【AI前沿】Civilization VII finally lets you build a civ that stands the test of time

Test of TimeCivilization VIIfinally lets you build a civ that stands the test of timeCiv 7’s devs talk walking back the game’s most controversial decision.Samuel Axon–May 19, 2026 12:00 pm|38You can’t tell as much from the map view, but many ofCiv 7’s key underlying systems have been totally overhauled.Credit:

      Samuel AxonYou can't tell as much from the map view, but many ofCiv 7's key underlying systems have been totally overhauled.Credit:

      Samuel AxonText
    settingsStory textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth*StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers onlyLearn moreMinimize to nav“Build a civilization to stand the test of time.” That was the promise on the box of Sid Meier’sCivilization, the first in a long-running strategy game franchise that has evolved over 35 years and seven mainline entries.Civ 7introduced a new approach to play wherein players would change civilizations from their initial selection twice by the end of a game. Lots of players said, “Wait a minute: we’re literally not building a civilization to stand the test of time anymore.” After such a negative reception at launch, longtime series fans began to wonder whether the franchise would continue to stand the test of time.It’s clearly not a coincidence that the new, major update for the game reaching players today is titled “Test of Time.” It’s a major reworking of several of the game’s key systems, and it reintroduces the ability to play one civ from beginning to end while retaining some of the big ideas that definedCiv 7at launch.I’ve spent the past week playing the game with the Test of Time update, and I spoke with two of the game’s senior developers—the franchise’s creative director, Ed Beach, and series head of product Matt Schembari—about the choices they made, reacting to player feedback, and competing ideas about what Civ is to players.A quick note on agesFor those who haven’t been followingCiv 7up to this point: Another major change to the game is that it has been broken into three distinct ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Each has its own tech and culture tree, game mechanics, and, until now, civilizations to pick from.The intent behind it was to allow the game’s designers to solve some longtime problems with how traditional Civ games could lag or have balance problems at specific stages. If that in itself is too much deviation from the classic formula for you, it’s unlikely Test of Time will make you likeCiv 7any more than you might have a year ago. It’s still a foundational framework for this game. Test of Time gives players a lot more freedom inside that structure, but it does not remove the structure itself.Give the people what they wantStarting a new game ofCiv 7with the patch, the biggest change was immediately apparent. As of the last update before this one, you could pick from just 14 civs when starting a game in the Antiquity Age. This time, I saw more than 40.I could play as America from the Age of Antiquity now, for example. When I set up the game, I was also given the option to choose the AI’s civ-switching behavior; I could prohibit it, allow it, or pick an option that makes the AI follow suit on whatever choice I make.Yep, we have modern age civs as options for a game starting in antiquity.Credit:
                                  Samuel AxonYep, we have modern age civs as options for a game starting in antiquity.Credit:

      Samuel AxonOf course, playing one civ throughout the three ages would seem to run counter to how the game was originally designed. Firaxis took this update as an opportunity to take a major game balance pass across all the civs, and it introduced some new concepts to make one civ for three ages fit theCiv 7framework.Civs are considered to have an “apex age,” during which they have access to their full kit. When they’re in an age other than their apex age, they’re called “time-tested civs,” and they have access to a limited amount of their normal bonuses. But players can use a system called syncretism to adopt bonuses that are normally offered to specific civs that would call the current age their apex age.Based on playing one full game in the new patch, I feel this implementation works really well overall, and it’s a lot of fun.That said, I could see it getting unwieldy to build on over time—the game’s designers now must account for many more possibilities and balance them against each other to make sure the game stays fair and fun.When I asked Beach about this, he suggested it’s not as big a design challenge as it might seem. “I think we still have some advantages because of the structure of the game,” he said. “I think where we are giving ourselves an immense challenge is the content space, because we have 43 civs that you can play as, and now we need to give them bonuses in three different ages. So we went from basically 43 chunks of content that we need to balance to like 129 chunks of content, and as we add more civs