This page is a compendium of
information on the elements and mechanics of the latest Civilization games, assembled from screenshots, gameplay videos and
online previews.
About the Analyst
This site tracks pre-release information about games in the Civilization series. When I started this site, a coherent picture of future releases was hard to find online; nowadays the publishers release lots of information on social media only days before the games come out, so the need for analysis sites like this is greatly reduced. Yet here we are.
Pardon the messy, temporary nature of the pages. They are large and image-heavy, and frequently change. There is usually a limited window between the time the information is available and the release of the game (at which point it becomes mostly irrelevant), and so things are rarely as polished as I would like. Post-release, I try to keep things updated as best I can, but there are other sources that probably do a better job as post-release game guides (see links below).
Links
Civilization Series Official Site:
Overviews of Civilization VI and previous entries in the series.
Well of Souls: My main website,
containing my artwork and Outsider
webcomic, and other game projects similar to this one.
Stars in Shadow: The indie space 4X game
that I'm currently working on as artist and co-designer.
People
A number of names get mentioned in various notes around the site, so here is a key to who is whom in Civilization Land:
Ed Beach: Civ VI, G&K & BNW Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Dennis Shirk: Civilization Senior Producer, Firaxis Games
Pete Murray: Marketing Associate, Firaxis Games
David McDonough: Beyond Earth co-Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Will Miller: Beyond Earth co-Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Lena Brenk: Beyond Earth Producer, Firaxis Games
Anton Strenger: Beyond Earth Lead Systems & Gameplay Designer, Firaxis Games
Casey O'Toole: G&K Lead Programmer, Firaxis Games
Liam Collins: G&K Designer/Developer, Firaxis Games
Tiffany Nagano: G&K Producer for 2K Games
Jon Shafer: Civ V Lead Designer, Firaxis Games
Brian Wade: Civ V Programming Lead, Firaxis Games
Dorian Newcomb: Civ V Lead Artist, Firaxis Games
Dan Baker: Civ V Graphics Lead, Firaxis Games
Garrett Bittner: Civ V Producer for 2K Games
Thanks to Greg Rozmarynowycz for his groovy stylesheet work.
Recent News and Updates (detailed change log)
20 May 2026: Update 1.4.0 is now live, which adds the Test of Time updates and Alexander the Great.
3 February 2026: Update 1.3.2 is now live, which adds Gilgamesh.
22 July 2025: Update 1.2.3 is now live, which includes Assyria, Dai Viet and Genghis Khan for those that have the second DLC.
22 April 2025: Update 1.2 is now live, which adds some quality of life improvements.
25 March 2025: Update 1.1.1 is now live, which adds Simon Bolivar, Bulgaria and Nepal for those with the Crossroads of the World DLC.
4 March 2025: Update 1.1.0 which adds Ada Lovelace, Carthage and Britain for those with the Crossroads of the World DLC, is now live.
11 Februrary 2025: Civilization VII is now available for all platforms. Enjoy!
5 Februrary 2025: Civilization VII is now available for early access play. Enjoy!
16 January 2025: There are a variety of previews and community gameplay streams up today. The last few leaders and civilization have been directly or indirectly revealed. I'll be making a variety of updates over the next several days as the new information is processed.
17 December 2024: Firaxis did a developer livestream focusing on the Modern Age.
7 November 2024: Firaxis did a developer livestream focusing on the Exploration Age. There is a lot here, so it will take some time to process.
12 September 2024: Firaxis did a developer livestream focusing on the Antiquity Age.
31 August 2024: Firaxis revealed a few new civilizations in the PAX West livestream.
20 August 2024: Official Civ7 information release has begun with a gameplay reveal trailer. The release date has been announced as February 11, 2025.
11 June 2024: I set up a stub page for Civilization VII with the only current information, which is the leaked 404 image. There should be new information August 20.
7 June 2024: Firaxis has released an Official Teaser Trailer for Civilization VII. The release date is posted as "2025."
8 December 2022: 2K has announced that the release date for pack 2 of the Leader Pass is December 15.