He was out of town when I visited Firaxis to play Civilization 7 earlier this month, but I did walk past the office from which Civilization creator Sid Meier continues to guide the strategy developer. One example of that guidance, although it came 14 years ago now, was the quick addition of Ghengis Khan as a free Civilization 5 update.
“We ended up shipping Civ 5 without Genghis Khan,” said Civ 7 executive producer Dennis Shirk in a recent interview with GameRant. “Sid said, ‘What?’ We ended up releasing Genghis Khan the next month in a free update because he was right. We shouldn’t have shipped without Genghis Khan, so there’s always going to be that collection, that foundation.”
The topic obviously came up in connection to Civ 7’s leaders, which we haven’t yet seen the full list of, although we know that it won’t be limited to heads of state this time—Benjamin Franklin is a leader, for example.
We know Mongolia is in Civilization 7, so it seems like a given that ol’ Genghis made the cut. Although, he didn’t become a leader in Civ 6 until the Rise and Fall expansion, so I guess Sid didn’t raise an eyebrow that time. Civ’s best known leader is probably Gandhi—there’s even a statue of him in the Firaxis office—so I assume he’ll be there, too. (I’m really digressing now, but the ’90s computer that Sid Meier used to develop Civilization 1 over 30 years ago is still sitting in the office, too).
Firaxis obviously can’t include everyone’s favorite Civ leader, since I’m sure each of them is someone’s favorite, but meeting overall fan expectations is definitely on the studios’ collective mind.
“There will always be a section of fan favorites in every game, leaders that were so popular in the past and are critical to our fans,” said Shirk. “If they don’t get to play as X, they’re going to be upset.”
That said, the Shirk also said that the Civ 7 team is digging deep to find “obscure industrial or cultural” leaders to include. Game designer Carl Harrison added that it’s not just about adding unknown figures, but also historical figures who are well-known but just haven’t been in a Civ yet.
Which leaders the new Civ includes at launch is always big deal (well, I don’t actually remember our reaction prior to Civ 5, so I’m just assuming we cared when Civ 4 was announced), but this time the roster has been overshadowed by some major changes to how we’ll select leaders. First of all, they’re no longer locked to their historical civilization, so if you want to lead Rome as Egypt’s Hatshepsut, even though she died over 1,400 years before the founding of the Roman Empire, you can. The second big change is that when you transition from one age to the next—there are three ages, Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern—you’ll pick a new civilization to lead, one that was at the height of its power during the age in question. So you might go from controlling Rome in Antiquity to Mongolia during the Exploration age.
You can find more details on Civ 7’s new structure in my hands-on preview. It’ll be out early next year, on February 11. Whether or not Genghis is in it, I hope Kublai Khan made the cut. I did a report on him in sixth grade and then, at some point, I read that one poem about him and it really stuck with me. I want to decree a stately pleasure-dome.
