This is another game I’m fairly sure you’ve heard of, if not played. This game has been around for a long while, and has played a significant role in the history of games. I, personally, have been playing it since the days of Civ 2, and own pretty much every iteration and DLC ever published for the game. You could call me a little bit obsessed. For at least Monday, I will be playing Civilization 5, which remains my favorite of the series. I own 6, but it just hasn’t grabbed my heart like 5 did. There is a chance I might play 6 on Tuesday, however, just to give it another try.

Game Info:

The first Civilization was released in 1991, developed by Sid Meier. He has continued to play a role in the development, and/ or at least had creative input on every game in the series, which is why his name is included in the titles. All Civ games share similarities in game play, being that each game is about building a Civilization up from prehistory into the near future. Most of the games could be played both against human players or against the AI of the game, and they usually include historically-based Civilizations to play as. There are many things to pay attention to while playing, from the technological growth of your civilization, to the economy, to diplomacy with other Civs, to protecting your borders (or expanding them) with your military. It’s a complex game… that has definitely changed the turn-based strategy genre of games. Civ 2 came out in 1996, and had a couple different versions. Civ 2: Test of Time was, for me, a highlight of the series, because it had a fantasy based game mode as well as the historical. Civ 3 was in 2001, 4 was in 2005, Civ 5 in 2010, and Civ 6 in 2016. There have also been several spin offs, tabletop games, DLCs, and even freeware versions based on the main game.

As I mentioned, this game was a HUGE success from it’s first iteration, and has literally changed the face of real-time strategy games from the very beginning. It has been called one of the best and most important strategy games of all time, and the game’s importance to computer games has been compared to the development of the wheel on history. It is usually considered to be the first major game in the genre of “4X” strategy games – where the four X’s refer to exploration, expansion, exploiting, and exterminating. While other games had been released with similar goals prior to Civilization, almost all games after would credit Civ with at least some of their features and inspiration.

My Editorial:

I seriously have always loved these games, and am really looking forward to playing it Monday and Tuesday on stream. I hope you all will enjoy watching as much as I enjoy playing it!

Stay Tuned for afterthoughts!*

*(coming next week when I publish the VODs from this week’s playthroughs on Youtube)