In every Civilization game your empire is always represented by a single civilization. You play through the entire span of history as one civilization. This time around, we want to take you onto a new journey. For the first time ever, in Civ7, the story of your empire is not 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 will build on and carry forward your previous achievements, unlocking new gameplay bonuses to reinforce or pivot your strategy. And by the end, you will have forged a unique path throug history. To show you what we mean, we will take you through the story of one such empire. [age of antiquity, Hatshepsut leading Egypt] 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 land to explore. If we are to take on the challenges of this new age, we must adapt and select a new Civilzation to represent our empire, one that is better equiped to take on the challenges of the exploration age. This new Civilization builds atop upon 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. [...] This is made possible by our biggest new feature: Ages. Ages are inspired by a transformational idea for Civ, that history is build in layers. This idea is a way of understanding how civs have grown, changed and evolved over time. Think of the first civs of the world as creating an initial foundation. As a civ grows, new layers are added to this foundation, in a form of things like technologies, schools of thought, and cultural norms. At some point, civs face a crisis that defines there times, must evolve. When that happens, these past layers don't disappear. Instead the serve as a new foundation for the new civ. As the cycle repeats, connecting the past, present and future together. Instead of playing one civ across every age, you evolve your empire into a new civ for each age. One which is suited to take on the challenges of that time. 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. This includes things like which technologies and civics you can research, which resources are available to be gained, which independent power surround you, to even things like gameplay systems, and civs, all unique to that age. Having unique civs for each age is something we are really excited about. In the past, each civ had to be balanced over a game which spans the whole history. This resulted in 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. We have 3 ages for you to play. The antiquity age, when agricultural socieites being to cluster into urban centers, forming the foundations of the first civs. The exploration age, when the desire for precious commodities, from distant lands spurs empires to stretch across great oceans. And hte modern age, a period of incrediclbe tech growth and global conflict, where mankind goes from the dev of the steam engine to the splitting of the atom. Every age can be played on its own or all togther in a full campgain.
With civs being inclusive to ages, we are excited to introduce a new innovation for leaders. For the first time in franchise history, leaders are selected indepdently from civs. You can now mix and match unique parts of different civs and leaders, unlocking all new strategic combinations, staying true to civs spirit of experimentation. For players who want to stick to more historical pairings, a useful indicator will appear on the civ selection screen. 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. Having leaders stay across the ages, helps bring a sense against who you are playing against in Civ7. It also gives you the opportunity to keep the theme of evolution going, as your empire evolves from one age to the next, it is important that your leader grows as well. All leaders now have attributes, that can further be specalized into skills. These attributes can be gained in a variety of ways, from completing narrative events, through rewards for researching certain technologies and civis. 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 Civ7.
When one age ends, and you begin an age transition, it is an incredibly exciting moment. You will select a new civ 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. 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 civs, 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 which have historic ties to each other, or you might switch to civs which fit your strategic needs. There are so many paths to explore, so many different choices you can make. The potential for strategy in Civ7 is nearly endless.
