Game profile
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Across millennia, you lead your own civilization from the Stone Age to the Space Age, using diplomacy, war and culture as paths to victory. The infamous "just one more turn" feeling is baked right into its design.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Strategy / City builder, set in a historical period. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. There is no story to speak of, the systems carry everything. You can play it with others cooperatively or go head to head. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Epic "just one more turn" addictiveness
- Many paths to victory
- Huge historical scope
This fits you if
- you enjoy being made to think
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- cutscenes annoy you and you just want to play
- you have someone to play with
Look elsewhere if
- you play mainly for narrative
- you do not have 80 hours to give a single game
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- you want something with real weight to it
How long is Sid Meier's Civilization VI?
About 80 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 13 weeks, or 40 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 87 out of 100, which puts it above 71 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 348 overall. That is mid-table for this database. Not a standout at the top, but solidly rated.
For comparison, Strategy averages 82 points across the database, so this one sits 5 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 652 collected ratings.
Released in 2016, so it has 10 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2016
- Genres
- Strategy, City builder
- Playtime
- approx. 80 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- None, pure gameplay
- Play with
- Solo, Co-op, Competitive
- Setting
- Historical
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 87 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 2016 | approx. 80 hrs. | 87 | Mid price |
| Sid Meier's Civilization V | 2010 | approx. 60 hrs. | 87 | Budget |
| Factorio | 2020 | approx. 100 hrs. | 90 | Mid price |
| Manor Lords | 2024 | approx. 80 hrs. | 79 | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
- 87/100 Sid Meier's Civilization V Shared: Strategy, City builder, Historical
- 90/100 Factorio Shared: Strategy, City builder, rated higher
- 79/100 Manor Lords Shared: Strategy, City builder, Historical
- n/a Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Shared: Strategy, City builder, Historical, longer
- 85/100 Mindustry Shared: Strategy, City builder, longer
- 81/100 Northgard Shared: Strategy, City builder, Historical, shorter