Throughout our history, ordinary people have done extraordinary things. Illuminating our potential.
They inspired movements. Created the impossible. And destroyed the indestructible.
Ordinary people chose to change the world, chose to dream, to build, to hope. To always hope.
And if there's hope for one of us, there's hope for us all.
Now it's your turn to re-imagine civilization, and build something you believe in.
Introduction - 1:30
Welcome to the Official Gameplay Showcase interstitial
Sid Meier's Civilization VII interstitial
Sid Meier, Founder & Director of Creative Development, Firaxis Games
Hello Civ fans! On behalf of all of us here at Firaxis Games, we'd like to welcome you to a first look at the next chapter in our Civilization franchise: Civilization VII.
You know, looking back thirty years ago, Civilization was created during a time when we were still learning what games could really be. We were looking for that next big challenge to take on, which led us to thinking... what could be greater than putting the entire history of the world into a video game - and make it fun.
Three decades later, it's because of your passion, your love for Civ, that we're still here today.
In every game of Civ, you've gone on a journey, to build an empire to stand the test of time. And now the journey continues. Prepare to take just one more turn on February 11, 2025, when we launch Civilization VII across PC and consoles, all on day one, for the first time in franchise history.
This is by far the biggest, the most ambitious game, we've ever made at Firaxis. It represents a significant gameplay evolution for the Civ franchise, and it's a game we plan to support for many years to come.
Today, you'll learn about the vision for the game, the driving force that inspired our biggest new feature. You'll see your Civ world brought to life like never before, and you'll discover why Civilization VII promises to be a revolutionary new chapter in this franchise that we all love so dearly.
Please enjoy.
Heather Hazen, President of Firaxis Games
Civilization is the foundation of Firaxis. Whether you've been playing since the MS-DOS days, or have joined us more recently, we're so grateful for your continued passion and support.
When you walk around our studio, you can feel the energy and excitement. You can see how inspired our people are to come in and build the next Civ game.
Ed Beech, Creative Director
Civilization is the ultimate historical strategy game. Your goal in Civ is to build an empire to stand the test of time. You select a civilization, lead by a famous historical leader, and guide your civ's journey throughout the entire span of human history. You shape your empire piece by piece, from what technologies you want to research, to what civics you want your society to upload.
And you compete with others on the world stage. Engaging in diplomacy, negotiating alliances, and sometimes, going to war.
Dennis Shirk, Executive Producer
In every Civilization game your empire is always represented by a single civilization. You play through the entire span of history as that one civilization.
This time around, we want to take you onto a new journey.
Ed Beach
For the first time ever, in Civilization VII, the story of your empire isn't just that of a single civ, but several, connected through time. At the dawn of each new age of human advancement, you'll select a new civ to represent your empire. You'll build on and carry forward your previous achievements, while unlocking new gameplay bonuses to reinforce or pivot your strategy. And by the end, you will have forged a unique path through history.
To show you what we mean, let's take you through the story of one such empire.
First Look: Civilization VII - 5:35
Gwendoline Christie, Game Narrator
It is the dawn of a new age - the age of antiquity. Where humanity begins to take its first steps into the annals of history. The great pharaoh, Hatshepsut, leads the civilization of ancient Egypt.
Among the arid desert lands and a winding river, the seeds of our people are rooted in sand and water. To discover what treasures and dangers lay beyond, a brave scout begins to survey and map the surrounding lands.
As our population grows, a new granary is built to store food for hungry mouths. Its location decided, a new district is formed, and construction begins. With more food available, our people look to make improvements to the land.
An ancient fruit, ripe for cultivating, is spotted. Dates will provide more sustenance for our citizens, and their sweetness will make the people happy. A plantation is constructed to harvest this valuable resource.
Over time, our city continues to grow, as more urban and rural developments spring forth.
We pursue advancements in technology to serve the needs of our people. Breakthroughs in irrigation further enhance our food production, while sailing unlocks our ability to traverse the nearby waters.
It is now possible to journey farther and expand our empire. With a deft hand, our scout travels along a navigable river. Their tenacity is rewarded with the discovery of a breathtaking series of waterfalls.
This natural wonder of the world attracts the imagination of our people, and brave settlers begin the long trek to claim new land for the Egyptian empire.
A new town is established near the majestic falls. A town starts from humble beginnings, and is initially used to gather nearby resources. Perhaps in the future, this town will grow large enough to specialize and gain its own identity as a city.
Our expansion does not go unnoticed. A foreign scout is spotted, revealing the existence of a nearby independent power. Initial hostilities are tempered over time, as friendly relations begin to form.
And peace does not dampen our ambitions. Our people strive forth to create great wonders the world has never seen before.
As we continue to expand and explore the continent, we encounter new civilizations. They are eager to engage in the bartering of ideas and goods. Trade routes are established providing mutual access to each empire's resources.
But our rapid growth does not go unnoticed. Our neighbours' ambitions rival our own, setting us on a collision course. War is no longer avoidable.
A great army is raised, lead by formidable commanders who spur our forces quickly across the land. Spears and arrows make way for iron swords and armour. The battles are fierce. We emerge victorious.
But the challenges of this age have shaken our mighty Egyptian empire to its core. The world changes. We feel the pages of history turn, as the age of antiquity comes to close.
A new age of human advancement approaches. The age of exploration. A new age brings forth new challenges and new opportunities, new technologies to research, new resources to acquire, new lands to explore.
If we are to take on the challenges of this new age, we must adapt and select a new civilization to represent our empire, one that is better equipped to take on the challenges of the exploration age. This new civilization builds on top of its past legacy, and our actions in this age will inevitable influence a future yet to come.
As we evolve, so too do our neighbours. The stage is set. A new age begins. Will you follow a path set by history, or will you pivot and forge something anew? What kind of empire will you make? What strategies will you pursue? The future is yours to create. In Sid Meier's Civilization VII.
Introducing Ages - 11:59
Ed Beech
The journey of Hatshepsut, brought to life by our wonderful new narrator Gwendoline Christie, is just one potential path you can take in Civilization VII.
This is made possible by our biggest new feature: Ages. Ages are inspired by a transformational idea for Civ, that history is built in layers.
This idea is a way of understanding how civilizations have grown, changed, and evolved over time.
Dennis Shirk
Think of the first civilizations of the world as creating an initial foundation. As a civilization grows, new layers are added to that foundation, in a form of things like technologies, schools of thought, and cultural norms. At some point, civilizations faced with a crisis that defines their time, must evolve.
When that happens, these past layers don't disappear. Instead they now serve as a new foundation for the new civilization. As the cycle repeats, connecting the past, present, and future together.
Ed Beech
Instead of playing as one single civilization across every age, you'll evolve your empire into a new civilization for each new age. One that is suited to take on the historical challenges of that time.
Andrew Frederiksen, Lead Producer
Every age is designed to be like a historical sandbox, as a way to really immerse yourself in that time.
Almost everything inside an age is exclusive to that age. That includes things like which technologies and civics you can research, what resources are available to be gained, which independent powers surround you, to even things like gameplay systems, and civilizations, all unique to that age.
Carl Harrison, Game Designer
Having unique civs for each age is something we're really excited about. In the past, every civ needed to be balanced across a game that spans all of history. This naturally resulted in things like late era civs being strong in the late game, but weak early on.
Now, we can balance around the age itself. This means we can give every civ bonuses, units, and buildings, that are always relevant and powerful.
Having exclusive civs per age is also great for historical immersion. Every age feels like an epic showdown of some of the great powers of that time.
Dennis Shirk
We'll have 3 ages for you to play.
The antiquity age, when agricultural societies being to cluster into urban centers, forming the foundations of the first civilizations.
The exploration age, when the desire for precious commodities from distant lands spurs empires to stretch across great oceans.
And the modern age, a period of incredible technological growth and global conflict, where mankind goes from the development of the steam engine to the splitting of the atom.
Every age can be played on its own or woven together in a full campaign.
Reimagining Leaders - 15:13
Ed Beach
In past games, civs and leaders were always tied together and came as package deal of agendas, abilities, units, and more.
With civs being exclusive to ages, we are excited to introduce a new innovation for leaders.
For the first time in franchise history, leaders are now selected independently from civilizations. You can now mix and match unique parts of different civs and leaders, unlocking all new strategic combinations, staying true to Civ's spirit of experimentation. For players who want to stick to more historical pairings, a useful indicator will appear on the civ selection screen.
Carl Harrison
We are also taking the opportunity to expand who we consider to be a leader in Civ7. We will consider to have traditional heads of state, such as Hathsepsut, but we also excited to have new leaders in areas such as philosophy, religion, science and more.
Dennis Shirk
Having leaders stay across the ages helps bring a sense against who you are playing against in Civilization VII. It also gives you the opportunity to keep the theme of evolution going. As your empire evolves from one age to the next, it's important that your leader grows as well.
All leaders now have attributes that can further specialize through skills. These attributes can be gained in a variety of ways, from completing narrative events, to rewards for researching certain technologies and civics.
Overall, leaders are getting a huge upgrade. They are more powerful, more varied, and more strategically interesting than ever. We cannot wait for you to discover your new favourite leader in Civilization VII.
Evolving Your Empire interstitial
Dennis Shirk
When one age ends, and you begin an age transition, it is an incredibly exciting moment. You will select a new civilization to represent your empire in the new age, you chose parts of your past civ to carry forward into the new one, and the game map literally expands, filled with new independent powers to befriend, new resources to acquire, and new discoveries to be made.
Andrew Frederiksen
During an age transition, there are a few factors that determine which civ you can involve into. This includes any historical connections between your previous and future civ, your choice of leader, and even certain gameplay decisions which you made in the past age. Every civ plays different. Across your game, you might want to stay as true to history as possible, only selecting civs that have historical ties to each other, or you might switch to civs that fit your strategic needs.
Ed Beach
There are so many possible paths to explore, so many different choices you can make. The potential for strategy in Civilization VII is nearly endless.
Bringing Your Civ World to Life - 18:15
Dennis Shirk
Something we hear often from players is about how when you play a game of Civ, you forget the world around you. Video games, more than any other medium, have this ability to completely immerse you in another universe.
Whether it's through art, music, cinematic moments, or language, our goal is to bring your Civ world to life.
Jason Johnson, Senior Art Director
Getting the look and feel for Civilization VII right is critical. So it's important to make sure we are capturing that through our art style.
I spent a lot of time as a kid in museums, especially in the diorama sections, and being able to walk by and see these little miniatures that aren't moving, but there's a story told in them, is something I always found intriguing.
Technology changes every time we put one of these games out, and each time we put one out we can do more, and we're at a spot in the industry now where we've just got a lot of, a lot of tools and a lot of power under our belts to represent the entire world of Civilization.
We're hoping that the players can look into this game, see the diametric detail on this, and tell their own stories that they've never told before.
Everything is going to fit together in such a different way than it has in the past from Civilization, and I think it's going to give you a much more realistic version of the simulation that you're trying to create.
We took a lot of what we learned from Civ VI, and learned from that, trying to open up some more spaces and everything, and we adjusted the tone from VI a bit, and I think it's what our fans are looking for, and it's going to be a lot of fun for them.
It's something that nobody else is doing, and nobody but Firaxis can do.
John Fitzgerald, Lead Unit Artist
I think players will love how combat looks. We greatly expanded the variety of units in Civ VII.
Units now constantly engage one another. You'll see and hear the clashing of swords and steel. Units have a higher level of fidelity than ever before. Everything from the little parts and pieces and details on the armor set, to the entire representation of a whole army on a battlefield.
I feel like this is going to become your Civ. Like, this is, this is the one. It has the look.
Rachel Schneider, Lead Artist
Firaxis takes its representations of different cultures in Civ VII very seriously.
Language is a critical part of Civilization. It's how people tell their story.
This is important because we are trying to teach through this game, and it's important through our players. They want to see their cultures represented correctly. In many cases, some players have never seen their cultures represented anywhere else. It brings great pride and joy to be able to see themselves included in the history of the world.
Dennis Shirk
Music also plays an important role in bringing out the spirit and essence of each civilization.
Every civ has its own theme, and we're excited to share that Chris Tin, who composed the Grammy Award winning theme Baba Yetu for Civilization IV, and the main theme for Civilization VI, is returning for Civilization VII. And we cannot wait for you to hear it.
Looking to the Future - 21:47
Ed Beech
Today represents just an initial look at what's to come in Civilization VII. We have so much more to share, from gameplay deep dives to first looks at new leaders and civilizations, to what you can expect from Civ VII post-launch.
Dennis Shirk
Sid Meier's Civilization VII releases on February 11, 2025, and is available to pre-order today.
Players who pre-order Civilization VII will receive the Tecumseh and Shawnee pack.
If you haven't already, be sure to create a 2K account, and sign up for our Civ newsletter to receive the latest updates. Doing so will unlock the exclusive "Emperor" persona for Napoleon in Civilization VII.
And as a special thank you, if you use that same 2K account to play Civ VI, you'll automatically unlock Napoleon's "Revolutionary" persona in Civ VII.
Check out our website at civilization.com for full details, and be sure to follow Civ for all the latest.
Heather Hazen
We hope you enjoyed this first look at Civilization VII. The entire team at Firaxis has been working very hard to make sure we deliver a game that gives you more reasons to take just one more turn.
Sid Meier
As we welcome Civ VII into the Civ family, I think back to the legacy of Civilization.
The 30 years of development, refinement, iteration, exploration, of the millions of players that have contributed, of the billions of hours that have been played. I'm so proud to be here for this moment, welcoming Civ VII into the family.
February 11th, 2025 isn't too far away. We're excited to be taking this journey with you.
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