Civ Remastered

[CivKirk64]

I voted for I and IV
IV is my favourite, & I never really played much of I (One) I mostly watched my friend play a SNES port of it and that's when I ran out and bought Civ2 Gold and was hooked for life.

If we wanna get really nuts I'd want 4 but put Hexes and 1UPT. 1upt might mess with the balancing so I could live without it.
Four with Hexes with updated graphics that actually runs on my computer would be really fun to try. I think I'd miss what features added in 5,6,7 so I'd jump back to VII,

 

[Crashdummy]

Civ IV was everything a Civ game should be

SMAC was the best sci fy one

 

[bladex1200]

I voted III and IV because I grew up with them, but I do feel IV would benefit the most from a remaster with VII graphics as it suffers from "early 2000s low-polygon 3d graphics" syndrome. At least III has nice-looking sprite work.

EDIT: Changed vote to also add SMAC because I've tried to get into it but the low resolution, difficulties running on a modern PC, and subpar UI (especially given the new mechanics like terrain height/humidity, terraforming, and unit creator) make it difficult to get into for someone more used to the newer games.

 

[Lazy sweeper]

Civ IV with nerfed Gallic Warriors, no Armies, no Crusaders, Pathetic Legionaires?
No Thanks.

Civ III with Civ V graphics? That would be interesting.
Civ IV is perfect as it is. Plenty of mods.
Civ V also.

Civ III on the other hand, has been put in a corner. Labeled as obsolete graphics and forgotten.
We dreamt of a Civ III that would continue into SMAC if you could pull off science victory.
That is still the ultimate dream.
Not just a Remaster.

A NEW game in isometric style that would push the limits of imagination to its limits.
600 Civs.
Dynamic terrascaping of entire planets.
Complete annihilation of entire planets ecosystems.
Or powerful Animals-Aliens Ai-reproduction systems.

Try to do that level of sandboxing in Civ VII graphics would never work.

I would never buy a Civ IV with better graphics.
Or a Civ III with better graphics.

I want to play Civ VIII with a focus on sandboxing, and if that requires going back to pixel graphics, so be it.

Nobody is playing Civ games for its graphics. Maybe a switch that use Civ VII graphics on Civ III would be cool to see.
Just as a fun project to watch your GPU melt down.
If it can load any WWII scenario without melting than it may be implemented, but it would need a LOT of optimization.
I'd rather spend my resources on expanding the sandboxing experience and stay 2D than stretch again before
having made any significant advancement in gameplay direction.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

If we wanna get really nuts I'd want 4 but put Hexes and 1UPT. 1upt might mess with the balancing so I could live without it.

A New Dawn mod for Civ IV lets you select the rule for how many units there can be on a tile. I usually play it with 15 UPT. I could live without hexes, but couldn;t without some limit on units per tile. Unmodded Civ IV stacks of doom are the most hated thing of all civilization series (well, maybe except Civ VII) to me.

 

[Uberfrog]

I don’t really agree with the concept of “remastering” and repackaging old games. I agree that compatibility updates are good for keeping old games playable, but I don’t think a game should be taken from its initial context, and graphics are a big part of that. I also think that it represents a depressing conservatism in the games industry that sees innovation and iteration passed over for recycling the same old packages and banking on nostalgia.

Especially as today’s graphics will look old in another 10 years anyway.

 

[itix]

Civ VI is 9 years old without looking outdated...

 

[bladex1200]

I don’t really agree with the concept of “remastering” and repackaging old games. I agree that compatibility updates are good for keeping old games playable, but I don’t think a game should be taken from its initial context, and graphics are a big part of that. I also think that it represents a depressing conservatism in the games industry that sees innovation and iteration passed over for recycling the same old packages and banking on nostalgia.

Especially as today’s graphics will look old in another 10 years anyway.

At the end of the day, it's entertainment. Some of us are not interested in taking risks with our entertainment nor do we find the new trends in the industry appealing. Sometimes, in the end, if you just want escapism, you escape into the imagined past. And that's kind of what a remaster of a game or an HD re-release of an old film can act as - a neat little package of the past as you imagined or remembered it.

Conservatism in culture and society is depressing in a lot of ways, but I think when it comes to entertainment sometimes nostalgia really soothes the aches and pains. After all, people love Disney (disregarding the horrible political and social implications of some of their ideas, just talking about as a server of entertainment). And what is classic Disney if not weaponized nostalgia?

 

[Uberfrog]

At the end of the day, it's entertainment. Some of us are not interested in taking risks with our entertainment nor do we find the new trends in the industry appealing. Sometimes, in the end, if you just want escapism, you escape into the imagined past. And that's kind of what a remaster of a game or an HD re-release of an old film can act as - a neat little package of the past as you imagined or remembered it.

Conservatism in culture and society is depressing in a lot of ways, but I think when it comes to entertainment sometimes nostalgia really soothes the aches and pains. After all, people love Disney (disregarding the horrible political and social implications of some of their ideas, just talking about as a server of entertainment). And what is classic Disney if not weaponized nostalgia?

I get it, I do. It’s just… all those things you’re now nostalgic about? They were once new. It wasn’t so long ago! Civ 4 was an innovation, Oblivion was an innovation, Metal Gear Solid 3 was an innovation.

Now in 2025, only one of those franchises released a new product. What are they going to be remastering in 20 years?

 

[bladex1200]

I get it, I do. It’s just… all those things you’re now nostalgic about? They were once new. It wasn’t so long ago! Civ 4 was an innovation, Oblivion was an innovation, Metal Gear Solid 3 was an innovation.

Now in 2025, only one of those franchises released a new product. What are they going to be remastering in 20 years?

I totally get it's not sustainable and it's robbing Peter to pay Paul, it's grinding up the seed corn and burning the last of the fuel reserves. But, frankly, with how much gaming has become a DLC and microtransaction-riddled scam and how much franchises I once loved have just failed to evolve in any meaningful way, I don't really give a crap if these companies go under when I'm old and can't play video games anymore.

Call it a boomer attitude, but this is the entertainment industry. If it wants to kill itself so I can pay a few dollars to have some fun, who am I to tell them no?

EDIT: Also worth noting I'm not saying it's a good attitude or a good long-term strategy for the industry. I'm just saying there's a clear market for nostalgia and has been for a long time and older games in the franchise such as Civ III, IV, and SMAC obviously are old enough to have enough nostalgia built up from disillusioned (or just not currently-gaming) fans to be possibly profitable to remaster/graphically-remake and release in the meantime of attempting to innovate. And even if the innovation ultimately fails, it's not like releasing remasters is going to somehow take away from innovation on new entries.

The lack of a new release in the Elder Scrolls is partially because people will keep rebuying Skyrim, but if Starfield is any indication then if Bethesda wasn't constantly remastering/porting Skyrim they'd likely just make a bad new entry in the franchise. So who cares if they keep remastering it? They clearly aren't capable of doing anything else well - if they were, they could have done so already (remastering clearly doesn't take an entire studio, evidenced by Starfield being produced during the era when all the Skyrim ports/remasters were happening).

 

[Core Imposter]

A New Dawn mod for Civ IV lets you select the rule for how many units there can be on a tile. I usually play it with 15 UPT. I could live without hexes, but couldn;t without some limit on units per tile. Unmodded Civ IV stacks of doom are the most hated thing of all civilization series (well, maybe except Civ VII) to me.

Obviously, there would be no point in remastering Civ IV and including 1UPT.

Improving the combat mechanics would be almost the whole point. Limiting stacks could be part of a better mechanic. The key issue is improving the AI. BTS AI was inept at stack mechanics - which helped the player a lot. Competent AI would address the snowballing problem. But I don't know that Firaxis has the capability to do it.

 

[Core Imposter]

A new Civ IV doesn't have to just be a new coat of paint. Civ V was such a huge departure from Civ IV that you could approach it as the "real" successor of IV. In an ideal world Civ V-VII would never have existed.

 

[Patine]

Civ V was such a huge departure from Civ IV that you could approach it as the "real" successor of IV.

Each iteration was a huge departure from their predecessor, right from 1-7, held together by core ideals, themes, and basic, framework, iconic game mechanics.

 

[Wardog]

Civ III would be my choice. I would pay VII price for a remaster of it.

 

[Naokaukodem]

It's funny how I was talking about a remaster/remake of Civ1 & Civ2 and soon after discovered this thread, already started, when I posted.

So, I voted for Civ1 & Civ2 ! IMO Civ3 has still pretty much nice graphics, and cannot it be played on Steam ? As to Civ4, sure it could use better less ugly graphics, but the mechanics here are kinda out of the menu of Firaxis IMO.

That's the whole problem I see with remasters/remakes. Firaxis has chose a road, for example they claimed that they didn't want SODs anymore, and as a result we got Civ5, Civ6 & Civ7.

If they were to remaster/remake Civ1 & Civ2, they would basically betray their nowadays vision. I'm thinking right now about Civ1 where when you are first on some ingame date, every AI declare war on you. It's not something Firaxis is willing to reproduce, as one of the major devs explained it was bad thing. Bad things, that's what Firaxis tried to improve along all their journey in Civ realm. IMO they reached an end with Civ5, with 1UPT, hexagons (for prestige more than for gameplay let's be honest, although the squares and 8 directions could be silly at times - like totally different paths could lead to the same location in the same time) and more unique uniques. IMO, there's nothing to add or remove to Civ5, although it could taste a little dry at times, especially with how happiness worked in Prince difficulty not to name it.

So Civ1 & Civ2 might seem attractive to me, especially in the context of nostalgia and maybe more fun now still (at the cost of replayability ? Nevermind, I would do all things possible to make it alive), but that's not something Firaxis would be happy to do IMO.

 

[Patine]

It's funny how I was talking about a remaster/remake of Civ1 & Civ2 and soon after discovered this thread, already started, when I posted.

So, I voted for Civ1 & Civ2 ! IMO Civ3 has still pretty much nice graphics, and cannot it be played on Steam ? As to Civ4, sure it could use better less ugly graphics, but the mechanics here are kinda out of the menu of Firaxis IMO.

That's the whole problem I see with remasters/remakes. Firaxis has chose a road, for example they claimed that they didn't want SODs anymore, and as a result we got Civ5, Civ6 & Civ7.

If they were to remaster/remake Civ1 & Civ2, they would basically betray their nowadays vision. I'm thinking right now about Civ1 where when you are first on some ingame date, every AI declare war on you. It's not something Firaxis is willing to reproduce, as one of the major devs explained it was bad thing. Bad things, that's what Firaxis tried to improve along all their journey in Civ realm. IMO they reached an end with Civ5, with 1UPT, hexagons (for prestige more than for gameplay let's be honest, although the squares and 8 directions could be silly at times - like totally different paths could lead to the same location in the same time) and more unique uniques. IMO, there's nothing to add or remove to Civ5, although it could taste a little dry at times, especially with how happiness worked in Prince difficulty not to name it.

So Civ1 & Civ2 might seem attractive to me, especially in the context of nostalgia and maybe more fun now still (at the cost of replayability ? Nevermind, I would do all things possible to make it alive), but that's not something Firaxis would be happy to do IMO.

Remastering Civ2 would kill it's easy and robust moddability, and, thus, it's massive modding, scenario-making, and graphics-making community.

 

[Naokaukodem]

Remastering Civ2 would kill it's easy and robust moddability, and, thus, it's massive modding, scenario-making, and graphics-making community.

It wouldn't "kill" anything. Old Civ2 wherever you get it and however you make it run would still be there.

 

[tman2000]

I would remaster 2 and 4 since I think a proper 2 remaster that's anything other than "in the spirit of 2" would be too rudimentary.

When it comes to remasters, there are these outsourcing firms that have don't have the art direction skills to do it right. See: Advanced Wars for Switch. I'd take Civ 2, update the UI and audio, and then redo all the sprites with good art direction as high rez painted style sprites (maybe modify the art style slightly over time if you're ambitious). Animated sprites. Nevertheless, 2D. Then just port in Civ 2 itself with minimum QoL adjustments, maybe AI. Then give as full as possible scenario/popular mod/feature pack. The motherlode. Anything that doesn't add or require new art.

Then, if an art asset gussie up on 4 with minimal changes and additions to gameplay or content, featuring the full expansion set, scenarios and popular mods (Ryse and Fall) is packaged with the 2 remaster I described and both look good, I think they could price at $70.

You'd be paying for completeness and prettiness, maybe some multiplayer facilitation. That might not seem worth $70, but if they properly redo the art with a qualified art direction team and full overhaul, I think it would be. I think it would be very popular too, for content creators too.

Imagine pretty little hundreds of animated civ 2 sprites fighting over territory, little nukes flying.

 

[tman2000]

Remastering Civ2 would kill it's easy and robust moddability, and, thus, it's massive modding, scenario-making, and graphics-making community.

I proposed a mere graphics overhaul for 2, just new hi-rez animated sprites. But the fullest possible inclusion of content.

What would be really cool is if this remaster could accept classic mods. I think that might be possible.

Basically the remaster would be a virtual DoS console in effect that writes to an updated graphical output engine. So that virtual console would have no problem accepting classic mods.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

While cool at the time, I kind of doubt 2 would hold up except for nostalgia purposes. I voted for it, don't get me wrong. I remember finding some exploit or "genius" strategy and thinking I was clever, but that was before the hive mind of forums/etc discovering that stuff within a few minutes of release or before.

On the upside, I could get patches without the "beeee-RRRR-ERRRRR-eRRRRR" and explaining to my parents why I needed to use the phone for the next four hours.

I wish FXS could get back the IP for AC. Keep all of the quotes and the mood and even the graphics if need be, with some modern mechanics.