Firaxis is currently exploring a new and more severe Age Transition setting for the highly anticipated Civilization 7. Known tentatively as Collapse, this setting is designed to offer a notably tougher shift between the game's three major ages. According to creative director Ed Beach, the feature aims to provide a cleaner slate experience than existing options, potentially shaking up gameplay for seasoned strategists.
Setting the Stage for Change
The decision to test Collapse reflects Firaxis's commitment to innovation and responsiveness to feedback from its player base. However, Beach is candid about the early phase of development, cautioning that Collapse may not be included if it fails to align with the game's ethos of balancing challenge and enjoyment. The aim is to ensure that any new mechanics, no matter how challenging, are still engaging and fun for players.
Accompanying the Collapse testing is the new 1.2.4 update, which makes several notable adjustments to Civilization 7. The update moves the Age Transition setting from the Advanced to the main Create Game options, signaling Firaxis's intent to make these configurations more accessible. Additionally, settings such as Age Transition, game speed, and difficulty have now been made sticky, meaning the game will remember these configurations between Create Game sessions — a quality-of-life improvement sought by many players.
- Sticky configurations for a better user experience
- Accessibility enhancements in game settings
- Reacting to community feedback
Part of the update's initiatives to enhance the game's stability includes rectifying a persistent mouse-click registration issue alongside several situational bugs. These technical adjustments are aimed at ensuring a smooth playing experience, crucial for both new players and veterans alike.
The Path Forward
While the notion of more arduous Age Transitions may raise eyebrows, Firaxis has shown through their history that they are unafraid to challenge players with new concepts and features. The forthcoming months will likely reveal whether Collapse will make it past this testing phase to become part of the final game. Whether this new feature is adopted will hinge largely on how it is received by both the development team and the players who engage with the game during the test period.
As Civilization 7 continues its development journey, fans await further details and are eager to see which new strategies they might need to adopt. The prospect of starting from a more severe clean slate could transform the tactics within Civilization 7, perhaps redefining how players conquer new eras in Firaxis's iconic series.
