Civilization VII is penciled in for a 2025 release, but with nothing more than a teaser released so far, it could be more than a year away. What should strategy fans do in the meantime?
This feels like a golden era of strategy games and there are plenty of new titles to look forward to before the next instalment of Sid Meier’s masterwork is released. Here are three that are worth putting on your watchlist.
Memoriapolis
If you’re itching for a new strategy game to get stuck into, you won’t have to wait long for this one: Memoriapolis is due out on August 29.
This city builder looks visually stunning, with the developers promising that their “unique algorithm” which was “overseen by an urban planner”, delivers the “most realistic-looking city you’ve ever seen in a video game.”
This isn’t about to compete with Cities: Skylines II for building a modern metropolis, mind. It’s historical based, spanning 2,500 years from Antiquity (around eight centuries BC) right through to the Age of Enlightenment.
The game will eventually span four different ages, but the Early Access version of Memoriapolis that comes out this month will only cover the first two ages: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The developers estimate it will be four-to-six months before the full game is ready.
It shares a lot of the same ingredients as the Civ games: economy and politics, as well as the building of wonders such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Library of Alexandria. If it plays half as well as it looks, it will be a treat.
Ara: History Untold
Ara: History Untold is the closest thing to the Civilization titles in this shortlist of games.
This historical grand strategy title shares many of Civ’s traits: leaders with their own personalities, turn-based strategy, and progress through the different eras.
Judging by the many videos released by the developers in the run-up to its release, Ara: History Untold runs the risk of falling into the same trap as Millennia did earlier this year: it’s so close to the Civ formula that gamers would rather just wait for the real thing next year.
That said, there are promising signs that Ara is attacking one of Civ’s biggest weaknesses: multiplayer. A “True Simultaneous Turns” system is promised, where players make decisions at the same time, rather than twiddling their thumbs waiting for their opponents to move before they get to do something, which can be especially tedious towards the end.
The other bonus with Ara: History Untold is that it’s going to be a day one release on Game Pass on September 24, so if you’re a Microsoft subscriber it won’t cost you any extra to find out how good it is.
Whiskerwood
This is definitely the most left field of the three choices here… and nobody could accuse it of taking direct inspiration from Civ.
In Whiskerwood, you’re building a town for your mice to live in, while living “under the oppressive paw of your cat overlords.” It’s like a modern-day Animal Farm.
The graphics look great, with lots of nice touches such as mice sliding down chutes in construction plants and running on big, erm, hamster wheels to generate power.
This one looks like more of a city-builder than Civ, with buildings dropped on a grid and resources to be mined or farmed. However, there are elements that will be familiar to Civ fans, including technology trees for unlocking new items.
Whiskerwood is simply marked as “coming soon” on Steam, so it might be a while before we see this one. It’s being published by strategy specialists Hooded Horse, which is always an encouraging sign.
