Civ VI reviews on Steam

[Abaxial]

Having been playing Civ V a lot recently, I was thinking of trying Civ VI, but the player reviews on Steam are pretty damning, with many saying that the game is broken almost to unplayability at the moment. I assume people on this forum are playing it, so I wonder what the general opinion is here as to whether it is worth switching, or waiting until Firaxis fix things?

Of course, there are lots of enthusiastic reviews in the gaming press, but I tend to take the opinions of the Steam community seriously, since they are based on far more play time than the average journo will have put in.

 

[Siptah]

I think that civ VI is worth picking up. It is - in my opinion - a clear improvement with a lot of fun ideas. It does indeed have bugs and issues with the AI and interface. But civ V has them as well and if you enjoy that one, you'll probably enjoy civ VI (even more). I don't like steam reviews to be honest - it seems to be over the top all the time: either it is the greatest thing ever or because of some (or even a single) reason it is 'broken' (whatever that means to some people). If there is a sale, don't hesitate. If not and you don't want to risk spending too much, wait for a sale. I doubt that you'll regret it. My experience here in the forums is that people who didn't like civ V also don't like civ VI and people who liked civ V like civ VI even more. I think it is the better game already and I can't go back to civ V anymore.
And don't read the steam reviews on the DLCs... just don't.

 

[Turrdy]

Problem is with user reviews in general, be it Civ6 or any other product (a game, a car, a washing machine, toilet paper, or what so ever), people tend to comment more frequently when they're not happy with the product. Those who are happy normally just use (or play) it and don't have time and need to put their anger in words.
in my opinion civ 6 is very well playable and a lot of fun, especially with my friends in multiplayer!

 

[Guandao]

For me, the main bugs have to do with AI trade deals, and lack of declaring war on each other. It's annoying but doesn't break the game for me.
It might be better to wait until the first expansion for the game comes out, when they add more mechanics/fix bugs.

 

[Stilgar08]

I just wrote in another thread that I will refrain from buying any more CIV Vanillas after this experience, but the reviews on steam are just unfair and to harsh. Game is NOT unplayable and it IS a lot of fun, even in its current state! Combat AI is poor and at the moment trade is more or less broken. If you ignore trades to a certain extend you will have a lot of fun. And the trade bugs should be smashed with the next patch (hopefully ) Furthermore I'm pretty sure, CiVI will be the better game compared to CiV.

 

[Lee Duane Fitzsimmons]

I am enjoying the game, and I am really looking forward to any new versions or upgrades that might be available in the future.

For me, I like all of the additional detail in Civ VI. It really takes the game to a new level IMHO.

 

[Leyrann]

In my opinion, the core of the game is a vast improvement over Civ V. There are some elements of Civ VI that still need improving (the AI being the most major one, though it's seen significant improvements in patches so far, which gives a lot of hope), and there are a number of bugs, but I have played about 30 minutes worth of Civ V since the release of Civ VI, if that much, and I only even played that because I wanted to try out a mod that adjusted a number of mechanisms from Civ V that I did not enjoy.

If you ask me which Civ game to buy, I would say IV if you do not want to pay a lot of money, as it's an amazing, and complete, game, but VI if you're looking for the best game on the long-term, as Civ VI is already a great game with two expansions (most likely) still to come.

Oh, and regarding the AI, compared to Civ V, you will most likely need to scale up one difficulty level, maybe two, to get the same challenge. Yes, the AI is bad (though V's AI also gets complaints from the better players around here), but it's not like it can't bring you a challenge.

 

[comatosedragon]

Steam reviews (pretty much the whole Steam community, honestly) is an absolute cesspool.
You are wise to come here seeking advice instead.
That being said, this is from my Steam review of the game (I only made it to try to counteract all the butt-hurt whiny entitled half-men reviews which are objectively useless):

"This is an excelent game. Fantastic systems, and excellent room for growth with forthcoming DLC and expansions. You probably already know what you are in for -- If the only civ game you have played before is CIV V BnW, you may be disappointed. Civilization is about evolution. That being said, this is the best 'vanilla' release since Civ III."

 

[Archon_Wing]

There are a number of problems thst should have never passed muster and the recent patch broke a lot of things which have to wait a few months before fixing.

But on the other hand some feedback seems to be taken seriously and that should lead to good things I personally picked it up at half price and would recommend it if you can get it for around $30 us.

 

[Arent11]

Having been playing Civ V a lot recently, I was thinking of trying Civ VI, but the player reviews on Steam are pretty damning, with many saying that the game is broken almost to unplayability at the moment. I assume people on this forum are playing it, so I wonder what the general opinion is here as to whether it is worth switching, or waiting until Firaxis fix things?

Of course, there are lots of enthusiastic reviews in the gaming press, but I tend to take the opinions of the Steam community seriously, since they are based on far more play time than the average journo will have put in.

We had severe problems with multiplayer desynching in LAN games. We had to stop playing civ 6 in the end, which was disappointing.

The game itself is ok, however, I don't like the design of the civilizations.

 

[Tech Osen]

The game mechanics are pretty decent and fun, imo. But the AI can't play the game in a way to make interesting opponents, they can only beat you at higher difficulty lvls because of cheating.

 

[Spudsie74]

Well worth it (Lots of fun/good replay value). The purchase also allows you to post critical remarks about the AI, 1 UPT, the sad state of corporate run PC Game Mills, Firaxi's entire QC team, & anyone who doesn't agree with how you view Civ 6.

Seriously, I have ~2,000 hours on it. Probably double that time reading & posting on this forum.

 

[Human Crouton]

Steam reviews are terrible on an individual basis, but I tend to agree with them over the long term. The individual reviews are nonsensical and unhelpful, but good games usually end up getting good scores, and bad games getting bad scores.
An important thing to notice is that the reviews were mostly positive early in the game's life, but are mixed now. The optimism from last October has faded away for good reason. I wouldn't recommend VI to anyone.

 

[LedStone]

I can say OP that I was in he same boat when I thought of getting Civ 6 but then read the steam reviews. After buying Civ 6 I can say that if you liked Civ 5 then Civ 6 is really good too. There's a bit of a learning curve and just like Civ 5 vanilla, I feel like once Civ VI gets all the dlcs it will be amazing. Also a tip on buying Civ VI, I really recommend getting the digital deluxe version bc it's 20 bucks more but adds like 5 or so Civs and some scenarios I believe which adds a bunch of replayability.

Lastly, in general I found steam reviews to suck for many games that aren't really reflective of how good the game is. I'm a huge fan of Playersunknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Civ 6 for example but PUBG got tons of bad reviews from butthurt redditors because of PUBG devs adding purely cosmetic crates (they "broke their no crate promise" or some BS) and people always hate on new vanilla Civilizations a bit too much, probably because their used to complete editions of the previous Civ.

 

[bcaiko]

Civ6 is.......not as good as Civ5 right now. And it probably shouldn't be: Civ5 is a complete game. And, boy howdy, does Civ6 need some overhauls.

The game gets boring real fast. There are lots of choices that have minor consequences but ultimately don't matter. The devs didn't properly factor in opportunity costs into trade offs (why no one ever builds a Relgion unless going for Religious Victory). The UI is utter garbage. The game suffers from massive flavor fails: Civ choices are vastly Euro-centric, and the AI leaders lack personality because they don't do or say much (they do have a few phrases, which they only say when you activate their unskippable cutscenes - they don't even say "yes" or "no" during trade options). The attempts at making the leaders have comedic personality makes them have less gravitas and makes them all feel like stupid morons, which is unassisted by the fact that the AI doesn't seem up to the task of playing the game, especially in war.

It's not a bad game, not by a long shot. But listen to those Civ6 steam reviews. They come from somewhere. And the vast majority of folks on this board are only still here because they're still playing Civ6. Wait a year from now until it goes on sale - it needs the time to be made into a better game.

 

[bbbt]

I'd say in general, if you are mostly into empire-building and the like, it's worth it now.

If you want more of a competitive game that's a challenge on higher-levels, it's probably not there yet.

Unless you are really jonesing for a purchase now, there will probably be a Steam sale in like a month or two, where the game will probably be $20 cheaper. And by that point, another significant patch may be out.

 

[HorseshoeHermit]

Trade logic currently breaks the game.

 

[ThunderLizard2]

I was thinking of trying Civ VI, but the player reviews on Steam are pretty damning

Civ VI is not fully baked - stay with Civ V. The AI is the worst offender as the combat AI is ********, trade is broken, internal management is poor and diplomacy is horrible. Almost a year after launch little progress has been made. Since single-player is boring with a poor AI one would think multi-player would make up for it. Not the case as frequent disconnects make MP unusable. People on Steam aren't just bashing Civ VI gratuitously - the criticism is well deserved.

I suggest not supporting such a poor development studio that would release this warm steaming pile. Firaxis clearly have little respect for the Civ community to release this game and to not fix it after so long.

 

[bcaiko]

I suggest not supporting such a poor development studio that would release this warm steaming pile. Firaxis clearly have little respect for the Civ community to release this game and to not fix it after so long.

I give Firaxis more credit than this, even though my patience too is wearing thin. After Civ: Beyond Earth, Firaxis should be wary that their positive capital among Civ players is getting quickly worn through. Civ:BE was a disaster from beginning through its miserable end.

In general, though, I do think Firaxis is a company that is more likely to identify its mistakes and try to fix them.

 

[Tech Osen]

I give Firaxis more credit than this, even though my patience too is wearing thin. After Civ: Beyond Earth, Firaxis should be wary that their positive capital among Civ players is getting quickly worn through. Civ:BE was a disaster from beginning through its miserable end.

In general, though, I do think Firaxis is a company that is more likely to identify its mistakes and try to fix them.

Be that as it may: I'm certainly not pre-ordering another game from Firaxis, I'll wait for the reviews.