has taken some big strides to help make the series more accessible for new players. While older games weren’t necessarily impossible to get into, and short game times or lower difficulty levels helped a lot, players were still asked to absorb a lot of information to get started. does its best to both keep the complexity of the game that long-time fans expect while also making it easier to onboard new players.
Although streamlining the game may have resulted in losing some of the finer nuances of the older games, and even a few strategies, that doesn’t necessarily mean these changes are bad. It doesn’t matter how deep a game is if players are too intimidated to plunge into those depths. Thanks to’s new Age mechanics, players won’t be nearly as overwhelmed by information at the start of a new game. Other steps to streamline the game have also cut back on the need to have too much foreknowledge before getting started.
’s new Age structure is one of the best changes to help new players get into the game. In previous games, the world progressed through time somewhat seamlessly. In contrast, breaks the game into three distinct Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. While the older games may have flowed a bit more smoothly, the new Age structure adds some interesting new features that can help out new players.
One major change here is that not all units transition from one age to the next. This can help prevent one civilization from snowballing out of control thanks to their early game lead. While experienced players were the ones snowballing, this change could cause some frustration. However, newer players will likely be glad that these checkpoints throughout the game can help even the playing field a bit if they are falling behind at a given age.
This benefit also carries over to the technology tree. Players aren’t allowed to advance beyond the current Age in terms of technology. This prevents a civilization from investing all their research into military upgrades and
Read more on screenrant.com