.
- Lcpl Jack Jones with a 2050 AD, Huge, Marathon, Emperor, Time game for 17,422 points.
- nocho with a 1520 AD, Tiny, Epic, Emperor, Space Colony game for 376,152 points.
- Alexfin with a 1020 AD, Standard, Normal, Noble, Cultural game for 83,040 points.
​
A number of players gained a composite table High Score (i.e. Any Condition):
- ariosto with a 1280 AD, Small, Normal, Prince, game for 992,022 points.
- nocho with a 1464 AD, Duel, Marathon, Immortal, game for 456,005 points.
- nocho with a 1520 AD, Tiny, Epic, Emperor, game for 376,152 points.
Let’s congratulate all the winners here!
The Civ7 civ and leader timeline!
Our user evonannoredars has put together a timeline of when all the civs and leaders in Civ7 lived or were present. This timeline is a nice overview, and should help us identify urgently needed future content ;). If you want to discuss the timeline, then check out the thread here.
Civ5 Hall Of Fame: New gauntlets available
The Hall Of Fame is an ongoing competition for the highest scores in every setting in Civ5. You are always free to send in your highest scoring savegames, but sometimes we give you specific challenges for settings which are underrepresented.
This time we want you to do the following 2 gauntlets:
For the G-Major CLII we challenge you to play as Suleiman of the Ottomans on a small “small continents” map on Emperor level and to win via a domination victory. The deadline for this gauntlet is February 28. For more information please check this thread.
For the G-Minor CCXXV we challenge you to play as Ramessess II of Egypt on a standard size continents map on quick speed with Prince difficulty. You also need to win via diplomacy. The deadline here is also February 28. For more information please check here.