Civilization 7 releases this February, first gameplay trailer shows off new art style, navigable rivers

The next Civilization game will be out in early February, a little over eight years after Civilization 6 launched in 2016. 

The Civilization 7 release date was revealed at Gamescom's Opening Night Live today, where Firaxis showed off the first gameplay trailer for the grand strategy sequel. You can watch that above.

Critics of Civ 6's high-saturation art style, which some accused of being too cartoony, should appreciate the debut—the colors have been knocked back to Civ 5 levels, and if you ask me, it looks fantastic. (The units seem huger than usual, but it's nice to see the details on them.) You might also have spotted a ship making its way up a river. Finally: navigable rivers! I also appreciate that lakes look somewhat more like lakes, rather than misplaced ocean tiles.

Not much is known publicly about Civilization 7 yet, but that's about to change. Following Opening Night Live, Firaxis will be streaming a deep dive into Civ 7's systems on its Twitch channel. And if you prefer to digest the details of grand strategy game features in text form, I might suggest coming back to PC Gamer later today—say, around 2 pm Pacific, wink wink.

Civilization 7 is set to release February 11, 2025, and it's coming to just about everything except phones: Windows, Linux, Mac, Xbox One and Series X/S, PS4 and PS5, and Switch.

See the first screenshots below:

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