Civilization 7 launched back in February and, let's be honest, it had about as smooth a launch as a blindfolded player trying to speedrun a dark souls boss. The game's signature gimmick - forcing you to swap civilizations at each of its three major ages - split the playerbase harder than a contested border territory in the late game.
According to a hands-on preview from Push Square, a big free update is now dropping for PS5, and it's being described as feeling like a full-on soft relaunch. That's developer speak for 'we heard your feedback, we cried a little, and then we fixed some stuff.'
What's actually in the patch?
Push Square's hands-on suggests the update addresses many of the pain points that tanked the game's early reception. Civilization games live and die by their 'one more turn' loop, and if that loop feels broken or frustrating, players are going to rage-quit faster than a Monopoly family game night.
The controversial age-switching mechanic - where you essentially bench your current civilization and pick up a new one mid-campaign - was always going to be divisive. Push Square's original review noted exactly this, calling it the game's biggest innovation AND its biggest potential fault in the same breath. That's the kind of double-edged sword that keeps developers up at night.
Is this the comeback arc we needed?
A free update of this scale is basically Firaxis acknowledging that the game shipped before it was fully cooked - something that's become an unfortunate pattern across the entire industry. The good news is that when strategy games get fixed, they tend to get REALLY fixed. Just ask the Paradox faithful who have been patching Hearts of Iron since the Byzantine Empire was still relevant.
Whether this counts as a true redemption arc or just a respawn at the last checkpoint remains to be seen. But if Push Square's hands-on impression is anything to go by, Civilization 7 might finally be ready to stop losing and start building its empire properly - which, ironically, is exactly what the game is supposed to be about.
Check out the full hands-on preview over at Push Square for the complete breakdown.
