Civilization 7 Review: A Throne Left Empty, A Legacy Unfulfilled

Let me start with this: Civilization 7 is not a bad game. It’s competent, polished, and brimming with production values.

But competence isn’t enough when you’re the king of 4X strategy games. Civ 7 feels like a monarch who’s forgotten why they were crowned in the first place.

It’s a game that tries to innovate but ends up feeling like a hollow shell of its former glory. And as a lifelong Civ fan, that hurts.

Oh, how it hurts.

Also Read: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Review

The Good: A New Structure, A Promising Foundation

Civ 7 introduces a bold new structure: the game is divided into three distinct ages, each requiring you to adopt a new culture.

This is a departure from the traditional “one civilization, one leader” formula. On paper, it’s exciting! You’re no longer shackled to a single historical trajectory.

You can start as the Romans, pivot to the Mongols, and finish as the Americans. It’s a narrative playground, right?

Well, sort of.

The age system does shake things up. Each age resets foreign relations, trade, and building effects, forcing you to adapt. Cities can now downgrade into towns, which grow faster but have limited building options.

This adds a layer of strategy: do you focus on rapid expansion or specialize your settlements? It’s a fresh twist, and I’ll admit, I enjoyed the early-game scramble to establish my empire.

But here’s the catch: the execution feels… off.

The transitions between ages are jarring, and the narrative glue that’s supposed to hold it all together is practically nonexistent. More on that later.

The Bad: A Game That Feels Like a Chore

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Civ 7 is dull. Yes, it’s polished. Yes, it’s functional. But it lacks the soul that made its predecessors so captivating.

Take diplomacy, for example. In Civ 7, diplomacy is reduced to a series of bland, numerical interactions. Leaders have “agendas” that affect your relations, but these feel arbitrary and uninspired.

One leader might dislike you for having too many mountains. Another might reject your alliance offer despite centuries of friendship and trade.

There’s no personality, no charm. Compare this to Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, where leaders have quirks and motivations that make them feel alive. In Civ 7, they’re just cardboard cutouts with numbers attached.

And then there’s the narrative events. Oh, the narrative events. These are supposed to add flavor to your playthrough, but they’re so poorly executed that they might as well not exist.

A religious conflict? Sure, here’s a pop-up telling you to collect 50 culture or 80 food. A natural disaster?

Great, now you’ll spend the next hour manually repairing farms because the game won’t let you automate it.

The worst part?

The game’s interface is a nightmare. Information is buried in submenus, tooltips are inconsistent, and the encyclopedia is more concerned with historical trivia than actual gameplay mechanics.

Want to find that explorer you parked three turns ago? Good luck. Want to know why your adjacency bonuses aren’t working? Too bad.

The Ugly: A Lack of Character

Civ 7’s biggest sin is its lack of character. This is a game that’s supposed to span millennia, yet it feels utterly lifeless.

You can’t name continents, rivers, or even your own cities. The leaders are forgettable, the events are meaningless, and the world feels sterile.

I’ll never forget playing Civilization II as a kid. When a city was happy, a gentle tune played as people paraded through the streets, proclaiming, “We love the emperor!” It was a small detail, but it made the world feel alive.

In Civ 7, happiness is just a number.

Angry citizens burn down your buildings, and you’re left repairing them turn after turn. It’s frustrating, yes, but more than that, it’s boring.

The Verdict: A Throne Left Empty

Civilization 7 is a game of contradictions. It wants to be sleek and approachable, yet it’s bogged down by hidden rules and clunky mechanics. It wants to tell a story, yet its narrative events are eye-glazing chores. It wants to innovate, yet it feels like a step backward.

Is it a bad game? No. But for a series as legendary as Civilization, “not bad” isn’t good enough. Civ 7 feels like a game that’s lost its way, a king who’s forgotten why he was crowned. It’s a throne left empty, a legacy unfulfilled.

If you’re a die-hard Civ fan, you’ll probably find things to enjoy here. The city-building mechanics are solid, and the age system has potential. But for everyone else, I’d recommend waiting for a sale—or better yet, revisiting one of the older games in the series.

Because right now, the king isn’t dead. But he’s certainly not at his best.

Final Score: 6.5/10

Civilization 7 is a competent but uninspired entry in a legendary series. It’s worth a look for hardcore fans, but casual players may find it more frustrating than fun.

Accessibility Notes:

• Heavily mouse-driven, with definable keyboard shortcuts and controller support via Steam Input.
• Colorblind options for red, green, and blue deficiencies.
• Subtitles and OS-voice narration, though the latter is inconsistent and often overlong.
• Tooltips and font scaling could use improvement, as many icons and notifications are too small to be easily readable.

Pro Tip for Players: If you’re diving into Civ 7, focus on the Economic Legacy Path in Age 2. It’s the least tedious and offers a colonialism-themed race to siphon resources from distant lands. And for the love of all that’s holy, keep an eye on your happiness levels. Unhappy citizens will burn down your buildings, and repairing them is a pain you don’t need.