Sid Meier’s Civilization series delivered Civilization VII earlier this year, bringing with it a plethora of changes, revamps and overhauls to the game’s core mechanics. While some of them have been met with a mixed reception, there seems to be more and more new players entering the franchise via the latest title thanks to the way it streamlines many features and mechanics, or altogether refines otherwise complicated systems so that they’re easier to grasp. One element that’s been given a considerable amount of attention in Civilization VII is multiplayer. Having never really played Civilization with friends and other players before, I set out to see exactly what it offered.



One could argue that Civilization VII has more enticing multiplayer features than the series has ever seen, and this is mainly a decision by developer Firaxis Games to introduce a bit more replayability when you have friends or other players along for the ride. I first fired up multiplayer with a friend and we got to choosing our key figures and establishing our “unique” civilizations in the Antiquity Age, which is arguably the best age if you’re going to tackle multiplayer for various reasons we’ll get into in a bit.



It’s worth noting that at this stage, multiplayer still needs a bit of patches and updates to smooth things out as we ran into a few glitches and one unexpected reset that caused unbridled rage. The good news is that the foundations here are rock-solid with a lot of wiggle room to improve and build upon. The Antiquity Age seems to be the most stable at the moment as we’ve encountered our fair share of issues in the Exploration and Modern ages. That said, the most positive thing I could say about Civilization VII’s multiplayer is that it has the potential to become the best in the series.

Setting up for a multiplayer game was as easy as getting things going in a single-player campaign. We vouched for a quick game that evening so we tweaked the game’s settings to accommodate a relatively short but still eventful playthrough, accelerating the progress of certain actions that would otherwise take several turns while giving ourselves enough room to build something special.



For the most part, multiplayer in Civilization VII plays out as you’d expect: a friend or another player experiences the age with you as you both construct individual cities and bases. From there, it’s a matter of going through the motions – until the tides turn against you. Initially starting as “allies”, my friend eventually initiated a war with a neighbouring kingdom over vital military resources. As expected, I was asked to choose sides. Naturally, I sided with my friend thinking it was the logical thing to do before we realized we were up against a civilization with a military presence that dwarfed both of ours, since we opted for a more diplomatic approach at first by growing the civilizations through cultural and economic means.

It didn’t take long before I jumped into other online matches that mostly played out the same way: the goal wasn’t necessarily friendly co-operation in some lobbies but rather total domination by brute force. There were other active lobbies I joined that chose more peaceful play styles but for the most part, if you’re going into multiplayer, you’d better prepare for all-out war. This meant adopting a new mentality or approach that you weren’t too familiar with.



For me, that was establishing a civilization that harnessed the might of the military, building up my forces, bolstering my general and fortifying my cities and key locations. I struggled to find a word other than “sweaty” to describe Civilization VII’s multiplayer but that’s exactly what it is. Sure, I could’ve went for diplomatic lobbies but the rush you get from playing in 2-5 player games where alliances are constantly shifting and changing for selfish benefits was too enticing to pass up – especially if you’re playing with random players that have vastly different plans and play styles than you. It's like Game of Thrones if all the major conflicts happened in a single episode.

The thrill of Civilization VII’s multiplayer really depends on how you and other players want to approach the campaign. It can be as easy as simply cooperating and growing together or growing against each other. My favourite aspect of multiplayer is how things can drastically change from one minute to the next, keeping you on your toes at all times – and we’re talking about a Civilization game here. Sure, there are some problems but you can take away a lot from the multiplayer if you’re one to enjoy the idea of teaming up and turning against other players online. Now we just need hotseat multiplayer. Make it happen, Firaxis!