Firaxis might have gone Beyond Earth, but they’re still in orbit of old-fashioned Civilization. Like Sid Meier’s opus, this space-based spin-off offers a series of hard choices – about treaties, base construction, and the nature of first contact.
The devs have decided to make the first decision a little easier, however. You now have the option to download a Steam demo before deciding if the new Civ is for you.
Make your way to Beyond Earth’s Steam page, and you’ll notice that there’s now a friendly, blue ‘Download Demo’ bar on its right side. Click that, wait however many hours 5GB works out to be in your neck of the ‘net, and you’re away.
Early reports suggest you’re good for about 100 turns, which fits the generous standard of past Firaxis demos.
Our Fraser’s Civilization: Beyond Earth review was fairly positive, but ‘fairly positive’ doesn’t seem quite up to par for a post-XCOM Firaxis. While the studio’s revived Gollop game could leave you curdled by potential consequences, Beyond Earth’s decision-making tends toward the duller end of the spectrum.
“It’s a good game, and one that will still see you, as it did me, binging until 3am, and the sinister alchemy of One More Turn syndrome lives on,” said Fray Fray. “But it’s nowhere near perfect, and strangely bland.
“This is Civilization, but in space: not Alpha Centauri 2, and without the iconic civilizations and leaders that usually makes Civ tick.”
Worth temporarily strangling a connection to download, do you think?