The 7 Best New Civilization-like Strategy Games To Play In 2024 & 2025 | NOT Civ!

[@GamerZakh]

A lot of people complain about Civ, so I compiled these which maybe you think are better? And honestly if you haven't watched the other upcoming games lists from this year you're missing out: kzbin.info/aero/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp Playlist! They're popping off!

[@mrmarmellow555]

Hype🎉

[@txDDS]

I've played CIV I when it came out. I've been a huge CIV fan, but 2Ks data practices are ridiculous. They changed their tos after they released the latest iteration of the game, and if you don't agree to allow them to sell your data to third parties you can't play the game. Sorry I'm done with CIV.

[@Cris1Mac]

I love old world. Soren Johnson is the lead designer, he was as well for Civ 4. The AI is one of the best out there imho. If there is a thing I think it suffers from it’s information overload. As there is so much going on. UI can be difficult for a beginner. I had to read the whole manual to feel comfortable with it. It is quite good.

[@petergerr7901]

So glad you covered Old World, it's my favorite 'civ' game, hitting the sweet spot between Civ, a toned down CK3 and with mod support, event editor , and so many ways to play, it satisfies but doesn't overwhelm the way CK3 or other 4X games feel to me.

[@lauramayfair7887]

I really want to try a 4K type game. I tried Civ 6 and felt very overwhelmed. How is the Old World learning curve? Do you think a beginner could pick it up?

[@opfax163]

question : can you randomize the map ? or do you have to keep the real earth map like in CK ?

[@petergerr7901]

​@@lauramayfair7887 yes, there is a decent in-game tutorial set of scenarios on pre-made maps to help. I suggest watching a video series, Alcaras has a great series, several others too.

[@petergerr7901]

​@@opfax163Hi, yes, ample randomization settings and many starting map seed types (Seaside, Islands, Pangea, etc) that the game will randomize but you can get very specific with map and game features.

[@dreioo8759]

Thank you, Zakh. Always a realxing exploration of good, comfy games

[@GamerZakh]

Glad you're enjoying them!

[@JustSpectre]

Old World is definitely underrated. I play it since early access and it gone long, looong way. It is complex, yet still maintains its Civ feel. When you figure out it is mainly about resources balancing and get over all the event clutter, it gives you one of the best strategic experiences I have ever came across. Although it might be hard for beginners to understand, it's still easier to manage than Crusader Kings for example

[@Blacksage129]

I think of all the 4x-civ like games Old World has pushed the genre forward moreso than any of the new games recently. Extremely underrated i agree.

[@mikael8276]

Anyone who's not aware, there's this wonderful mod for Civilization V, called Vox populi. The AI plays almost as good as a human. 😉

[@felixisnr1]

yeap, overall great re-design for pretty much everything. feels like a much better version of civ5

[@m.v.r.3395]

Do you have a steam link?

[@mikael8276]

@@m.v.r.3395 Google it, not on steam

[@EnjoyYourself83]

Interstellar. Is it on Steam?

[@mikael8276]

@@EnjoyYourself83No, it's on Civ fanatics forum

[@WhiteGandalfs]

At a place where "FreeCiv" gets mentioned, i cannot resist to insist on mentioning "CivEvo" (lution) as well. It, too, is a Civ-2 clone, is free, has an interface that got usage improvements over the origin, has eliminated the randomness of fights and thus introduced complete predictability of gameplay, has introduced true and same server-client relations for humans as well as AI modules, has a well documented AI interface and is thus open to player made AI (well: if you are a programmer), comes with a challenging default AI module, has complete history recording for playthrough sessions, has fine tuned and well thought adjustments to the tech tree and wonders buffs. The only downfall i can assert for this civ version is shortcomings in the endgame: All AI versions developed so far for this game tend to have limitations beginning with industrialization. That's not to say that you will be guarantied to be able to win against even the default AI in the highest difficulty setting, since even the difficulty settings are well balanced to allow the AI just the necessary advantage (remember: behind an interface that grants the AI the exact same rules and views of the map and units as the human players!) to provide a tough challenge even up to the endgame as long as the player is not highly trained to the specific conditions of this specific implementation of the game. All that DESPITE the game not being developed any further. Which as well may be seen as a plus point: It's stable as steel.

[@mikicerise6250]

Humankind's big problem is the lack of personality. The cultural progression is a good idea, but it should make more sense. Greece-Rome-Spain/Italy/Portugal/France Celts-Britain/Ireland, Teutons-Britain/Germany/Netherlands, Jomon-Imperial Japan-Modern Japan. Different starting cultures should enable different tracks. And they should have a defining civilization name regardless of dominant culture.

[@GamerZakh]

Personality is often a challenge in games. Civ has a whole universe built around the characters over the last 3 decades. Ghandi and his nukes, gigachad Gilgamesh, and so on. Everyone has memories and stories of these leaders. With Humankind you have a custom avatar which doesn't have anything that comes with it and you fight leaders you've never seen before.

[@stephensrocket]

I think you lose the appeal of being able to switch civs like that; you're still basically playing as Japan for the whole game in your suggestion. As it's ahistorical I don't mind that the culture might be completely different from one era to the next, it's more about what powers your are going for in the next era for your situation. About personality - it's what makes Alpha Centauri better than Beyond Earth. The AC players are flawed characters, who read their own ideological excepts for secret projects, buildings and techs and make you feel part of their world, like you're playing your game as a version of the canon story even though it's completely fictional. Humankind does at least have the narrator and its events, even if the balancing is a little skewed.

[@bwalker77]

There are staples that we know for sure will be in Civ VII: we know they will have real nations, we know they will have real leaders, and we know that those leaders will have personalities. This is what makes the franchise tough to beat, at least for my money. Humankind had some really good ideas, but changing nations every era makes it hard to identify with your nation, and to build a rivalry with your opponents.

[@oliverschlesinger6744]

As much as i love the culture-hopping as a game mechanic, it absolutely kills my immersion! 😂 Cultures just don't change that abrupt and if they do it's almost all the time forced thru conquest.

[@3dmaster205]

Indeed, instead of switching entire nations, they should have just limited it to leaders, and give leaders certain bonuses/traits, and pick them depending on your playstyle/needs for the new era; you seek to militarily expand - pick Ramesses II or Julius Ceasar - have you entered a dark age and you need to consilidate, pick Ramesses III or Trajan. This is, in fact, also a very good Idea for Civilization VII to do.

[@sokarash]

I'm wondering, have you ever taken a look at Predynastic Egypt and Egypt: Old Kingdom? They are often described as games that someone, who likes the first ~40 turns of Civs befor its complexity explodes.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Do you mean Pharaoh Total War ? :D LOL

[@AccountName-gv5ie]

CIV 1, 2 and Alpha Centauri have the best Vibes for me personally.

[@davypi2]

Old World really is the closest thing to a Civ killer in my mind. That said, having what is basically political/relationship game laying on top of a 4x game makes it feel like something other than just a 4x game and I get why people may not buy into it the same way. Ozymandias, to me, feels like an engine builder with a Civ theme put on top of it more than an actual civ game. That isn't to say that its a bad game or even unthematic, but the game play IMHO tends to revolve more around optimizing your resource engines than about exploration and discovery. My point though is that while technically it is a 4x game, it doesn't feel like one to me. Still its a good game, but I would probably suggest watching a gameplay video before buying to make sure its really going to have the kind of gameplay you want.

[@eddieballgame]

Excellent reviews; Old World is my fav on this list. Per the civ series, I stopped after the best one...Civ 4, mainly, because of mods. Btw, to me, the best 4X 'out there' is Shadow Empire. imho I will add, Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire still compares with the best of them per depth, runs on anything, & is extremely modder friendly. Again, imho. :) One more thing, showcasing Free Civ reminds of another, really good, 'open source' project...Unknown Horizons.

[@MediocreAverage]

Shadow Empire is so good. I feel spoilt that depending on my mood & current fad, there's a civ-style game I can play. I was playing Alpha Centauri again recently and it's aged so well.

[@rathalos1522]

It's a bit surprising that you didn't mention Millennias biggest gimmick at all: Alternate Ages. A possibility of different development of world technology and mechanics seems interesting.

[@SimCityEA1989]

Seeing you put in a bonus mention for Freeciv, I'm surprised you didn't mention Unciv

[@yasminadavis9986]

Old World is so good! I just got it a couple days ago and it's like Civ had a baby with CK3 and I love it!

[@sianthorw5537]

I have played pretty much all the Civ games, each new one took me a while to get into. But I did get into them, all but 6. Hopefully 7 gets me back as I'm still thrashing out Civ 5 with an eye on downloading older versions again. Might try Old World before I do.

[@Stukov961]

I wish Alpha Centauri would get a worthy successor

[@Frangelo90]

They say closest of that is Age of Wonders Planetfall

[@schmoemi3386]

"Civilization: Beyond Earth" doesn't count, I suppose? 😏

[@AndrewJHayford]

The graphic style of Yield! is really cool

[@GamerZakh]

It's surprising! I met the devs at Gamescom and the person who came up with the artstyle, they're really excited about it which is nice.

[@OzzyM]

I think Hexarchy is worth a mention. Quill18 played it and loved it!

[@ToboldStoutfoot]

Hexarchy is a nice “pocket-sized” game to get a Civ-like experience done in an. hour.

[@GamerZakh]

I did consider it and it looks great, I was just being a bit more specific with the 'Civ-like' definition here and felt deckbuilding was just a bit too far. I also left out all the other themes like fantasy (Endless Legend) and sci-fi (GalCiv 4).

[@shaynalynn8666]

I'm extremely excited for ARA and Millennia and am following them closely

[@Unmannedperson]

Something that would be fresh in the 4X genre is a TBS/RTS game that basically take the Total War concept but replaces the TBS side with Civilization. So you play the game like Civilization but then when attacking with a doomstack, you zoom in to battlefield view and duke it out in real time. It would work like Total War but the settlements and their area of control aren't static - you can place new settlements and grow/focus influence areas/provinces. Galactic Civilization kind of hinted at this, but the combat in that series leaves much to be desired.

[@meqdadfn]

Exactly. I’m looking forward for Manor Lords for future when it gets castles and more units.

[@almartin4]

This is what happens with: Field of Glory Empires Field of Glory Field of Glory Medieval Regards

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

Zakh> As a huge huge fan of the old Civ/ACiv board games (and the descendent civ the expansion project game), what you said about Ozymandias has me really eager to give it a try. I reaaaaaaaaally wish someone would do an actual remake of the aciv PC game that was made in the 90s that was basically a digital version of the game. Maybe with the expansion project stuff added.

[@kpectbi]

Thanks Zakh! My favorite genre. A couple of games were new to me

[@GamerZakh]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ariochiv]

Hahaha... I remember Incunabula. Now there's a blast from the past. Ozymandias is indeed very similar. It's nice to see a different play model than the standard Empire/Civilization city-produces-units trope.

[@Diogo_CF]

Regarding Humankind, and the whole vibe / lore aspect of switching between cultures who have nothing in common, the developers could simply integrate the True Culture Location mod which requires you to hold a specific territory to be able to select that culture, which at least gives you some sense of continuity. It wouldn't even require a real Earth map, although it makes more sense to play on such map: simply let territories be named after real territories instead of made up names and you have the basis of the mod working. Unfortunately, there's no indication that the devs will do such thing and, in fact, this mod is no longer playable on the latest patched versions of the game. If you want to play it, you need to rollback your game version to the point when the mod was first released.

[@stephensrocket]

I don't like the idea of that, I'm willing to suspend disbelief in an ahistorical game and go from say, Olmecs to Romans to Ghanaians, because cultures can emerge over time, that's the whole point, and it's their abilities and traits that are more important, not their cultural affinity.

[@Diogo_CF]

@@stephensrocket the point is that it could be a game mode, not the game itself.

[@oliverschlesinger6744]

​@@stephensrocket yeah, but cultures don't change so drastically. your'e basically changing the whole population too, not just the look. if something like that happened in history, it was almost always by force.

[@ngkhaijie]

Too bad the game is dead, at least the playerbase and hence the dead modding scene too. It would be great if the game at least had good modding scene but unfortunately that heavily depends on the size of the playerbase.

[@Diogo_CF]

@@oliverschlesinger6744 the issue is that there isn't any sort of penalty or debuff for switching culture types so drastically. You're an aesthete culture and bam!, suddenly you're a militaristic one. Or you're a production based one and suddenly switch to agricultural. In the real world, these sudden switches cause instability from the upheaval of cultural norms and traditions, not to mention the sudden loss of jobs and the mindset change forced upon the people. One thing that could make sense is that for you to be able to choose a specific culture you intended, you needed to gain all three stars of that culture's affinity in the previous era before being able to choose them. That would mean that at least your current empire has been progressing towards that affinity.

[@geraldezeafulukwe3652]

Ara is exactly my kind of game, and I love the storyline. Immortal Gates of Pyre is shaping up to be top-notch when it releases this summer. I love the lore and am closely following its development which is why I'm signing up for the testplay weekend.

[@snowdawn]

Great lists man. I still play Civ 5 with BNW and other dlcs and mods. I am excited to Revival Recolonization. Hopefully it is a good one.

[@GamerZakh]

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying them.

[@snowdawn]

@@GamerZakh You're very welcome man :)

[@Wright1331]

Millennia is the only upcoming 4x that seems like it might be decent.

[@BenjaminWagener]

I would love if Firaxis would make a new Alpha Centauri. Beyond Earth was a nice try but couldn't really succeed.

[@roberttaylor3594]

Old World and Ozymandius caught my interest; I have the Civilization board game, which is one of the best boardgames I have.

[@GamerZakh]

Just to check, which Civ board game? The Avalon Hill one or the Sid Meier one?

[@frankarnold6324]

Hello GamZk my Friend, another awesome video, move on, your faithfull viewer from germany, love you

[@GamerZakh]

Hi! Thank you for the kind words.

[@EricLiu1989]

I needed this. Coming in, I only heard about Age of Wonder.

[@GamerZakh]

Glad you found some new ones!

[@MrKidKiedis]

You should check Plague Lords. Looks like civilization RPG, with building and crafting. Still in development though.

[@mt.libertybell9250]

The thing I like about Humankind is the Fame system. As opposed to Civ where you commit to a culture, military victory etc- everything you do attributes to your fame. That really opens up the opportunities in gameplay for me

[@GamerZakh]

I do think somehow having a single victory condition is best, like score victory is actually the most flexible and fair, it's just a question of making sure whichever route you go down the points accumulate fairly and balanced.

[@_AutoCoder]

Old World is by far the best Civ-like out there right now. Amazing game. Lots of replay options with the RPG\Family aspect. I just wish it went past the ancient era.

[@epsilonray]

I would also recommend the newly released civ like Hexarchy

[@xhoidlostblade3856]

Been playing it for the last couple days. Definitely recommended for those who like shorter matches!

[@GamerZakh]

It looks good but also one thing people complain about in Civ are the cards, so a deckbuilding 4X seems a bit too far from Civ itself to be a 'like'.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

"Be first, or be Best, that's how you win" I still love CIV 5 with all it's mods, I even mod it myself (SQL) .. and considering Creative Assembly will probably be folding soon, maybe CIV should adopt real time battles ! ? like TW ? Zoom in and fight a TW type battle.

[@3dmaster205]

Full size real time battles ala Total War seems to me to be a bit too much for Civilization; but I've always thought zooming in on the tile/several tiles you are fighting on, and get essentially another Civ map but much more zoomed in, and have a much more tactical experience, although still a classic Civ turn based, would be a good idea.

[@AndrewJHayford]

Humankind has some really cool ideas, but I just hate how it plays out. I don't like the combat and the trade goods.

[@zacharybecker8228]

Another issue with humankind was it was a bit buggy at launch even its one big dlc but alot of those have been fixed

[@EduFirenze]

I just want a proper sequel to civ revolution, the whole civ experience compressed in a game I can finish in one sitting is perfect.

[@thomascircle245]

11:13 Cities Skylines didn't kill SimCity; EA did.

[@GamerZakh]

SimCity begun fixing the issues. The always-online was removed, city limits got bigger, expansions were being made. So many games recover like NMS and Cyberpunk, but Cities Skylines already captivated people and players shifted over as soon as they could, making continued work on SimCity inviable. If Cities Skylines was never made, it's likely SimCity would not only have gotten better, another sequel would be made because there's no competition. But competition showed up and crushed it, so EA abandons SimCity because why bother competing with Cities Skylines? It's the existence of CS that sealed the coffin.

[@mohammadkamelan1047]

Thanks for informative video. Please recommend games that can be won by intrigue. Like Crusader Kings 3.

[@SEJI5371]

14:41 does old world have Persia in it?

[@GamerZakh]

Old World does have Persia yes.

[@SEJI5371]

11:24 does millennia have Persia in it?

[@schplengie1]

Frostpunk 2 releases in a few days as i type this. The first was a great strat game so im stoked about this new one.

[@Kobe-s2i]

Yield! Looks fun, the characters look lego style

[@GamerZakh]

Yeah it's got an interesting style. The demo is still up so you can try it.

[@SEJI5371]

4:19 does Ara have Persia in it???

[@GamerZakh]

I don't think they've confirmed how civs will work in the game yet.

[@Daalon4RPGs]

I'm really looking forward to Millenia! Another game that I'm watching is called; Master of Magic. While it's recent reviews are mixed on Steam, the overall is is mostly positive. As for Civ VII, I'm going to hold off on it for the first time ever. VI was a mixed bag to me. As a longtime fan (Civ 1) to now, VI was the most disappointing to me. Don't get me wrong, I've still clocked in about 2k hours and is my "go-to game" if I'm wanting to waste some hours on fun, but I really miss some of the gems that made it special. Like the throne room, or building your castle through the ages, to just having decent AI. Anywho, enough of my belly-aching. Thanks for this video! I added some upcoming games to my Wishlist and even bought Revival: Recolonization.

[@GamerZakh]

My biggest wishlist for Civ 7 is 'pointless' nostalgic stuff haha. Not sure if you know it, but there's a Civ 6 mod that adds the throne room and palace. It's really well done too. I want FMV actors as advisors again.

[@Daalon4RPGs]

OH!!! Nice! I did not know that! Thanks for letting me know.@@GamerZakh

[@oliverschlesinger6744]

The last time i've played Freeciv (probably a year ago) the AI was insanely aggressive and very dominant in every game aspect. Had there been some changes?

[@TheMetalfreak360]

Well, added some new games to my wishlist.

[@GamerZakh]

Glad you found some new ones!

[@BlubSeabass]

Ozymandius is great, love to have that civsnack!

[@Jeff-ni6kh]

which one of these games will come out on XBox?

[@PendelSteven]

Can we have more XCOM-like games instead, please? Or. Like a Real X-COM 3 from Firaxis?

[@GamerZakh]

If you're looking for those you want the tactics list. XCOM isn't like Civ.

[@joro9686]

we need a civ game like Total War. free and amazing looking, the blocks on the map for the civ games where you can only move feels really restricting and not fun at all not able to ambush blockade raid etc. I want that free feel and amazing battle like three kingdoms and politics but with free will to build your own empire where you want starting from the beginning of time ending till you dominate or crumble of civ games

[@sirsancti5504]

I got FreeCiv on my freaking phone! You know.. To scratxh that itch when I need to go sit in the porcelain throne, or other mundane stuff like "work".

[@roqueeeeeeeee]

I think the notice of CIV7 coming out was made exactly to kill some competition. Keep people playing Civ 6 for another year instead of changing to a different game like Humankind, Ara or Old World. I got Humankind but didn't really connect with it yet.

[@ChadLuciano]

There's just no substitute for Civ.

[@renekowalski4514]

take a look on ymir, soon it will get a big update and its a good spark for many players, who want to play it like an mmo

[@PresdentMonke]

Cool looking games!! Anyone know if ARA is going to be mulitplayer?

[@GamerZakh]

There will be online multiplayer yeah.

[@PresdentMonke]

can't wait @@GamerZakh

[@BobbyNurwansyah]

Glad Revival is "Reviving", play this on my Nokia Symbian

[@robin419]

I really wish that one "civ like" game would be good enough to challange Civ, competition would be great for the consumers. But right now no game is on their level.

[@GamerZakh]

It is hard to compete with a series that's been going for 3 decades haha. Usually a spiritual successor takes over when the main series stumbles. Civ 6 was a little shaky to start but it still ended up more popular than Civ 5. I don't think there's ever been this many direct competitors though. Civ 7 has to step it up otherwise Ara or Millenia could easily take it. They can see how not only Civ 6 went but they can study Humankind and Old World too.

[@robin419]

@@GamerZakh Yes, it will be close to impossible to overtake civ in its own genre. And I have no need for any game to overtake them. But I think true competition will make Civ 7,8,9 better as a result of that. Many strategy genres are "controlled" by one franchise or company: Total war, Civ and Paradox. Historical Total war has shown how too little competition can ruin/diminish a franchise.

[@Somebody374-bv8cd]

It's like how no real game has managed to beat capcom at the monster hunting genre. When there's only one very well established game with a very dedicated fanbase in that genre for decades its VERY hard for competitors to come close.

[@LudoTechWorld]

I don't know, I personally find Civ V & VI so boring that they are not even worth playing. To me, a game like Old Worlds is a true alternative and evolution of what I consider a civ-like (Civ IV, Alpha Centauri...) and already easily buried Civ V & VI. So I guess it depends on what you expect from a turn based 4X. It seems to me that the genre is doing well, new takes like the few upcoming ones presented in this video seem to me a lot more interesting than a game which would try to directly challenge an already established IP.

[@robin419]

@@LudoTechWorld Yes, my point is that Civilization has stagnated in the last versions, or versions. I hope that new games in the same style of turnbased 4x will force the newer installments to be better. Old world is probably the best game there to come out, but it is only an alternative for most. Even civ 4 and 5 smokes Old world in player count. And the reviews for civ 6 is still better than Old world. Most games that have tried to carve out a space close to civ has failed, we do not see many sequels here.

[@sanguine_sujeethpv9132]

i think humankind is sill evolving..its had got such a different feel from when it released to now. I dont knw abt others but i like em both civ and humandkind..id have alternating 2mo period of humankind and civ moods..as zach said they r kinda diff vibe.but both are really great..people should really check out humankind yea ha😅

[@ngkhaijie]

The game is dead man

[@stephencornelius3396]

Re Humankind I can’t get away from the rating and the fact that the Osmosis system makes it sound like you don’t play the game, the game plays you.

[@Zhenya378]

What about Solium Infernum? At least it offers some new ideas.

[@GamerZakh]

I considered it but after my video on it, people's reaction was good but not quite like it was a 'Civ-like' kind of game. Plus it's fantasy, so thematically it's a bit off for this list. This is all historical or ahistorical. Furthest I could go was Revival.

[@doukididou]

Millennia looks like a 2005 game tbh, at least visually

[@kokojack]

Same graphics as Civ V (2010 IIRC), but yeah it looks outdated visually. But personally, I don't really care as long the gameplay is good

[@ariochiv]

I think I played the demo for Yield!, but it doesn't say good things about the game that I'm not absolutely sure. :D

[@TheGodFactory]

Lol i see im not the only one adding "7" and "Civilization" in my civ video titles in anticipation for those google searches next year when civilization 7 drops...those keywords will pay off with a small measure of foresight

[@GamerZakh]

Dude even Millennia and Paradox are trying to do that haha. They're giving away, conveniently, 7 wallpapers on their Steam page. What a unique number lol

[@nicoschirmi1985]

Have you looked at Pioneers of Pagonia yet?

[@GamerZakh]

I have, it goes in another list.

[@coolloser85]

12:20 he is spitting facts. They will need to be better

[@FrencisWhite]

now there is nothing better than civ 6, matured, polished civ game with many leaders, it will take until 2028-2030 until we have anything better

[@GamerZakh]

That's exactly how everyone felt about civ 5 before civ 6 released, and yeah you're right haha. It took about 3-4 years before civ 6 became more popular than civ 5, so if civ 7 releases in 2024 then it'll only overtake civ 6 by 2027-2028.

[@MKIVD]

I think many nations and their citizens may be able to relate to Humankind's leader system. For example the Philippines. We are deeply rooted in Polynesian culture but in 1521 to 1898, we were under Spain as a colony so safe to say our style changed greatly. That's our middle-renaissance age, then our 20th century selves were under the Americans for 40+ years (1898 to WW2) then the Japanese for a couple of years (WW2) Then our modern era as.. the Philippines as everyone knows it. Even the US were under other nations or "civilizations/empires" at some point.

[@GamerZakh]

Yeah I never found it so odd because I'm Malaysian. We went from different Malay kingdoms, then British colonisation for a couple hundred years, then 'Malaysia' today has almost nothing to do with pre-colonial civs.

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

Can anyone recommend one of these as a wargame? My frustration with Civ games is that the wargame aspect is underdeveloped in favour of economics and history. I don't care about the graphics or plot, I'm just looking for a complex strategy game that isn't dumbed down for the masses. :)

[@GamerZakh]

Hmm I don't know exactly what you're looking for but Humankind does something with battles that I prefer. Any time 2 armies clash it sets an arena then you fight it out like a tactics game.

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

@@GamerZakh Yea, much like Planetfall or AOW... I do like those... :)

[@Somebody374-bv8cd]

Old world can probably be said in brief to be a combination of crusader kings and civilization. It's a great game. Ara: history untold looks interesting. Millennia however....is by paradox and given their track record (and the issues surrounding cities skylines 2), I'm going to hard pass until several months (or even more than a year) after its out.

[@zarroth]

aye. paradox has lost their way. Also not a fan of their last few games all being complex for the sake of complexity instead of good gameplay. EU4 is a mess imo along with anything released since then.

[@GamerbyDesign]

What are the issues with Cities 2?

[@icoborg]

@@GamerbyDesign ahahahahaah are serious?

[@GamerbyDesign]

@@icoborg yes

[@icoborg]

@@GamerbyDesign google/youtube is your friend.

[@thiagoramos6202]

Good expectations on Ara history untold Humanking e old world are ok, while you wait for civ VII; but can't realy compete with civ VI What happen to the game Ymir? is been in production for a decade

[@GamerZakh]

Ymir is still going, more of a city-builder than a 4X. It's a solo dev for a massive project, so it'll probably be going for ages.

[@ImRuined666]

I had such high hopes for Humankind after Amplitude's earlier games, as they were magnificent... Humankind looks nice, and has some interesting concepts, but had too many underlying and nagging gameplay issues that brought it down... Millenia was another that was incredibly underwhelming too having played Paradox grand strategy games for years... It just felt like a mobile game ported to PC...

[@moz7491]

I hope they have an expansion that includes a new Colonization game / mod for it

[@GamerZakh]

I wouldn't mind seeing a new one of those.

[@captainufo4587]

I never got people complaining that Civ6 was cartoony. It's a staple of the whole series, odd numbered instalments are "realistic", even numbered instalments are cartoony. I get a lot of people may be new to the series, but if one played Civ 2 or 4, they can't be surprised about 6.

[@GamerZakh]

There were some pretty extensive polls around the time of Civ 6 release. What we found was that 50% of Civ players at the time started with Civ 5, meaning half of the entire Civ community had never played 1-4.

[@DarthDaddy-cg6ro]

Thanks.

[@andrewlegrand7509]

Humankind is a blast!

[@TimeTalesTT]

Ara history untold my dream game...humankind is good though pretty big game more big and complex then civ6 both in size and mechanichs..but it has too low compitetor and gaint map not so big and Era advancement too fast so i used mod true era speed

[@opfax163]

I wish for a game that mix the gameplay of crusader kings and civilization .

[@opfax163]

The issue I have with crusader kings is that the world is not customizable at all , you can't create your maps or randomize them . Imagine a game where you start on an unknown land with colons in the bronze age like in civilization but you have the dynasty , diplomacy, family features like in crusader kings . What I don't like about civ games is that your ruler is the same dude/gal and it don't have the vaste diversity of NPC from crusader kings .

[@OGMichaelC]

I know it's not exactly a CIV 4x4 type game, and I wouldn't even call it the best in its genre, but it's a shame the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series gets absolutely no recognition in the west.

[@Groaznic]

Humankind and Old world \m/_ Just throw me on an island with a laptop and these 2 and a mountain of coconuts.

[@StephenGoodfellow]

What is lacking in all these games is an ability to 'google map' down into your domains and interact with the population. Without that, everything is just dressed up Civilization II.

[@ngkhaijie]

I am not sure about Millennia, either the game is smaller than expectation or the dev are taking on more than they can chew considering this ain't PDS developing it just publishing. Unless of course PDS support the development but we have no confirmation of that.

[@GamerZakh]

I am pretty wary about all the Civ competitors. Right now it's hard to imagine they'll be able to keep up with whatever Civ 7 is going to be.

[@ngkhaijie]

@@GamerZakh Yeah bruh, I am hoping for some alternative as Civ 6 is too board gamey not much of an empire simulator, and there are no mods to fix it because of limited modding. Humankind was suppose to be the one, but the playerbase died off before they can do anything with the game lmao.

[@DrenaiSaga]

I read somewhere that the Freeciv game uses Chatgpt for the AI.

[@VFatalis]

good reason to stay clear of it

[@DrenaiSaga]

​@@VFatalis Grafics are too 1980s for me.

[@williamreese7828]

The biggest issue with humankind is its subpar AI makes playing single player unfun, and its combat system (the same system Endless Legend uses, or close enough at least) makes multiplayer games nonviable as well. It has some really good ideas, but that combination basically kills the game outright for me, no matter how good any of its other concepts are. Old World certainly was the Civ killer for me, as it combined reasonably competent AI (which Civ games gave up on after 4) with reasonably good combat (after playing games that don't allow infinite doom stacking, its really hard to go back to Civ4). Civ6 is still better in a multiplayer format though, because getting out-clicked in Civ6 is annoying (as both units do damage to one another) but getting out-clicked in Old World is a disaster (as only the attacking unit generally does damage).

[@anglosaxon5874]

Thought it wouldn't take paradox long to get into this type of game. A BIG no from me for that one then. Ha ha. paradox killed the cities skylines 2 launch [like they do with their dlc's]. Starts well, then goes downhill with all the money grabs 'dlc's' and then game saves ruined by the constant updates and then 'fixes'. Edit: Nice vid and some interesting games to look at!

[@yunshobi7365]

I say Crusader Kings is Winning in this Strategic politcal game that includes military warfare.

[@Grakkl]

Civ 2 is still the best Civ game. I still like to play Civ 2 Gold with my brother.

[@remonkewl6598]

Just a correction, Old World released mid 2021.

[@GamerZakh]

Ah right yes, forgot it was an Epic exclusive before that.

[@cactusjackNV]

Old world seems like it is worth a shot, looks better than Civ VII to be honest. Sadly no one has figured out that Civ hasn't been Civ since Civ IV. Subsequently all these games look like 5 and 6 clones. If Civ VII is a succesor to IV, look for a huge hit, if not look for a huge miss.

[@smidlee7747]

No mention of GalCiv 4: Civ in space.

[@GamerZakh]

I was considering it but I figured I'd stick to 'Civ-like' in theme as well and keep to historical and ahistorical settings. Revival is the furthest I could go with that limitation. If we break from the historical theme, there's a good number of other games. Solium Infernum is Civ in hell. Endless Legend is fantasy Civ. Hexarchy is deckbuilding Civ.

[@douglasmash4011]

Played civ, did civ. What I don't like and what might keep me from buying again is no matter how big the map, how many or few the number of civs, you can't go more than 20 moves without running into someone. Spread it out like the real world.

[@jonathanbair523]

I think the best of the Civilization game's they made with the tittle is Civ 2. It is basically Civ 1 with out the test..... The town size was fixed to.. Then again that game came out in the 90's so it is off on it's graphics.

[@Solaristist]

Simcity killed itself.

[@GamerZakh]

SimCity became a lot better after release. They removed the always online requirement, made cities larger, even had an expansion, but by the point people were starting to tune back in, Cities Skylines became a thing. No Man's Sky can recover. Cyberpunk can recover. SimCity couldn't because Cities Skylines made a better game faster. If Paradox didn't swoop in, it's likely SimCity would've turned out a lot better. Also if Cities Skylines didn't exist, it would be likely SimCity would get another game, but now what's the point? A new SimCity could never beat Cities Skylines.

[@megmucklebones7538]

Humankind is a great game!

[@GamerZakh]

I think a lot of people were expecting basically Civ 7, which is why many didn't like it because it's really a different game.

[@sithung4ubivek85]

Era of conquest best strategy game

[@Rich4098]

Humankind was too heavy for me. I was faced with like 5 currencies, and I hadn't even invented math yet. My primitive brain could only discern that there was 'too much'.