Civilization VI

Now begins your greatest quest: from this early cradle of civilization on towards the stars.

Civilization VI is an entry in the Civilization game franchise following Civilization V. The game again uses the 4X genre of gameplay, encouraging players to explore the map, build new cities and claim territory, build improvements to those cities, and if needed combat enemy civilizations and barbarians.

In a typical game, players start with a settler and a warrior. Players settle their first city, and then use their warrior to explore the nearby areas on a map of hexagonal tiles, fending off barbarians and meeting friendly tribes, and potentially city states or other civilizations. As the early game progresses, the player may build new units, settlers, or focus on growing their city with simple improvements. As the tech and culture trees progress, more units, districts and buildings are unlocked, and the player can begin to build wonders - powerful buildings that take up a tile and offer immense buildings to either that city or the entire civilization. Also in the early game, the player is also able to construct traders, units that can form roads as they trade with other cities, making traversing the map faster for units. Some players may choose to focus on the faith of their civilization, eventually founding a religion as a result, which offers its own powerful bonuses and perks, as well as ways to counteract other players proselytizing in their lands. When the player advances to a new era, they may find themselves in a golden age, a normal age, or a dark age depending on how well they did on their era score previously. A golden age offers the player boons, while a dark age is a punishing time with some unique options that are double edged swords. Players that claw their way back from a dark age and into a golden one get to instead use an even more powerful heroic age.

As the game progresses to the mid-game the player is able to field sizable amounts of troops, can double down on expansion, trade and religion, or focus on research and cultural development, each of which can aid in attaining a victory condition, such as a domination, cultural, religious, diplomatic, scientific, or score victory. Players can also begin to engage in world diplomacy and espionage to either boost their own civilizations efforts, or to hamper and hinder the efforts of other civilizations. While it is quite possible to attain victory prior to it, in the late game, much of the map will be explored, and decisions made in the early and mid game will determine what options players have to seek victory as quickly and safely as possible. By the end of the game, players in the lead will frequently have sprawling empires, near or complete maps of the planet, powerful weapons, and many cities capable of high production, with the threat of global warming potentially looming if players recklessly generated carbon in the mid-game onwards.

It was developed by Firaxis Games and first released in 2016. The game can be acquired from Steam here for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Netflix subscribers can play it and all of the DLC as part of their subscription on Android and iOS, with a separate trialware version available for each platform otherwise. Console versions also exist, with the game being playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S through the Xbox store, on the PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation store, and on the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop. It was followed by the release of Civilization VII in 2025.

Tropes used in Civilization VI include:

4X: The gameplay encourages the player to explore, expand, improve their holdings, and compete with other civilizations.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: AI leaders in command of a civilization are willing to cede a lot for peace if they are loosing a war badly.
Ancient Rome: The Roman civilization is led by either Trajan or Julius Caesar and can wield Roman legions and construct baths.
Artistic License Nuclear Physics: Nuclear Power Plants themselves emit notable amounts of carbon dioxide rather than their construction or fuel production, albeit at far lesser rates than oil or coal equivalents, and in stark contrast to renewable alternatives do not emit carbon dioxide at any point.
Art Shift: More stylized and somewhat cartoony and bright compared to the prior Civilization V.
Ancient Greece: Greece is led by either Pericles or Gorgo, and can deploy hoplites. The ancient Macedons are also playable as a distinct faction with a "Hellenistic Fusion" ability, and are of course led by Alexander the Great.
Black Comedy: If you send a delegation to meet with Abraham Lincoln, he will offer to personally escort them to a theater.
Bookworm: Kristina is the leader of Sweden, but she frequently remains engaged in her book while interacting with the player, unlike other leaders who give them their full attention.
Canada, Eh?: The Canadian civilization is led by Wilfrid Laurier and has unique characteristics like the ability to create mounties and the Four Faces of Peace preventing surprise attacks on or by Canada.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Cyrus of Persia has a unique ability that gives his civilization large bonuses when he declares a surprise war, encouraging this in a play style.
Church Militant: Civilizations can employ warrior monks as religious units capable of combat.
Comeback Mechanic: Players who enter a dark age are punished, though if they can attain a golden age by the next age they instead enter a heroic age, with bonuses above what a typical golden age offers.
Cosmetic Award: Players can earn achievements for completing certain actions.
A Crack in the Ice: A researcher falls into a crack in the intro for Gathering Storm.
Culture Chop Suey: Most games will lead to at least some degree of this, as the recruitable governors and great people all come from different backgrounds. Avoiding this in a game requires passing on powerful abilities.
Demoted to Extra: Venice is a nonplayer City State, whereas in Civilization V it was a playable civilization.
Eagle Land: The American civilization is led by either Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt who can make use of units like Rough Riders.
Experience Points: Units can earn experience points through combat or other means.
Glorious Mother Russia: The Russian civilization led by Peter the Great has an ability called "Mother Russia".
Historical Domain Character: The civilization leaders are based on historic people.
Hollywood Global Warming: The Gathering Storm expansion adds a simple global warming mechanic where usage of coal, oil, and nuclear power plants emit carbon dioxide, risking ice melt and sea level rise, as well as increasing disasters.
Humongous Mecha: Players can build a "Giant Death Robot" once enough technological progress is made. It towers over old wonders like the pyramids.
In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: As is series tradition Sid Meier is featured as a creator with the full official name of the game being Sid Meier's Civilization VI.
Life Meter: A projected one is shown when initiating combat.
Multi-Platform: Released across personal computer platforms, mobile devices, and game consoles.
Narrator: One occasionally reads out text, such as when the map is initially loading.
Public Domain Soundtrack: Various short versions of public domain music can be heard through the game, such as "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky when building the Hermitage, or bits of "O Canada" playing while near the Canadian civilization.
Scenery Porn: The game lets the player zoom in to the game map, showing a detailed view of the landscape and the various cities and settlements.
Suffer the Slings: Slingers are an early ranged unit.
Tech Tree: A Technology Tree is viewable in game, showing the paths that a given line of technological development progresses towards.
Themed Cursor: Civilization VI stylizes the cursor to match with the aesthetic of the rest of the game.