Firaxis are still working to improve Civilization VII, with a big update coming in June and a smaller update out now. Recently, the game unfortunately hit Mostly Negative on all the recent reviews, so they've got their work cut out for them.
For the June update, it's going to be a big one and includes lots of features that really should make more players happy with it. Some of what they've revealed includes:
- Large & Huge Map Support.
- Steam Workshop Support.
- Improved Game Setup Options.
- New Religious Beliefs and Balance.
- New City State Bonuses and Balance.
- New Town Specializations and Balance.
- Specialist Balance.
- Treasure Fleet Improvements.
- UI & Quality-of-Life Improvements.
With the v1.2.1 update that's out now there's a Linux and macOS fix noted "Adjusted rendering resolution when launching in fullscreen mode" and for Steam Deck they "Addressed reported UI issues during multiplayer games". On top of some new features:
Pangaea Plus Map Type
Added a new map type: Pangaea Plus. This map type features a single large central landmass that all civs start on. Surrounding islands are Distant Lands to all players and are home to Treasure Resources in the Exploration Age.
Increased Multiplayer Player Limit
Increased the maximum number of human players on all maps in Antiquity and Exploration. The max number of players in these ages now matches the number in Modern. Max human player numbers in Antiquity and Exploration are now (Tiny: 4; Small: 6; Standard: 8).* Note that the Standard map size is not available on Nintendo Switch, but the expanded player counts for Tiny and Small map sizes do apply.
Dev note: Players who would not fit on the Homelands are instead spawned in the Distant Lands and can make progress to the Legacy Paths in Antiquity and Exploration. Their progress is now tracked in the Legacy Path screen.
There's a lot of balance changes too, AI improvements, controller input adjustments, narrative fixes and so on you can see in the full changelog.
Direct Link
You can also find comments for this article on social media: Last edited by coolitic on 28 May 2025 at 2:52 pm UTC
Kimyrielle a day ago
Anyhow, most of these issues aren't fixable, unless by "fixable" we mean re-designing the entire game from the ground up, and the ones that are (such as the leaders) just won't be fixed. Look at that dlc list. When did this game come out again?
Mountain Man 20 hours ago
As it is, we would just like to throw it in the trash and get our money back, but the terms and conditions of sale do not allow us to get our money back !!
If they don't give us back the gameplay of Civilization V, I will never buy games from Firaxis Games or 2K again !!
Or: Gimme back my Civ2, and get off my lawn!
One more thought: back in the day you'd play games for the fun of it, and that would extend to people reviewing games in the media. They'd play their share, it'd maybe come across in the publication that everyone is crazy about playing X at the moment etc, but once they were done - that was it. Some sleep lost over a cool new thing, but all relatively healthy still. These days The Algorithm pretty much dictates that THE way to run your YouTube channel is to laser-focus on a single game, make that your brand and very identity, build your life around it. And your income is on the line if you do that and rock the boat in any way. I'll skip the payola and how unhealthy these influencer-publisher relationships are, but I will say that if I spent half a decade playing Civ full time or near full time I'd be happy for any shake-up as well, the more radical the better, in fact, and I wouldn't care what it turns Civ into, or what constitutes the core of the identity of the game that is Civ. Does it have civs? Then whatever. After all, I'm looking at a decade of my life, right? The one and only thing that is a real objective problem in this context is... the interface. Which may sound familiar.
My take on the reception of Civ7.
Last edited by such on 29 May 2025 at 11:46 am UTC
CanadianBlueBeer 44 minutes ago
Denuvo still in for windows (or proton)
I am going to have to play it a bit more after the next update, only because
I paid for the danged thing.
The civ switching thing is still stupid on stilts.
Patreon
PayPal
How to install, update and see what graphics driver you have on Linux and SteamOS
How to set, change and reset your SteamOS / Steam Deck desktop sudo password
See more from me