If you’ve never played Sid Meier’s Civilization 6, then you’re about to have the ideal chance to do so, as one of the best strategy games of all time arrives on Xbox and PC Game Pass very soon. That’s right, Civ 6 is coming to Microsoft’s subscription service this month, making it the perfect time to discover why PC gamers everywhere love the series so much following the official announcement that Civ 7 is real.
Perhaps the most iconic of all 4X games – that’s ‘explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate,’ for the uninitiated among you – Civ 6 is well-regarded as yet another magnificent entry in the long-standing series. Pick the leader of your choice from over 60 different famous historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Ramses the Great, and Mahatma Ghandi across 50 different civilizations and lead your chosen people to greatness.
If you’ve ever worried that these strategic city builders are a bit much to manage, then let me reassure you – Civ 6 is the perfect place to dip a toe gently into the water and test how it feels. With a wide range of difficulty options, the potential to fully customise whether you prefer a short campaign of just a few hours or a weekend-spanning epic, and the option to automate nearly all the more complex systems until you’re ready to engage with them, Civ 6 is the ideal ‘gateway game’ into a larger strategy world.
If you do decide you want that extra depth, Civilization 6 is more than happy to oblige, giving you full control of just about everything down to the individual tiles your population are prioritising. If you prefer to keep things simple, you can leave that stuff up to the computer and it’ll hand out gentle reminders to make sure you’ve given orders to every unit, while your advisers explain the benefits of your potential upgrade options.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 comes to Xbox and PC Game Pass on March 16. Unlike previous entries, Civ 6 has pretty solid controller support if you prefer to take it easy – so, while it’s certainly at its best with a mouse and keyboard, you can comfortably opt to lounge back on a couch with a pad in hand if preferred. It also includes the option to play via cloud streaming, if you find your machine isn’t particularly powerful.
If you’re jumping in for the first time, you’ll want to run through our pick of the best Civ 6 civs to get you started, and dabble with the best Civ 6 mods to enhance your game even further. Meanwhile, the newest Civ 6 DLC Rulers of the Sahara has just arrived, and we’ve got more great games like Civilization if you like what you see and want to branch out further.