Before it released, Civilization 7 was still seen as a candidate for the best strategy game of the year. Today it is losing favor with its fans. The reviews on Steam show: The long-awaited comeback is currently absent.
What went wrong at release? Unfortunately quite a lot:
Where does Civilization 7 stand today? One might have thought in a much better place. After all, the developer team Firaxis Games has provided the game with many important and free updates that have made Civ 7 – even in the eyes of critics – better.
The reviews from players on Steam, however, paint a different picture. Overall, the 48% positive ratings are still “balanced,” but looking at the recent reviews, the strategy game drops to “Mostly Negative.” Only 38% of the approximately 1,300 recently published reviews are positive.
Not the game that fans of the series wanted
What are the fans complaining about? One of the biggest points of criticism currently is that the game simply does not feel like an entry in the Civilization series.
- Steam player ($tuff) Dinosaur…? writes after about 14 hours: “Earlier Civ games handed you a blank canvas and a paint brush. Civ 7 is paint-by-numbers.”
- trombonistfsu has some good words left for the game but is ultimately disappointed after over 122 hours: “I think the ability to mix-and-match leaders is neat, but being forced to change civilizations with each new era almost misses the whole point of the Civilization series.” It essentially feels like finishing your game and starting a new one on the same map.
- The fact that they likely took the biggest innovation from the competitor Humankind also draws criticism. Steam user Stefanakis writes after about 200 hours in his review: “I think we were too hard on Humankind. We judged it too harshly. At least Humankind’s mess was its own.” Civilization 7 has taken the “worst part” of Humankind and “made it somehow even worse.”
Is there still hope for the game? Between all the negativity, one should not overlook that there are players who are having fun with it. Andrex even says after 40 hours: “The best Civilization for me so far.” While he understands the criticism, he feels that the refreshing innovations outweigh it.
Many fans still see a solid foundation for Firaxis to build on. However, the negative first impression from many players is not easily shaken off by the game. A well-known expert in global strategy has a theory as to why Civilization 7 is so harshly criticized by first-time players.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
