Civilization 7 Honest Review: Is It Worth Playing in 2025?

When I think of Sid Meier’s Civilization 7, one movie scene comes to mind: Leo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator, running his hand along an airplane fuselage and insisting he doesn’t want to see any rivets. It’s not about flashy combat or dramatic moments; it’s about the obsession with smooth design and streamlined processes. While Firaxis made some bold decisions in the game, I think that at times, this obsession with simplification can hurt the overall experience, especially in a long-awaited 4X game.

Let me clarify right away: I don’t hate playing Civ 7. It still has the series’ signature charm and attention to detail, which is hard to replicate in other games. The craftsmanship is evident, and it’s a fun time to build your own civilization. But it feels like this version was designed to be “user-friendly,” almost like it’s trying to mimic Apple’s design philosophy—removing the ability to dive into the deeper aspects of the game. And as an Android user, I miss that flexibility.

One of the biggest issues is the interface. It doesn’t give me enough of the information I need in a complex strategy game like Civ 7. The learning curve can be frustrating, and while I eventually got used to the minimal tooltips and lackluster Civilopedia entries, I never enjoyed it. I often found myself clicking around, trying to uncover more details—left-clicking, right-clicking, pressing Shift, Alt, Ctrl… you name it. But the information just isn’t there.

For example, in one of my early campaigns, I encountered a character called a Kahuna wandering around my territory. I could search the Civilopedia for more details and discover that it’s a unique missionary for the Hawaiian civilization. But that’s all the game tells me. What is the Kahuna’s purpose? Is it a military unit? Is it dangerous? Can I do anything with it? These questions go unanswered. Similarly, clicking on a city center brings up basic information, but rarely enough to satisfy a deeper strategy game’s needs.

Civilization 7 Lacks Useful Tooltips and Customization Options

It’s a nice touch that every building in Civilization 7 appears directly on the map. But the problem is, when you hover over them, the game doesn’t show what they actually do. To find out, you have to open the Civilopedia and manually search for each building. There’s no quick way to click on a unit or structure to get more info, which feels like a step back. Even something simple—like checking where your specialists are placed—is hidden unless you’re placing a new one. It’s frustrating and unnecessary.

Civ 7 is the first game in the series to launch on consoles from day one. But other console-friendly strategy games like Stellaris or Caves of Qud have shown that it’s totally possible to include detailed tooltips and make important info accessible. Sadly, Civ 7 seems to take the opposite approach, leaving players without the helpful details they need. It’s not game-breaking, but it’s definitely annoying.

Even the setup screen feels too minimal. You get just three world sizes and six map types, with no in-game explanation for what they mean. Want to know the difference between “Continents” and “Continents Plus”? You’ll have to look it up online. There’s no clear breakdown of difficulty levels either. And while the “Standard” map is decently big, settings like “Archipelago” still generate mostly land-heavy worlds, which defeats the point. Customization options like world age, sea level, or rainfall—staples in Civ 6—are completely missing.

Map balance is also odd. A farm on desert tiles is just as productive as one on grassland. So even if you pick a different world type, it doesn’t change the gameplay much—it’s mostly a visual difference. It feels like Firaxis wanted to create a very controlled, simplified experience with limited player freedom.

That said, the core experience isn’t bad. If you enjoyed Civilization Revolution, you might appreciate the streamlined design. Once you adjust to its rigid structure, Civ 7 can still be a good time.

Impressive Music and Sound Design Enhance the Experience

The music and sound design in Civilization 7 are standout features. Christopher Tin, known for creating memorable tracks, delivers another hit with “Live Gloriously,” which includes lyrics in Ancient Greek from The Iliad. The narration by Gwendoline Christie adds depth, and the sound effects—from building a district to firing a rifle company—are crisp and satisfying.

A new addition to Civ 7 is the narrative events that add human character to the broad scope of history. For example, playing as the Shawnee, I was given a choice to honor traditional ways by limiting industrial production but gaining a culture bonus. As Persia, I completed a mini-quest with my Immortal unit. The crises at each Age transition, ranging from barbarian attacks to plagues, are exciting and varied, with plenty more to discover.

However, the game’s handling of historical eras feels a bit too broad. The middle Age, Exploration, spans from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Industrial Revolution, and it feels like too much to cover cohesively.

Civ 7 also ends its history around 1950, with planes and tanks, but no computers or helicopters in the tech tree at launch. The final victory condition is launching a manned spaceflight, which feels like a step back compared to previous games. This limitation can create some awkward situations, like the Mughal Empire being in the Modern Age despite losing relevance long before that.

On a positive note, the game introduces an interesting feature where your civilization evolves through different cultures in each Age, an idea borrowed from Humankind. This allows you to shift focus between military, culture, and science without disrupting the entire game. However, there’s a drawback: the animated leaders don’t visually change across Ages, which can be confusing. For example, Ben Franklin might declare war on you, but you’d need to check which civilization he’s leading at the time.

Combat Is Still the Best Part of Civilization 7

Warfare remains the most exciting part of Civilization 7. The addition of army commanders, which allow several units to ride along and move together, is a clever solution between having too many units per tile and one unit per tile. It also reduces micromanaging since only commanders earn XP. While the AI still struggles to challenge experienced players unless they have a significant advantage, the combat system still offers plenty of fun.

However, some aspects of warfare can be frustrating. When you end your turn, all enemy units move at once, and you won’t be taken to the site of battles. If you’re fighting on multiple fronts, it becomes a challenge to track what happened during your turn. While notifications alert you if a unit dies, they don’t inform you when a unit is close to death, making turn-end time faster, but at the cost of clarity.

On a positive note, the introduction of Influence as a base currency is a great improvement. It allows you to affect War Support, penalizing your enemies’ happiness and combat ability. This adds a diplomatic layer to warfare, making surprise declarations of war less frustrating. You can also influence public opinion, even when you’re the aggressor, adding depth to military strategies.

If conquest isn’t your goal, there’s an “instant” victory condition for the space race. However, the ultimate winner is decided by “Legacy Paths” based on Military, Economic, Scientific, and Cultural achievements. While this encourages flexible strategies, it often rewards generalization over specialization, as completing objectives across categories can be the tie-breaker.

Some Legacy Paths feel better designed than others. The Culture path, for example, falls flat. Without tourism, it focuses on collecting artifacts and creating many wonders, making cities feel crowded and wonders less special. Additionally, the Exploration Age’s religion-based objectives can feel repetitive and tedious, with too much focus on missionary spam. While earlier games had engaging theological combat, Civ 7’s approach feels more like a chore.

Civ 7 Isn’t Great Yet, But It Has Potential

It’s pretty normal for a new Civilization game to feel a bit lacking at launch compared to older titles that have had years of updates and DLCs. Civ 5, my all-time favorite, had a rough start too—so I’m hopeful Civ 7 will improve with time. Many of its current issues, like missing tooltips and limited game setup options, could be fixed with patches. Even Civ 6 didn’t let you rename cities at first, and that got added later. And let’s be honest—future expansions will likely flesh out the systems that feel incomplete today.

At least Civ 7 looks great right out of the gate. But I’m not a fan of how the mountains look—they remind me more of a school project than real snow-capped peaks. The shiny board game style for unexplored areas doesn’t appeal to me either; I’d prefer the classic cloud or old map style.

Still, there are positives. Units and cities look amazing, even if things get a bit cluttered at times. City-states got a visual and gameplay upgrade, with unique 3D designs and culture-specific props. Each one now offers a unique tile improvement. But the new suzerain system feels too simplified—it’s just a race to fill a bar, and you can’t steal city-states from rivals anymore. That said, the AI doesn’t seem too interested in them anyway.

There’s also a meta-progression system where you unlock items and cosmetics for playing certain leaders. It’s okay, but not something that adds much to the experience.

Where’s Gandhi? It’s strange not to see such an iconic character in a Civilization game. While the new leaders are interesting, leaving out Gandhi feels odd. I wonder if they’ll add him later as DLC. And honestly, two Napoleons but no Gandhi?

• Tempest Rising Single-Player Campaign Review – Is It Worth Playing?
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – Honest Review of the Brutally Real RPG Sequel
• Tokyo Xtreme Racer Early Access Review – Gameplay, Graphics, and First Thoughts

Pros and Cons of Civilization 7

Pros	Cons
🛡️ Combat is fun and strategic.	🧩 Simplified interface makes it hard to find key info.
🎶 Amazing sound and visuals.	🚫 Lacks iconic leaders like Gandhi.
📜 Interesting narrative events.	⚙️ Limited customization options at launch.
🏆 Unlockables add extra rewards.	🤖 AI doesn’t challenge experienced players.
🏙️ City-states are more unique.	⚠️ Some features feel incomplete.

Conclusion

Civilization 7 tries to simplify things, but it sometimes goes too far, especially with the interface. It doesn’t always give me the information I need. However, the game does improve in areas like warfare, diplomacy, and adds some nice narrative details. The graphics and sound are great too, making me want to keep playing. With updates and expansions, there’s hope it will improve. While it’s fun, it feels like a step back for the series.