u/Blakeley00

WOOT! It happened!! Good old Sid Meier's Civilization 2 doesn't make it into mainstream gaming news very much these days but amazingly my Civ2 Heroes of Might & Magic 2 mod has made it into PC Gamer!!! And even better it's a 2 page spread near the front of their mag in the news section! They even managed to squeeze in mention of the Civ2 modding community, the lost scenario preservation project, the get Civ2 back into stores campaign, and even my up & coming other Civ2 mod projects too! :) :)

EDIT: Reddit really doesn't make embedded links & thumbnails at the top of the post very obvious does it lol. Here's the link with a scan and more details for those that missed it:
https://blakessanctum.wordpress.com/2026/07/24/i-made-it-to-pc-gamer-magazine-again/

Today we've got another retro indie game inspired by Sid Meier's Colonization and Imperialism for our CivFanatics, this time it's Imperial Ambitions. This game is a historic 4X turn-based strategy game where you play a civilization during the age of imperialism, and you try to dominate the old and the new world. As normal for these type of games, you manage resources, build units, and annihilate your enemies. The citizens of your empire have different social classes, and require and produce different resources, and might get unhappy due to different reasons. Religion, trade and the black market, and technology progress also play a role. It's now fully released on Steam, early reviews are very positive and there's a free demo to try as well.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2219390/Imperial_Ambitions/

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/imperial-ambitions.689072/

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Dls5wxoPA

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CivFanatics member NotJohnSmith has released a pirates mod for Sid Meier's Colonization. He describes the mod as transforming Colonization into a fun pirate-themed experience with things like Infamy instead of Crosses, Pirate Hideouts instead of Missions, pirate-themed advisor portraits, rewritten texts and lots of smaller flavor changes. He's also currently replacing the Founding Fathers with historical and fictional pirates too.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRT4ZoBO1kU

More info & discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/i-made-a-pirates-mod-for-sid-meiers-colonization-classic.703935/

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Dale, co-developer of Old World and former Civilization modder extraordinaire, has today released another trailer for his upcoming indie game “Imperialist”. The game is targeted at the old-school crowd who are yearning for some Sid Meier's Colonization and Imperialism like gameplay. The new trailer shows us the all new in-game graphics, the production screen, the battle screen, as well as some parts of a 'new world' map.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4351070/Imperialist/

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/imperialist-exploit-the-new-world-to-control-the-old.703219/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_T9H2MM5E

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For the latest CivFanatics Civ7 “Game Of The Month” challenge 25 you play asAda Lovelace of rainy and not sunny Britain on a standard size Archipelago map with low sea level on Deity level. You also get low disaster intensity for this game, and continuous civs. Do you think you can beat this map on deity? You have until August 1 to find out!

Link to GotM savegame download, instructions & more info here: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/7otm25-1-july-2026-announcement.703804/

^((Please note - AI difficulty alternates each challenge between high & low so players of different levels can take part. However AI difficulty is mostly irrelevant in GOTM ranking as the real challenge is completing the game victory objective in the shortest amount of turns - without reload spamming. We also sometimes do multiple challenges per month for players at different levels.))

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Firaxis has published a new Civilization VII history Q&A, with senior historians Finn, Emily, and Andrew answering 35 community questions gathered from Reddit, Discord, Steam, and other channels.

The full post focuses less on patch notes and more on how the team researches and frames history for Civ VII. Topics include how leaders and civilizations are selected, how leader dialogue is researched and translated, how Firaxis thinks about controversial historical figures, and why some civilizations or leaders are difficult to represent because of limited sources.

A few answers touch on familiar Civ VII debates. Firaxis says the split between leaders and civilizations gives the team more flexibility, but that a playable civilization still needs some sense of shared identity beyond a broad linguistic or cultural group. The historians also discuss the three-Age structure, including why some civilizations are placed by theme and roster fit rather than a strict chronological cutoff.

There are also some small wishlist-style answers: Andrew names Srivijaya as a civilization held back by source limitations, Finn mentions the Sea Peoples, and Emily mentions the Trojans. Asked about more 20th-century leaders, Emily answers: “Yes. The 20th century was long, and we haven’t fully explored it. Yet.”

Q&A Interview: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1295660/view/679628250084803716

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/q-a-with-firaxis-historians.703769/

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Firaxis has released a new developer update video for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, giving an overview of Update 1.4.1, which recently arrived on June 23rd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSEgv2jXel0

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The headline feature is the return of hotseat multiplayer, allowing multiple players to take turns locally on the same device. This has been a familiar option in previous Civilization games, so its arrival should be welcome news for players who enjoy local multiplayer.

The update also adds a new Archipelago map type using Civ7’s newer Voronoi-based map generation system. Firaxis says this should create more organic and randomized island-heavy worlds, with two archipelago regions and distant lands scattered around the map. The previous version of the map will remain available as Archipelago Hemispheres.

Another major part of the update is an overhaul to happiness, governments, and celebrations. Settlements will now have five different happiness moods rather than a simple happy/unhappy state, and expectations will rise as the game advances through the ages. Governments will also gain effects based on how happy your settlements are, as well as passive bonuses and exclusive traditions on the civics tree. Celebrations are being changed from broad percentage boosts into government-themed bonuses, and will now last 6 turns instead of 10.

Alongside Update 1.4.1, Firaxis is releasing Part 1 of the Brush & Blade Collection, focused on historical East Asia. The first part adds Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a new leader, plus Heian Japan and Sengoku Japan as new civilizations. The collection also includes new unique units such as the Shinobi, Samurai, and Yumi, along with four new wonders and profile customization items. Part 2 is planned for later this summer.

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/civ-vii-developer-video-june-2026-update-1-4-1-lands-tomorrow.703726/

Civilization is now synonymous with turn-based strategy, but Sid Meier says the original game could have gone in a very different direction.

In a PC Gamer piece revisiting the series’ history, Meier says he and Bruce Shelley considered making Civilization real-time during early development. The team eventually moved away from that approach because the game’s scale needed breathing room. Players had to be able to understand cities, units, diplomacy, research, and history without fighting the clock.

Meier also said the team chose square tiles over hexes because hexes felt “too geeky” and less accessible at the time.

The real-time idea did not disappear completely. Shelley later became game director on Age of Empires, while Civilization veteran Brian Reynolds went on to lead Rise of Nations, a game that more directly explored the idea of a history-spanning RTS.

Civilization stayed turn-based and eventually switched to hexes, but its alternate path helped shape some of the biggest strategy games that followed.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civilization-is-the-most-iconic-turn-based-series-of-all-time-but-sid-meier-considered-making-it-an-rts-it-could-have-easily-gone-in-different-directions

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Sullla's AI Survivor Season 9 continues and we're into the playoff's where the winners of the opening round face off.

Sullla’s AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla. CFC is very excited to announce that the popular series returns after almost a two-year hiatus with Season Nine. AI Survivor has become quite an event over the years for both old and new Civ IV fans.

More info & discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/sulllas-ai-survivor-season-9-playoff-2.703571/

Preview of next game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3vN39uOLbE

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Continuing from my last post here's the final seventh dev diary of a retro 4X TBS Sid Meier's Civilization 2 - Red Alert 2 Siege of New York scenario I'm working on that's over 25 years too late but I’m doing it anyway lol!

In this final 7th dev diary (before release) we overhaul and finalise all the sound effects, videos, GUI colours & backgrounds, diplomacy, and city buildings with Red Alert 2 assets.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/civilization-2-red-alert-2-siege-of-new-york-scenario/news/final-dev-diary-07-sounds-videos-gui-diplomacy-more-for-the-civ2-red-alert-2-scenario

Am working on this in parallel to the Civ2-Hereos of Might & Magic and Civ2-Command & Conquer scenarios I’ve posted about here before.

Civ2 game world with Red Alert 2 graphics

New custom diplomacy screen

PC Gamer reports that Civilization VII’s new Test of Time update has pushed the game to its highest Steam player count in over a year.

According to the article, Civ VII recently climbed above 16,000 concurrent players on Steam, roughly double its recent peak numbers. That suggests many players were waiting for a substantial reason to give the game another look.

The update is a significant one. Its headline feature is the much-requested ability to continue playing as the same civilization across age transitions, but it also reworks victory conditions, adds optional objectives with bonus rewards, and makes a broader set of changes aimed at addressing launch criticisms.

Early reactions still appear divided. Some players say Test of Time makes Civ VII feel much closer to a complete 1.0 release, while others argue that issues with UI, pacing, simplified systems, and DLC pricing remain.

Still, this may be Civ VII’s most important update so far. The player-count bump shows there is still plenty of interest in the game – now the question is whether Test of Time can keep those returning players around.

Article: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civ-7s-massive-overhaul-update-brings-its-highest-steam-player-count-in-over-a-year/

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/pc-gamer-civ7%E2%80%99s-test-of-time-update-brings-players-back.703415/

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Continuing from my last post here's the final seventh dev diary of a retro 4X TBS Sid Meier's Civilization 2 - Red Alert 2 Siege of New York scenario I'm working on that's over 25 years too late but I’m doing it anyway lol!

In this final 7th dev diary (before release) we overhaul and finalise all the sound effects, videos, GUI colours & backgrounds, diplomacy, and city buildings with Red Alert 2 assets.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/civilization-2-red-alert-2-siege-of-new-york-scenario/news/final-dev-diary-07-sounds-videos-gui-diplomacy-more-for-the-civ2-red-alert-2-scenario

Am working on this in parallel to the Civ2-Hereos of Might & Magic and Civ2-Command & Conquer scenarios I’ve posted about here before.

Civ2 game world with Red Alert 2 graphics

New custom diplomacy screen

The big free game changing “Test Of Time” update 1.4.0 for Civ7 is here!

The new patch comes with a ton of changes. You can now lead a single civ through all the ages, but they get more boni in their own age, but you can still get some of the boni of the other civs, if you like. Also the victory has been reworked, the legacy paths are gone, and instead there are triumphs, which are intermediate goals to your way to victory. Obviously many other things have also been reworked, like parts of the UI and the AI.

More info & discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/civilization-vii-update-1-4-0-test-of-time-may-19-2026.703352/

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Firaxis's Sara came by to give us another entry of the dev diaries, this time about the sound of Civ7. Associate Audio Director Kadet Kuhne talks about how they looked at the sounds of Civ5 and Civ6, the evolution of the music over the game stages, the return of building sounds and the work to make the languages authentic.

More info & discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/developer-diary-designing-the-sound-of-civilization-vii.703311/

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Sara from Firaxis gave us the next dev diary for the upcoming for the upcoming “Test Of Time” update for Civ7, this time about Triumphs. Triumphs are a part of the new way that victories work. They are in-game challenge, which will award you not only victory points towards a specific victory, but will also give you other boni going into the same direction.

More info & discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/test-of-time-developer-diary-triumphs.703286/

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We got a new game announcement on the forums which will probably interest quite a few of our CivFanatics! Dale, co-developer of Old World and long-time Civ fan & modder is now working on his own independent game, called “Imperialist”. As you can guess from the context and title, this is a turn-based 4X game, set during the age of imperialism. While there are some Sid Meier's Colonization influences, this game is not so much about creating a new state in the old world, but forging an empire which spans the the whole world. The graphics have retro flair and are definitely aimed at long time civ fans, and for those who remember the good old “Imperialism” series! Get ready for more intricate supply chains and more advanced diplomacy with friends and foes, making this game a potential new candidate for the “one-more-turn” syndrome at the end of this year.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMvIhVhvRlM

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4351070/Imperialist/

Our discussion: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/imperialist-exploit-the-new-world-to-control-the-old.703219/

(Picture only - use video link above)