Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 doesn’t officially launch until Tuesday, but some strategy fans who purchased the more expensive deluxe edition of the game are already playing — and already giving developer Firaxis some tough-love feedback. On Steam, more than 6,000 players have already reviewed the game, giving Civilization 7 a “mixed” reception. Less than 50% of the game’s reviews are positive, as of Friday.
Firaxis responded to early feedback on Thursday, confirming that the team is well aware of players’ criticisms. Firaxis said it will focus on “three key areas” to improve the game, starting with Civilization 7’s heavily criticized user interface.
“Our top priority is improving the UI,” the developer said in a statement. “We need some time to digest all of your feedback, but some areas that we’re already looking into include making UI interactions more intuitive, improving map readability, fixing areas of polish like formatting, and more. We’re committed to getting this right, and will share more details as soon as we can.”
Civ 7 players on Steam have blasted the game’s interface as “unrefined” at best and “total slop” at worst. One popular user review on Steam calls the UI “very poor here and feels ported over from console in the worst way possible. […] Civ 6 had this aced? Firaxis, this is a huge step backwards here.” Given that updating the game’s UI is the No. 1 priority on Firaxis’ list, the developer would seem to agree.
Firaxis said it’s also listening to community suggestions to improve the game, and is working on cooperative multiplayer teams, a wider variety of map types, and enabling custom city and religion names.
Some relief will come in March, when Firaxis plans to release patch 1.1.0, which will include “quality-of-life UI adjustments, ongoing AI balance and improvement, adjustments to diplomacy and crises, plus additional bug fixes.”
In Polygon’s review of the game, critic Cameron Kunzelman wrote that “Civilization 7 shines where it is already most comfortable,” but noted frustrations with the game, calling it “a little rough.”
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 is coming to Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Feb. 11. It sounds like the game’s official launch is just the beginning for Firaxis’ latest grand strategy game.
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