Round Up: Civilization 7 Reviews Are Glowing Ahead of PS5 Launch – Push Square

GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpPush SquareGuestLogin or Sign UpPC verdicts record 82 rating on MetacriticSet to launch next week (11th February 2025) on PS5 and PS4, the first wave of reviews for Civilization 7 are starting to appear online. The game is also releasing for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC, and given the series’ ties to the latter, all the verdicts so far are based on PC review code. Here at Push Square, we don’t have access to a PS5 key yet.Still, we can get a good idea for the game’s general quality based on the scores for the PC version. Following just under 30 critic reviews, the Metacritic average stands at an 82. Below you’ll find a selection of media conclusions, so let us know in the comments below if this is enough to convince you of a PS5 purchase.Civilization VII is bold enough to add big changes to its formula, without getting rid of everything that has made the series iconic. Say goodbye to your free time, as from PC to handheld, every waking moment will be consumed by One More Turn.This game will devour your hours, chew up your days and spit you out in a hungry, sleep-deprived blob. I can’t wait to play its multiplayer mode after so long in a single-player that isn’t quite fully fleshed out yet. I can’t wait to spend hours figuring out unique strategies for each leader and civilization. I can’t wait to finally beat the Deity AI with any other victory condition than military dominance, which is still the easiest way to win. Oh, and the Mongolian theme music is the greatest Civilization music we’ve had to date.Civilization 7’s biggest changes fix mid- and end-game pacing, clean up clutter on the map, and open up more strategic avenues than ever before. Victory and unit balancing will no doubt be tweaked as developers receive feedback and data, but otherwise, the game is in a great state (something that’s becoming increasingly rare in AAA games). Pricing and DLC gripes aside, Civilization 7 should prove to be the best playground for world domination for years to come.Sid Meier’s Civilization VII’s “one more turn” aspect is still as engaging as ever, and I enjoyed huge portions of my playthroughs. Several facets, such as those related to diplomacy, espionage, crises, and combat address long-standing concerns. Legacy Paths and narrative events, meanwhile, offer rich and rewarding avenues for advancement through the ages. Unfortunately, as someone who’s seen the heights that previous series entries have reached, the vanilla Civilization VII experience still needs a few tweaks, as it’s held back by the aforementioned issues that occur during brief but crucial era transitions. Granted, the changes this series has undergone over the years–whether it’s the square tiles or hexes debate, the “one unit per tile” drama, or city-planning with districts–have been for the better, eventually. The issues deemed controversial or cumbersome at the start paved the way for a better overall experience. As such, even if Civilization VII has a strong foundation, we might not see the game’s full potential until much later in its lifespan. But, hey: At least the franchise has been consistent in that regard.Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 successfully evolves the long-running strategy series with a wealth of engaging new systems. Swapping Civs is smartly implemented and the focus on distinct ages prevents matches from dragging on, though the samey Legacy Path system and basic diplomacy mean that it’s not quite the strongest entry yet.In the end, it all works – it’s just very different. The subtle whiff of compromise in order to launch the game far and wide is there – but compromise is just fine if the end result works. It does. I’m happy. As someone who has somewhere in the region of a thousand hours logged across Civ 4, 5, and 6, I’m ready to add hundreds more to that tally in the seventh entry. Some of that will come in years as the game grows and expands, as is Civilization tradition. But the point is, the foundations here are firm. The legend of one desperate extra turn, over and over again, forever, is secure.With Civilization 7, the desire to streamline and simplify this legendary 4X series feels like it has gone a bit too far, particularly when it comes to the interface. It’s frustratingly inadequate at providing me with the information I need to play well, or even understand what’s going on sometimes. Even so, it does have improved warfare and diplomacy, a bit of added narrative flair, as well as mostly gorgeous graphics and sound, so it can still give me reasons to keep clicking one more turn late into the night. There’s good reason to believe that with Firaxis’s usual pace of patches and expansions it can refine its new ideas and become everything it ought to be, and while what’s here right now is at least still a fun time, it’s also a bigger step backward for the series than we’re accustomed to when a new age dawns.Firaxis combats the inherent bloat of the 4X genre with partial success. All of the big new ideas in Civilization 7 work well and it’s tighter and more engaging than any of its predecessors. Nevertheless, your sense of connection still begins to wane by the midgame.Civilization 7 is pretty and detailed and sounds fine (I caught that one tune from Colonization!). AI turns are perhaps the fastest I’ve ever seen, and its UI has enough potential to make some of my complaints feel patchable. Its design broadly works, and a certain kind of city-optimising fan may even love it. But its lack of character is endemic, the extent of its annoying habits and oversights shocking for a series of such pedigree. It’s a dull, contradictory game, and instead of showing everyone how it’s done, it’s felt since hour one like a game that leaves the 4X throne empty.About Liam CroftLiam grew up with a PlayStation controller in his hands and a love for Metal Gear Solid. Nowadays, he’s found playing the latest and greatest PS5 games as well as supporting Derby County. That last detail is his downfall.Comments 19There are actually quite a lot of less-than-glowing reviews not shown here, particularly of a franchise with such a history of quality@BranJ0 Yup exactly. I wouldn’t say they’re exactly glowing across the board. Especially for a series of this heritage. I don’t think it’s honestly a game that will be fun on consoles. Just can’t see it translating well.Removed – unconstructive feedbackKeen to dive into the reviews though I imagine they are PC only and I’m more interested in how it translates to PS5.82 is quite low for the supposed 4X flagship… Waiting for inevitable expansions to fix most issues (as always)The average is 78 on PC right now. This is actually very low for a Civ game which usually gets 90 and above. This is likely a drop in quality and many of the changes they are making seem bad. I stopped looking forward to Civ 7 a while ago. Give me Civ 8 where I can play as the Roman Empire the entire game.Sad to see Civ fall, but I’m not surprised at all since I’ve followed some of the news for it.Always loved this series – ive played every iteration since Civ 1 ! But Eurogamer have given it a detailed, damning review which has totally made me cancelling any ideas of purchasing this. Such a shameRead a few reviews but I’ll be holding off for now, which is a pity, was quite looking forward to this.Certainly won’t be a console purchase either way, I prefer my strategy games on the PC.I’m so excited. Looking forward to checking out these new changes and new ways to playI’ve had VI for so long and never played it.It really should be right up my street, I do however find myself struggling with games with a steep early learning curve and tend to fall off pretty fast.I really should give it a try.I’ve seen a lot of comments and points that have meant my planned purchase is now a ‘wait and see’. Shame as I was looking forward to this.I’ve put in almost 1000 hours into CIV VI on PS4. Time to beat that records with VII on PS5! I am just hoping they add hotseat multiplayer in the coming year. My partner and I love to pass the controller and play together.It’s currently the lowest scoring mainline Civ game on Metacritic.Nice misleading title.I’m more interested to see how it plays on PS5, especially in late game when there is so much going on. I’m on turn 600+ of my current Civ6 playthrough and I haven’t had any issues yet. After turn 500 I like to invade every civilization on the map, then start again from zero. All of those military actions are a great way to push the limits of console. I’ll be happy as long as it isn’t a crash-fest on PS5. I was against some of the changes for a while (like a lot of the community) but now I’m looking forward to something different.As long as it’s a better game than Humankind I’ll be happy.I am surprised that the scores are generally high, since Civ7 has a lot of major changes (more so than usual), its going to be pretty divisive until most players have had a good long time with it to really digest the changes and see if they are good or bad.There are some changes that I am not fond of, but overall it looks like they have fixed quite a few of the shortcomings that recent Civ games have had. Only time will tell if they managed it without sacrificing what makes Civ fun.@GirlVersusGame I am hoping for a mostly stable experience on the PS5 for Civ7If you are having issues with Civ6 on PS4/5 I have found that its a lot more stable if you turn internet off on the system. It seems like between every turn (even in offline play) its trying to phone home, and if it has a connection issue, will lock up until its succeeded. If network is off on the PS4/5 it will not even try.@thedevilsjester I do actually play it offline for that very reason, if I don’t it eventually starts to disconnect the PS5’s wifi. Anno 1800 does the same thing, with that game it’s usually because of Ubiconnect. Although Anno has a habit of actually corrupting your saves and wiping your progress. It’s a shame too because it’s a good game once you get over the learning curve.The Arstechnica review was good. Interesting changes to the age-structure. Diplomacy has been improved a lot.A bit of release jank but not too bad.I’ll probably PC this one though. 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