Debuting all the way back in 1991, theCivilizationfranchise has been around a lot longer than most fans realize. Over the last 32 years,theCivilizationfranchisehas been tweaked and improved, almost to perfection, with each new entry refining the turn-based strategy formula that set the series apart from its competition all those years ago. WithCivilization 7now officially announced, fans are about to get another slew of revisions, with some hopefully being aimed at the game’s world leaders.
InCivilization, the player takes control of a famous real-world leader, and uses their unique abilities to build their own version of the nation. Over the last three decades, theCivilizationfranchise has covered countless world leaders, fromQueen Victoria, to Theodore Roosevelt, but there are a few leaders that have become staples of just about everyCiventry, andCivilization 7may be better off without them.
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Civilization 7 Should Put the Spotlight on Some New World Leaders
Despite adding new gameplay mechanics and improving old ones with each new entry, theCivilizationfranchise has kept its leader roster pretty much the same for over 30 years. TheoriginalCivilization’s rosterconsisted of famous leaders like Julius Caesar, Queen Elizabeth, Gandhi, Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, and Montezuma. WhileCivilization 2added a lot more playable nations to the game, its original countries still maintained many of the same leaders, like Lincoln, Caesar, and Alexander, though this entry did add two distinct male and female options for leaders, doubling the number of leaders from the first game instantly.
Civilization 3pared things back again, having just one playable leader per faction, and again, all of the usual favorites showed up.Civilization 4returned to the expansive nation list, and though it added a few new faces like Ethiopia’s Zara Yaqob, and George Washington for the US, most of its roster was still dominated by the same faces, and the same thing can be said for bothCivilization 5.Civilization 6, along with its DLC, provides the most expansive roster in the franchise so far, adding in nations like Canada, Georgia, Australia, and Scotland.Civ 6also has a fairly diverse set of leaders, with icons like Napoleon and Elizabeth being swapped out for Catherine de Medici and Victoria respectively.
ThoughCivilization 6had a fairly extensive selection of characters,Civilization 7could still go one step further, and replace all of its long-standing icons with fresh faces. There are plenty of time periods left to mine for world leaders, with plenty of potential abilities right there alongside them. For the Egyptian faction, for instance, Rameses II and Cleopatra have been used repeatedly throughout the franchise. There are plenty of other iconic Egyptian leaders forCivilization 7to take inspiration from, including Thutmose III, a military-focused leader who conquered countless regions. The same can be said for England’s Victoria and Elizabeth, who appear alternately in just about every entry in theCivilizationfranchise. Instead,Civilization 7could bring Charles II to the game, and give him some more culture and economic-focused abilities to tie in with the monarchy restoration.
While all ofCivilization’s iconic world leaders have all stuck around because they’re well-loved by the community, it might be time for the series to put some new faces in the spotlight, along with some new eras and abilities. One of the key complaints aboutCivilization 6on launch was that itfelt a little too similar toCiv 5, and to avoid that complaint right out of the gate,Civ 7should ensure that it has a wholly unique roster of world leaders.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7is currently in development.
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