Sid Meier’s Civilization 7is now in development and players are eagerly wondering what new and returning features will make their way into the next game of theCivilizationseries. Long-time fans hope that Firaxis Games and 2K use this next entry as the perfect opportunity to grant one of their biggest wishes for the series.
Though fans of the series have yet to get an exact time for the game’s release, Firaxis Games confirmed thatCivilization 7is in developmentvia the officialCivilizationTwitter account.Civilizationplayers are no strangers to long waits between games, but the developer keeps up engagement with the latest entry in this turn-based, strategy 4X series with regular updates, paid DLC expansions, and free content passes years after release. However, there’s one feature players have yet to receive in anyCivilizationgame thus far.
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Custom Leaders in Civilization Are Just a Matter of Time
TheCivilizationseries is known for allowing players to take control of a historical civilization and seeing if their decisions as a leader will allow it to stand the test of time. Other than the leaders and the accompanying cultural perks for them and their civilization, players can customize nearly every aspect of their fictionalized version of history presented in the game. Fans have begged developers to take this personalization to the final step and give them the option to create their own custom leaders and civilizations, a feature that’s been at the top of many a player’swish list forCivilization7.
Thanks toCivilization’s thriving modding community, however, players have already been able to introduce custom leaders into their games for some time now. To many fans, it’s merely a matter of time before Firaxis Games takes matters into its own hands. From simple quality-of-life mods up to fully developed civilization additions, the vast quantity and quality ofmods forCivilization 6have curbed the hunger of some fans in recent years, but interactions are limited to other people that also have the mod installed. While casual games between friends see regular use of the mods, most online scrimmages don’t incorporate unofficial mods, no matter how well crafted.
How Civilization Would Benefit from Custom Leaders
Therefore, the onus falls on Firaxis to make the official jump to full customization. The inclusion of custom leaders could also prove to be the perfect solution to Firaxis Games' aversion tomorally gray heroes inCivilization. The history behind certain civilizations and leaders can be a delicate subject, and it’s clear why the series would want to steer away from any controversy. However, the historical context rarely matters to players as seen with the classic nuke-happy Gandhi.
Firaxis Games could easily relieve themselves of this self-imposed responsibility by giving players the ability to make such a decision for themselves with custom leaders. That said, when considering the game’s intricate power balance, custom leaders would certainly pose an interesting challenge.
Though many quality custom civilizations exist, there is an equally large amount of leaders with absolutely broken powers and perks. If implemented, custom leaders inCivilization 7should implement certain features fromCivilization 6similar to the highly customizable religion and government tracks to allow players to customize a civilization’s intrinsic perks. By allowing players to choose preset options for customization, Firaxis Games could keep even the wildest of custom civilizations within the parameters of its finely tuned sandbox.
Civilization 7has the opportunity to break new ground for the series with custom leaders and appease the franchise’s ever-growing fanbase. The groundwork has already been laid by both Firaxis Games and the community. If the goal is for players to feel that they themselves have left their mark on history, there would be no way more fitting than to allow them to role-play as any leader they see fit.
