Comparison: Sid Meier's Civilization VII, the update that fixes (almost) everything
A year and a half after a rocky launch, Civilization VII has genuinely improved. But the rift between critics and players hasn't fully closed.
This article contains affiliate links. Installing a game through one of them may earn PicGamers a commission. It stays free for you and never influences our recommendations.
Few games are as split between critics and players as Civilization VII: reviewers point to a “Test of Time” update that fixes a lot, while the community still hasn’t fully forgiven the launch.
What Test of Time actually fixes
The forced civilization-switching between eras, heavily criticized at release, is now better telegraphed and easier to follow, and a good chunk of the bugs that plagued early games are gone. Strip away that friction and the base game recovers the strategic depth you expect from a Civilization entry.
Trust that still needs rebuilding
The problem is the user score (around 3.8/10) remains dismal, and for good reason: aggressive DLC pricing and the sense of a game sold incomplete at launch still weigh on the title’s reputation, far more than its current quality actually warrants.
Verdict
A much better game today than it was at launch, but the trust it lost with players won’t be repaired by a single patch, however solid.
