Improving Civilization 7’s UI is the “top priority”, say Firaxis

The RPS review of Firaxis’ grand strategy Civilisation 7 is currently in progress. We didn’t get early code, and our usual method of sidestepping this issue by rapidly entering the numbers and letters spelled out by our extensive collection of longhorn beetles bore no fruit. Rest assured: it’s coming. Sin reviewed it for EuroVega though, awarding it two out of a possible five beetles. While she found it largely dull, she did mention that “its UI has enough potential to make some of my complaints feel patchable”. Firaxis seem to agree, putting out a statement last Friday following feedback from the game’s advanced access period.

“In response to your feedback, we’ve identified three key areas that we’re prioritizing work against as quickly as possible,” say Firaxis. They’re planning to share a roadmap “soon”, but this is what they’re working on for now. Chief among the three areas is a focus on improving the UI – their “top priority”, they say. They’re working on “making UI interactions more intuitive, improving map readability, fixing areas of polish like formatting, and more”. Do love a good “more”. Could be anything! Exciting!

As for multiplayer, they’re working on the following:

• Adding Teams to multiplayer games so you can play cooperatively
• Allowing full player counts in multiplayer in all three Ages through refinements to our Distant Lands system.
• Allowing you to pick your starting and ending Age to allow for single or double Age games
• Providing a wider variety of map types
• Enabling city and religion names to be customized
• Adding in hotseat multiplayer

Finally, they’re aiming to roll out a quality o’ life patch in March, featuring “quality-of-life UI adjustments, ongoing AI balance and improvement, adjustments to diplomacy and crises, plus additional bug fixes”.

In other Civ news, Firaxis announced Civ 7 VR yesterday, exclusive to ZuckQuest 3 and 3s. I will never stand to play a strategy game and you cannot make me.