Devilbound
Chieftain
TL;DR: It is extremely unfinished like everything these days but it is innovative and fresh. If you're hardcore Civ player, then try it out. Otherwise wait a couple of years for when an expansion launches. By that time it _should_ be more finished. As always.
I do not want to give a bad review since I do feel that this is going to be really good in time. Maybe after some months, but tbh more likely after an expansion or two. And this has received plenty of negative rep so far, more than is warranted imho. The game is really good, and innovates the series in a much needed fresh fashion - this is coming from me having played the series as my main since 1991.
Now, I will add to this review later on but for now suffice it to say that even though I give it a positive review against my normal habits regarding modern games (the industry is a toilet), the game is a mess. Not a hopeless failure like Cities Skylines 2 f.e, but still super bad. The amount of micromanagement is staggering if you really want to have your civ the way you want. You have to take into account things happening in the far future, which you will have no way of having any knowledge about before you enter the time. And the game doesn't tell you any of this. The UI doesn't really even properly let you play the game, not to mention actually doing what UI is supposed to do, give you information and help you manage the game. I don't think it looks bad which is an issue for many (not an important thing, at all here, for me), but it just doesn't do what an UI is supposed to do. Like almost at all. Plus, the UI bugs out all the frigging time. I mean all the time, every turn if you do anything there are small bugs like city yields being incorrect - many which you only notice if you go looking though. But who wouldn't look at the UI? And far be it from being just the UI, there are so many issues with basically each and every single damn aspect of the game it is nothing short of astonishing. Or would be if it weren't the new industry standard. Like it is a rare game these days where a simple function such as the main menu option to "continue the game" would work. Same as with Cities 2, Civ 7 does not load the last save, instead it loads the last auto-save. Infinite facepalm here.... And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are really great, even epic, ideas and new concepts in the game. But they really aren't finished or even well thought out, at all. Maybe one or two tiny bits of the game feel like they're ready and well made. I still think Civ 6 was at least as unfinished when it launched, but this is bad. Real bad. And getting review bombed. Firaxis has made the usual modern error of releasing a couple of years too early.
The overwhelming sensation that the game hates the player is palpable to me a little too often. Little like some old school game that was hard just because it was made so hard to control. The game does not hold your hand, at all again, but what it does instead is slap you on the wrists. And the face. With a fist. That's grabbing a hammer. Without any reason. Then does that to your balls.
I have probably never felt in my entire life that a game literally hates the player as much as this does, apart from the obvious ones like beating Contra without dying. Still very much enjoying it though. It is far, far better than I feared but it is still a sorry mess, there is no escaping the fact. But recommended by me for civ fanatics who don't mind doing everything themself and who don't mind playing the game a hundred hours just to get to grips with how it is played. I don't mind that all that much myself, I am happy there is a new Civilization with innovating new ideas that crashes almost never except when I close the program. And the unit pathing actually works in this installment, something that is bugged in Civ 6 even to this day. Now that is something. And it is pretty. So very, very pretty for a civ game. Kind of obvious where the development values were emphasized.
Also have to give it to Firaxis they're doing a great job at patching up stuff so far. Marathon is now playable too. Yay for patches. Now patch the minimap teleporting you all around, thank you very much. That is annoying as can get.
I do not want to give a bad review since I do feel that this is going to be really good in time. Maybe after some months, but tbh more likely after an expansion or two. And this has received plenty of negative rep so far, more than is warranted imho. The game is really good, and innovates the series in a much needed fresh fashion - this is coming from me having played the series as my main since 1991.
Now, I will add to this review later on but for now suffice it to say that even though I give it a positive review against my normal habits regarding modern games (the industry is a toilet), the game is a mess. Not a hopeless failure like Cities Skylines 2 f.e, but still super bad. The amount of micromanagement is staggering if you really want to have your civ the way you want. You have to take into account things happening in the far future, which you will have no way of having any knowledge about before you enter the time. And the game doesn't tell you any of this. The UI doesn't really even properly let you play the game, not to mention actually doing what UI is supposed to do, give you information and help you manage the game. I don't think it looks bad which is an issue for many (not an important thing, at all here, for me), but it just doesn't do what an UI is supposed to do. Like almost at all. Plus, the UI bugs out all the frigging time. I mean all the time, every turn if you do anything there are small bugs like city yields being incorrect - many which you only notice if you go looking though. But who wouldn't look at the UI? And far be it from being just the UI, there are so many issues with basically each and every single damn aspect of the game it is nothing short of astonishing. Or would be if it weren't the new industry standard. Like it is a rare game these days where a simple function such as the main menu option to "continue the game" would work. Same as with Cities 2, Civ 7 does not load the last save, instead it loads the last auto-save. Infinite facepalm here.... And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are really great, even epic, ideas and new concepts in the game. But they really aren't finished or even well thought out, at all. Maybe one or two tiny bits of the game feel like they're ready and well made. I still think Civ 6 was at least as unfinished when it launched, but this is bad. Real bad. And getting review bombed. Firaxis has made the usual modern error of releasing a couple of years too early.
The overwhelming sensation that the game hates the player is palpable to me a little too often. Little like some old school game that was hard just because it was made so hard to control. The game does not hold your hand, at all again, but what it does instead is slap you on the wrists. And the face. With a fist. That's grabbing a hammer. Without any reason. Then does that to your balls.
I have probably never felt in my entire life that a game literally hates the player as much as this does, apart from the obvious ones like beating Contra without dying. Still very much enjoying it though. It is far, far better than I feared but it is still a sorry mess, there is no escaping the fact. But recommended by me for civ fanatics who don't mind doing everything themself and who don't mind playing the game a hundred hours just to get to grips with how it is played. I don't mind that all that much myself, I am happy there is a new Civilization with innovating new ideas that crashes almost never except when I close the program. And the unit pathing actually works in this installment, something that is bugged in Civ 6 even to this day. Now that is something. And it is pretty. So very, very pretty for a civ game. Kind of obvious where the development values were emphasized.
Also have to give it to Firaxis they're doing a great job at patching up stuff so far. Marathon is now playable too. Yay for patches. Now patch the minimap teleporting you all around, thank you very much. That is annoying as can get.
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