''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016
4X turn-based strategy
Strategy video game is a major video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success.
Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, the strategy genre is most commo ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by
Firaxis Games
Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs, and Brian Reynolds (game designer), Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meie ...
and published by
2K. The mobile and
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
ports were published by
Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to ''
Civilization V
''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the sequel to Civilization IV, ''Civilization IV'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, Windows in Sep ...
'' (2010), and was released on
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
in October 2016, with later ports for
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
in February 2017,
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
in December 2017,
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
in November 2018,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
in November 2019, and
Android in 2020.
Similar to previous installments, the goal for the player is to develop a civilization from an early settlement through many in-game millennia to become a
world power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...
and achieve one of several victory conditions, such as through military domination, technological superiority, or cultural influence, over the other human and
computer-controlled opponents. Players do this by exploring the world, founding new cities, building city improvements, deploying military troops to attack and defend themselves from others, researching new technologies and civics advancements, developing an influential culture, and engaging in trade and
negotiations
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...
with other
world leaders
''World Leaders'', also known as ''Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments'', is a public domain directory published weekly by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It lists different state officials for each country ...
.
The game features several civilizations not featured in previous incarnations of ''Civilization'', while many returning civilizations have new capitals or new leaders. A critical design focus was to avoid having the player follow a pre-set path of improvements towards their civilization which they had observed from earlier games. New to ''Civilization VI'' is the use of districts outside the city center to house most of the buildings. For example, a campus district must be built in order to house science-based buildings. Other new features include research on the game's
technology tree
In strategy games, a technology, tech, or research tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can unlock (most typically representing the research progress of a given faction). Because these tre ...
based on nearby terrain, a similar technology tree for cultural improvements, and a better government civics structure for those playing on a cultural victory path. There are also new artificial intelligence mechanics for computer-controlled opponents, which include secret goals and randomized engagements to disrupt an otherwise stable game.
The game received generally positive reviews upon release, and it was awarded Best Strategy Game at
The Game Awards 2016
The Game Awards 2016 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2016. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2016, and was live streamed across several platforms. During th ...
and
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the
20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. The game received two major expansions, ''
Rise and Fall'' (2018) and ''
Gathering Storm'' (2019), as well as two season passes, the New Frontier Pass (2020-21) and the Leader Pass (2022-23).
The game was succeeded by the next entry in the series, ''
Civilization VII
''Sid Meier's Civilization VII'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The game was released on February 11, 2025, for Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One ...
'', released in February 2025.
Gameplay
''Civilization VI'' is a
turn-based strategy
Strategy video game is a major video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success.
Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, the strategy genre is most commo ...
video game in which one or more players compete alongside computer-controlled
AI opponents to grow their individual civilization from a small tribe to control the entire planet across several
periods of development. This can be accomplished by achieving one of several victory conditions, all based on the
4X gameplay elements, "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate". Players manage a civilization of their choice and develop their technology, culture, and government structure between ancient times and the near future. They found cities and grow them through the creation of mines, farms, and other improvements, while simultaneously exploring the randomly-generated world and encountering other civilizations and barbarians. Players have the ability to trade and manage peaceful diplomatic relations with other civilizations or alternatively go to war through the use of military force. The standard edition introduced eighteen civilizations and nineteen leaders:
*
Catherine de Medici of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, working with a strong spy/espionage network
*
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, creating a trade network both internally and internationally
*
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, receiving military benefits, especially against city-states
*
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, focusing on peace and faith
*
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...
of
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
, working on a friendly expansion game, forming alliances against mutual enemies
*
Harald Hardrada
Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' in the sagas, was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. He unsuccessfully claimed the Monarchy of Denma ...
of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, a naval power wrecking enemy coasts
*
Hojo Tokimune
Hojo or Hōjō may refer to:
Hojo or HoJo:
*Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels
*A nickname for a number of people named Howard Johnson
*A nickname for Howard Jones (British musician), an synthpop singer, musician and songwr ...
of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, creating districts quickly and close together
*
Mvemba a Nzinga of the
Kongolese, receiving bonuses to religious relics, sculptures, and artifacts without being able to found a religion himself
*
Pedro II of
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, getting bonuses from rainforests, as well as unique happiness producing districts
*
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
of
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, a civilization benefiting from tundra tiles; holy sites also provide major bonuses to culture
*
Philip II of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, a naval religious power creating strong naval fleets and armadas in the early game
*
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, a cultural power with a focus on construction of early era wonders
*
Saladin
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
of
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
, juggling both faith and science for a unique way to victory
*
Teddy Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York politics, including serving as ...
of
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, creating massive empires focusing on natural beauty
*
Tomyris of
Scythia
Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people.
Etymology
The names ...
, an early game cavalry force.
*
Trajan
Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
of
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, focusing broadly between growth and domination
*
Victoria of
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
; another naval power, suited to expand over multiple continents
*
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
had two leaders,
Pericles
Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...
and
Gorgo, both working on culture in different ways: Pericles using city states, and Gorgo using military.
Similar to previous ''Civilization'' games, each civilization has a unique ability, comes with at least one unique unit (often one associated closely with the civilization in a historical sense, though not always with the leader), as well as unique infrastructure such as an improvement, building, or district. Each leader also has a unique ability which may provide an additional unique unit. One major change between ''Civilization V'' and ''Civilization VI'' is that both leaders and civilizations have a benefit.
The
Aztecs
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...
, led by
Montezuma I, was a pre-order
DLC until becoming free to all players on January 19, 2017.
''Civilization VI'' builds upon the general gameplay of ''
Civilization V
''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the sequel to Civilization IV, ''Civilization IV'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, Windows in Sep ...
'', including continuing the use of the
hex-based grid introduced in ''Civilization V''. New to ''Civilization VI'' is the idea of "city unstacking": some improvements to cities must be placed in the hexes in the bounds of the city but not within the city centre itself, whereas in previous games, all improvements were considered stacked on the same map hex or square that the city was located in. The player must assign specific hexes as "districts" in the city, which have certain limitations but grant bonuses for improvements placed in that district.
For example, the encampment district specializes in a city for training military units, and allows for the construction of further buildings that grant production and experience bonuses to said units. Such encampments may not be placed next to the main city center. Other districts gain bonuses for being placed in appropriate terrain - campuses benefit greatly from being placed adjacent to mountain or rainforest hexes, reflecting scientific advancements from studying the diversity of species within such biomes. Players can opt to attack specific districts of a city instead of the city center, which can affect the city's operation. These districts may also add new strategies to the city's defense. For example, with a military encampment in place, attacking forces approaching a city are not only subject to ranged attacks from the city center, but also from the encampment. The attacking forces may need to take the encampment first before they can successfully strike the city center.
In order to reduce congestion on the map, players are able to perform a limited amount of unit stacking (a change from ''Civilization V''), but are only able to stack similar unit types or symbiotic units. For example, a warrior unit can be assigned to a builder unit to protect that unit from
barbarian
A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice.
A "barbarian" may ...
s in the early game, and a
battering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried ...
can stack with a spearman to take over cities.
The game also made changes to the "types" of units available. Land combat units, previously split into "
melee
A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...
or ranged", now include anti-cavalry units such as spearmen and pikemen which received bonuses in combat against cavalry, but penalties when fighting against melee units. Similarly,
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
units were split into
light
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
and
heavy variants, with both having high movement, but severe negatives against districts and walls. Naval units also split into melee, ranged, and raider types, and support units were added to give bonuses to certain types, such as battering rams letting melee units ignore walls, and
medics letting units heal extra health per turn.
The game's
technology tree
In strategy games, a technology, tech, or research tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can unlock (most typically representing the research progress of a given faction). Because these tre ...
, now known as the active research system, has also been modified to help boost technology research if the player has access to appropriate improvements or resources (e.g. building a
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
helps boost the research into
masonry
Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...
). Technologies based on access to water, such as
sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
, would be limited if the player started in the middle of a continent. A new feature called Eureka Moments is able to increase the player's progress toward certain technologies after completing specific tasks; for example, destroying a barbarian encampment contributes to the military tradition technology.
Past iterations of the game were considered difficult to win if the player decided to pursue a Cultural victory.
To balance the game toward Cultural victories, a new Civics tree is introduced. The Civics tree has transferred cultural improvements that were previously part of the Technology tree in earlier ''Civilization'' games into a separate mechanic. Culture gained from cities is used to build on the Civics tree in the same manner Science from cities builds up the Technology tree. Completing certain Civics will then unlock policies, or policy cards, for the player's government. In ''Civilization VI'', the government is defined by placing appropriate and available policies into a number of slots divided among the Military, Economic, Diplomatic, and Wildcard categories. The policies define boosts or limitations for the civilization (e.g. improved attack bonuses for military units against certain types of enemies such as Barbarians). Policies can be changed for free upon completing a single Civic, or for a small cost at any other time, allowing the player to adapt to a new situation as needed, according to lead producer Dennis Shirk.
More advanced cards, only obtainable through significant advancement in the Civics tree, can unlock improvements that give the player pursuing a Cultural victory advantages over other players, such as reducing the time or cost of producing new units.
Various choices made by the player may cause unhappiness in their population as with previous games, but in ''Civilization VI'', many of these were localized to the city affected by the choice rather than the entire population, further aiding towards Cultural victory-style players.
The Religion system introduced in ''Civilization V''s ''Gods & Kings'' expansion is built further upon in ''VI'', featuring more units and improvements that can lead to
interreligious conflicts.
AI opponents have new agendas that influence player interactions. Some of these agendas are unique to each leader, emulating notable historical events, respective personalities, and policies.
Each AI character also has a second hidden agenda, which can only be revealed through
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
.
Development
The game was developed by the same
Firaxis Games
Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs, and Brian Reynolds (game designer), Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meie ...
team that developed the expansions on ''Civilization V'', and most of the new mechanics introduced in these were present in ''Civilization VI'' at its launch.
This follows from Sid Meier's "33/33/33" rule of sequel design: 33% of the game should retain established systems, 33% should feature improved systems over the previous version, and the remaining 33% should feature new material.
Firaxis used "Frankenstein", a small group of dedicated Firaxis fans, to bounce ideas for gameplay improvements.
Because of the larger number of systems in place, the studio expected to ship the game with a large-scale tutorial, separate but supplementing the guidance given by the player's various in-game advisors.
A major foundation of the development of ''Civilization VI'' was to prevent players from following routines in playing through a game, according to lead designer Ed Beach. The developers placed much more emphasis on the significance of the procedurally-generated map in how it would influence the player's strategy as the game progressed, so that no game of ''Civilization VI'' would be the same.
For example, the redesigned technology tree was aimed to pull players away from automatically following a rote path through the tree, and instead adapt a path through it based on their placement on the map.
Modifications to the game such as the unstacking of cities and city districts lead directly to support this approach, since some districts and city improvements depend specifically on what available terrain is nearby.
Such changes were also the result of design choices made by ''Civilization V''s lead designer
Jon Shafer during its development, such as the unstacking of player units. These changes in ''Civilization V'' exposed other weak areas of the core gameplay of the series, specifically how cities were simply seen as places to dump improvements and Wonders with little effect on the map, according to producer Dennis Shirk.
Beach, as lead designer for ''Civilization VI'', wanted to improve upon these weaknesses, desiring to make the game map "just as important as anything else in the game", and took the step to unstack the cities to accomplish this, following in how Schafer took to unstack unit tiles in ''Civilization V''.
According to Beach, these features add city management elements similar to those found in
city-building games, and force players to make decisions based on the geographical location of the city, instead of sticking to a specific city improvement route.
Because of the importance of the surrounding terrain to the growth of a city, Firaxis had to review their procedural generation for game maps to meet this new approach. Beach noted that early testing with the unstacked cities on
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
s generated by their older system made gameplay nearly impossible, and that with mountains becoming a valuable resource towards city expansion, test players would restart maps built on the old map generation system to get the right placement of mountains to exploit them successfully.
The new map generation system attempts to spread out terrain more, and in areas where one type of important terrain may be absent, makes up for this by including other valuable terrain spaces, such as a river-rich region where there is a lack of mountains.
Senior gameplay designer Anton Strenger compared their approach towards the development of the computer opponents, with main and hidden agendas, similar to concepts they had used in ''
Rising Tide'' expansion for ''
Civilization: Beyond Earth''.
They selected historical leaders to span a diverse range of faction and play style dynamics, while also looking for figures that had "really interesting personalities" that they could fit these agendas into.
Beach previously designed a system in the ''
Civilization V: Brave New World'' expansion that gave a "Mayhem level" in the computer opponents.
Internally, the game tracked how much action was going on for the players, and if it determined that the player was progressing without little change, the computer would cause one or more of its controlled opponents to make erratic moves, creating a new situation for the player to deal with. The Mayhem level was used in ''Civilization VI'', as according to Shirk, it is a "really interesting way of making sure that there's always something that's going to pull the player away from what they're doing or what they're focused on all the time".
Whereas the process of tuning this for ''Brave New World'' required manual playthroughs of the game, Firaxis had set up several computers in their offices to run ''Civilization VI'', using only computer-controlled opponents; the results and behaviors of these games were reviewed by the part of the team dedicated to the artificial intelligence systems and used to balance the Mayhem level.
The game was developed with a new engine that is expected to be more friendly to
modification
Modification may refer to:
* Modifications of school work for students with special educational needs
* Modifications (genetics), changes in appearance arising from changes in the environment
* Posttranslational modifications, changes to prote ...
.
The game's visuals were inspired by the
Age of Exploration
The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...
. User-interface elements feature elements like compasses and astrolabes. The fog of war is rendered using a cross-hatch drawing style to replicate old maps from the Age of Exploration.
The developers planned to bring back the movies they had shown players upon completion of a Wonder from ''Civilization IV'', but are now rendered in the game, and as to make the final shot of the Wonder more impressive, they developed a day-night cycle that continues on in the game. While this cycle does not affect the core gameplay, art director Brian Busatti anticipates that this feature could be used by modders to create new tactical considerations.
The game uses a more cartoonish look than those of ''Civilization V'', as according to Firaxis, with much deeper gameplay, they wanted to keep the visuals simple to avoid interfering with the complexity of gameplay.
The graphics of individual units and buildings are being developed to be both readily-detailed when viewed in a tight zoom, while still being recognizable from other similar units when viewed from a distance.
This necessitated the simpler art style to allow players to quickly recognize units and buildings while looking over a city without having to resort to user interface tooltips or similar distractions, according to Shirk.
Individual units were designed to include flair associated with the given civilization, such as applying different helmet styles to the same class of footsoldier units.
Composer
Christopher Tin, who wrote "
Baba Yetu", the
Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
-winning theme song for ''
Civilization IV
''Civilization IV'' (also known as ''Sid Meier's Civilization IV'') is a 2005 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. It is the fourth installment of the ''Civilization'' series and was designed by S ...
'', returned to write ''Civilization VI''s main theme, "Sogno di Volare" (translated as "The Dream of Flight"). The theme was written to capture the spirit of exploration not only in "seeking new lands, but also the mental exploration of expanding the frontiers of science and philosophy". Tin premiered the song at a London concert in July 2016. The game's original score was written and orchestrated primarily by
Geoff Knorr, who was assisted by Roland Rizzo, Griffin Cohen, and Phill Boucher. Each civilization features a musical theme or "core melody" with four variations that follow the era that the civilization is currently in.
Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...
, who narrated the early trailers of the game, also provided his voicework for quotes read to the player as they progress along the technology and civics tree.
In January 2017, the Firaxis team affirmed that they were still working on updates to include multiplayer support, user-created modifications, and support for
Steam Workshop.
Ports
''Civilization VI'' was released for Windows on October 21, 2016. The OS X version, developed by
Aspyr Media, was released on October 24, 2016. At that time, Aspyr had been evaluating the feasibility of porting the title to
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
operating systems due to a large number of requests from players, and announced in January 2017 that they planned to go ahead and complete the Linux port, which was eventually released in February 2017.
A version for iPad was released in December 2017, while a general
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
version (supporting
iPhones) was released on October 4, 2018. The ''Rise & Fall'' expansion was released for iOS on July 24, 2019, while ''Gathering Storm'' was released on November 22, 2019.
A port for the
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
was announced in September 2018 and was released on November 16, 2018.
Cloud saves were added in April 2019 for both Windows and Switch versions through linking of a player's Steam and 2K accounts, though only supported saved games from the base game at that point due to the lack of the expansions on the Switch. Both ''Rise & Fall'' and ''Gathering Storm'' expansions were available as an expansion bundle for the Switch version on November 22, 2019.
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
ports were announced in September 2019. Both were released on November 22, 2019, alongside the ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Gathering Storm'' expansions as separate and bundled downloadable content.
A version for
Android was released on August 13, 2020.
Downloadable content
Additional content
In 2017, six individual civilization and scenario packs were added to the game. The Poland Civilization and Scenario Pack adds the
Polish civilization led by
Jadwiga and the "Jadwiga's Legacy" scenario. The Vikings Scenario Pack added the "Vikings, Traders, and Raiders!" scenario, as well as new city states. The Australia Civilization and Scenario Pack adds the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n civilization led by
John Curtin
John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most ...
and the "Outback Tycoon" scenario. The Persia and Macedon Civilization and Scenario Pack added the
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
civilization led by
Cyrus
Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...
, the
Macedon
Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...
civilization led by
Alexander
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here ar ...
, and the "Conquests of Alexander" scenario. The Nubia Civilization and Scenario Pack adds the
Nubia
Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...
civilization led by
Amanitore and the "Gifts of the
Nile
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
" scenario. The Khmer and Indonesia Civilization and Scenario Pack adds the
Khmer civilization led by
Jayavarman VII
Jayavarman VII (), known posthumously as Mahaparamasaugata (, c. 1122–1218), was king of the Khmer Empire. He was the son of King Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150–1160) and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani.
He was the first king devoted to Buddhism, ...
, the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n civilization led by
Dyah Gitarja, and the "Path to
Nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
" scenario.
''Rise and Fall''
The first expansion, ''Rise and Fall'', was released on February 8, 2018, and brought the concepts of the rise and fall of civilizations. The cities have loyalty; if the loyalty level falls too low, the city becomes a free city and may join other civilizations. A civilization has the potential to enter into a Golden Age by completing certain milestones, and can choose a special bonus in that age, but if the player does not maintain certain milestones afterwards, the civilization could fall into a Dark Age, affecting loyalty. In a Dark Age, the player can choose to implement powerful Dark Age policies, but they have a cost. If the player gets a Dark Age followed by a golden age, instead of getting a golden age, they get a Heroic Age, with the right to choose three bonuses. The expansion also adds governors, who increase the loyalty of cities and award a special bonus to that city. By promoting governors, players add another bonus.
''Gathering Storm''
The game's second major expansion, ''Gathering Storm'', was announced in November 2018 and was released on February 14, 2019.
The expansion added, among other features, impacts from natural disasters like floods, volcanoes, and droughts that affect gameplay. Additionally, a new climate system was added to track
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
throughout the player's game, with the potential for additional environmental effects to result from this. Existing civilizations and leaders were rebalanced to reflect these new gameplay additions respective to each civilization's historical past, such as Egypt being able to take advantage of river flooding for improved food production. The game also re-introduced the Diplomatic victory type, which last appeared in ''Civilization V''.
''Red Death''
A free update to the game released in September 2019 added a new multiplayer game mode called "Red Death". This mode is comparable to
battle royale game
A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration, and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who ...
s for up to twelve players. Taking place on a post-apocalyptic world, each player controls one civilian unit and multiple offensive units that must protect the civilian unit from the other players, while at the same time, keeping the civilian unit out of range of an expanding "red death" zone that eventually covers the world map. Meanwhile, these units can also scout the wasteland for resources that help to improve the supporting units. The mode was the result of an
April Fools' joke by Bradley Olson, the lead multiplayer gameplay designer, who secretly added the basics of the mode on April 1. Once the mode was discovered, the project team found the mode to be fun and expanded the idea.
''New Frontier Pass''
Firaxis announced in May 2020 a "New Frontier Pass" season pass for the game, consisting of six downloadable content packs, each to be released every two months from May until March 2021. A total of nine new leaders and eight new civilizations were added through the six packs, as well as new gameplay modes and additional features such as new wonders and buildings. There were also additional free updates to the game for all players along with these content packs. All told, despite the difference in delivery, the amount of content in the complete New Frontier Pass is comparable to an additional expansion pack.
The first pack featured the
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (East Africa), a p ...
and
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), also known as Greater Colombia and officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish language, Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and parts of Central ...
n civilizations, led by
Lady Six Sky and
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...
respectively. The expansion also introduced a new game mode titled "Apocalypse". In the Apocalypse game mode, natural disasters happen much more frequently. Once the world's climate change level reaches a maximum, the world enters an apocalypse state, causing an even further increase to severe natural disasters and meteor strikes.
The second pack featured the
Ethiopian
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
civilization, led by
Menelik II
Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...
, along with alternative costumes for Catherine de Medici and Teddy Roosevelt with different abilities; a new district called the Diplomatic Quarter, which gives improvements on diplomacy and espionage; and the "Secret Societies" mode, which allows players to join one of four available secret societies, each with a different hidden agenda, including exclusive traits.
The third pack introduced the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
and
Gaulish
Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
civilizations, led by
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...
and
Ambiorix, respectively; a new map called "Highlands"; and two new world wonders—the
Biosphere
The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...
and
Statue of Zeus. The new "Dramatic Ages" mode abolishes the Normal and Heroic Ages and ensures that players can only enter in Golden or Dark Ages each era, with increased bonuses for the Golden Ages and harsher penalties for Dark Ages, including the possibility of some cities seceding from the empire. In addition, Dedications are also removed from this mode, and instead are replaced by Golden and Dark Age policies that can be slotted in the current government. As compensation for these changes, Era Score can now be earned when discovering new technologies or civics, or through promoting military units (after the unit's first promotion), in addition to the usual Historic Moments, and any extra Era Score acquired beyond what is necessary to earn a Golden Age is converted to extra loyalty pressure during the next era.
The fourth pack introduced the
Babylonia
Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...
n civilization, led by
Hammurabi
Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...
; six new city-states with unique bonuses; 24 new Great People; and the "Heroes and Legends" mode, which introduces the heroes, special units with exclusive and powerful perks based on legendary characters from myth and history that can be recruited after being discovered by completing a special project.
The fifth pack introduced the
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
ese civilization, led by
Lady Triệu;
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...
, who is an alternative leader for both
Mongolian and
Chinese civilizations; the
Preserve district, which has no yield at all but gives bonuses to nearby tiles; and the "Monopolies and Corporations" mode, which allows players to make use of excess luxury resources to improve cities and provides other bonuses should they manage to monopolize them.
The sixth and final pack introduced the
Portuguese civilization, led by
João III; two new wonders—the
Belém Tower
Belém Tower (, ; literally: Bethlehem Tower), officially the Tower of Vincent of Saragossa, Saint Vincent () is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers a ...
and the
Etemenanki
Etemenanki () was a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk in the ancient city of Babylon. It now exists only in ruins, located about south of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. Many scholars have identified Etemenanki as the ziggurat for the bi ...
; a new map called "Wetlands"; and the "Zombie Defense" mode, which includes
zombies, units that occasionally spawn on the map and attack other units, turning them into other zombies after killing them. The mode also includes unique elements that can allow a player to better defend against zombies or use them against other players.
''Leader Pass''
On November 14, 2022, Firaxis posted a tweet regarding an announcement for a new DLC the following day. The next day, the "Leader Pass" was announced, containing 12 new leaders and 6 new "personas", alternate versions of existing leaders. This pass would release monthly, starting on November 21, 2022, and concluding in March 2023. Each pack contains one or two new leaders and personas. The first pack, ''Great Negotiators'', contains
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
of
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Nzinga Mbande of the
Kongolese, and a persona for
Saladin
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
. Later packs featured
Elizabeth of
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
Ramses of
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Yongle and
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Sejong of
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
,
Sundiata Keita
Sundiata Keita ( Mandinka, Malinke: ; 1217 – c. 1255, N'Ko spelling: ; also known as Manding Diara, Lion of Mali, Sogolon Djata, son of Sogolon, Nare Maghan and Sogo Sogo Simbon Salaba) was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He was als ...
of
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
,
Ludwig II of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Nader Shah of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
Theodora of
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...
, and
Tokugawa of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
; as well as personas for
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
,
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...
,
Suleiman,
Harald Hardrada
Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' in the sagas, was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. He unsuccessfully claimed the Monarchy of Denma ...
, and
Victoria. On November 17, it was announced that
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
would lead Rome, being a free leader released on November 21, obtained by linking a 2K Games account to ''Civilization VI''.
Reception
''Civilization VI'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
.
Critics like Scott Butterworth from GameSpot praised the game's nuanced additions and the unstacking of cities, which "adds a new strategic layer that fills a gap and creates greater variety in the types of thinking ''Civ'' demands."
IGN's Dan Stapleton echoed the same love for its "overwhelming number of systems" and for feeling "like a ''Civ'' game that's already had two expansions."
Peter Glagowski from
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
Histor ...
was slightly more critical, dubbing the religious victory condition in the game a "nuisance" and recommending "turning it off". He also lamented the lack of scenarios, the scrapping of the diplomatic victory condition (which would eventually be reintroduced in Gathering Storm), and the absence of
Steam Workshop support at launch.
The game shipped more than one million units in its first two weeks of release, making it the fastest-selling game in the ''Civilization'' series to date. By May 2017, the game had sold more than two million copies, contributing significantly to publisher Take Two's 2017 financial year, in which they reported revenues of $576.1 million. Take Two stated that ''Civilization VI'' was on track to surpass ''Civilization V''s lifetime sales of eight million copies. By 2019, the game had sold 5.5 million units, and by 2023, the total sales of the game were reported at over 11 million, making it the best selling game in the series.
The game won the Best PC Game and Best Strategy Game awards at the 2016
Game Critics Awards, as well as the Best Strategy Game at
The Game Awards 2016
The Game Awards 2016 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2016. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2016, and was live streamed across several platforms. During th ...
and the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. During the
20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded ''Civilization VI'' with
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year.
Analytics data
The game originally shipped with the advertisement tracking and
analytics
Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
software Red Shell, but this was removed after complaints by players, some of whom characterized the software negatively.
Other media
In August 2017,
Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would be publishing ''
Civilization: A New Dawn'', a board game building upon their 2010 release ''
Civilization: The Board Game'', incorporating new mechanics and features based on ''Civilization VI''. It was published in 2017.
An expansion pack to the game, called ''Terra Incognita'', was released in October 2020. The expansion introduces additional features from the video game, including more civilizations and districts.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Civilization 06
6
2016 video games
4X video games
Alternate history video games
Cooperative video games
Works about diplomacy
Historical simulation games
Top-down video games
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Video games designed by Sid Meier
Video games developed in the United States
Video games scored by Geoff Knorr
Video games using Havok
Video games using procedural generation
Lua (programming language)-scripted video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Multiplayer online games
Play-by-email video games
Multiplayer hotseat games
The Game Awards winners
Android (operating system) games
IOS games
Linux games
MacOS games
Nintendo Switch games
PlayStation 4 games
Windows games
Xbox One games
2K games
Aspyr games
Firaxis Games games
Netflix games
Take-Two Interactive games
Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great
Basil II
Depictions of Julius Caesar in video games
Cultural depictions of Catherine de' Medici
Depictions of Cleopatra in video games
Cultural depictions of Cyrus the Great
Cultural depictions of Elizabeth I
Cultural depictions of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
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Cultural depictions of Gorgo, Queen of Sparta
Cultural depictions of Hammurabi
Cultural depictions of Jadwiga of Poland
Jayavarman VII
Cultural depictions of Kublai Khan
Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln
Cultural depictions of Ludwig II of Bavaria
Cultural depictions of Moctezuma II
Pedro II of Brazil
Cultural depictions of Pericles
Cultural depictions of Peter the Great
Cultural depictions of Philip II of Spain
Cultural depictions of Qin Shi Huang
Cultural depictions of Ramesses II
Cultural depictions of Saladin
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Cultural depictions of Theodora I
Cultural depictions of Theodore Roosevelt
Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Cultural depictions of Trajan
Cultural depictions of Queen Victoria
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Yongle Emperor
Alhambra (Spain)
Angkor Wat
Bermuda Triangle in fiction
Bolshoi Theatre
Broadway (Manhattan)
Chichen Itza
Christ the Redeemer (statue)
Works about the Colosseum
Colossus of Rhodes
Crater Lake (Oregon)
Dead Sea
Delphi in fiction
Eiffel Tower in fiction
Eyjafjallajökull
Forbidden City
Galápagos Islands
Great Barrier Reef
Great Pyramid of Giza
Great Zimbabwe
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Hermitage Museum
Kakadu National Park
Library of Alexandria
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Mount Everest in fiction
Mount Kilimanjaro
Pantanal
Petra in fiction
Pinnacles National Park
Ruhr basin
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Stonehenge
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Torres del Paine National Park
Uluru
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Vinland
Yosemite National Park