Undoubtedly the most well known strategy game, Sid Meier’s Civilization has captivated gamers for more than 20 years. Over time, Civ has advanced a significant from the original version, and in late 2010, Fraxis and 2K (the companies who makes Civ) released the newest version, Civ V(5). Civ V was a giant upgrade, but still they strive to add more to the gameplay, previously adding more and more civs, situations, map packs, and gameplay features such as World Congress and Trade Units. Still, if you play the game, you know that the later part of the game can get boring and repetitive, which they are trying to fix, but with the newest announcement, the game will not only get more interesting but also longer.

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Snapshot of Civilization(1)

At the Pax 2014 recently, Fraxis announced the release of their newest expansions pack (like the earlier Brave New World) called Beyond Earth. As the name suggests, the expansion pack will allow you to travel into space and, well, do what you do on Earth: settle, conquer, grow, repeat. This of course opens of the game completely, and basically gives the developers at Fraxis a field day. And what they have released certainly shows that.

From what they have said, Beyond Earth is set where Earth is unstable, and you need to find a new home. They have not said if you will start the game as normal, but that is something that probably won’t be known until the release day. You make a space ship based off of your playing style, and even chose a sponsor, each with different benefits. The whole way you colonize the planets is customizable, from the colonists to the cargo. The new planet is home to completely new alien life, (which should be interesting, considering civ’s very detailed civilization animations) tiles, and relics, all which you can exploit for the good of your civilization.

The technology will also be changed to accommodate the space travel. The tree will be split into three categories, each with their own technologies and victory conditions. Also, the new technology feature is not linear. Since your future is vague, the technologies come in sections based off your choices throughout the game.

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Overall, the Beyond Earth pack should be full of surprises with new and fun (hopefully) gameplay. Other than the features I mentioned, there is a lot they haven’t specified, such as the exact game mechanics, or the switching between Earth and space. Units, tiles, resources, civs and even the basic rules of the game will be changed because of the new possibilities of space. Coming out in Fall 2014, Civilization Beyond Earth promises to be a groundbreaking game for the Civ franchise and series.