Civilization VII: First look at PS5 gameplay ahead of February 11 launch

Hey Civ fans! On February 11, 2025, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, empowering you to build the greatest empire the world has ever known! Today, I’m delighted to give you a first look at Civilization VII on PS5, with a UI designed for your controller and features specially made for PlayStation platforms. 

This revolutionary new entry in the critically acclaimed turn-based strategy series lets you embody an illustrious leader as you endeavor to build an empire that can stand the test of time. As you construct cities to expand your territory, improve your civilization with technological breakthroughs, and conquer or cooperate with rival civilizations, you’ll progress through three Ages: distinct chapters of human history with their own civs and gameplay mechanics. In a first for the series, you’ll choose your leader and civilization separately, letting you mix-and-match their unique strengths to devise new strategies.

Here’s another franchise first: Civilization VII is coming to PlayStation consoles on the same day as its PC launch, with all the same content available on day one, and is cross-play compatible with other platforms in multiplayer. With Civilization VII, we’re planning to deliver new content simultaneously across PC and consoles, and this unified launch date is the first step in that commitment.

Let’s take a closer look at how Civilization VII plays on PS5, and some of the new features we’ve developed specifically for PlayStation players.

Admire every aspect of your civilization

When we’re designing the graphical style of a new Civilization game, we strive to make the game world feel like a playable museum diorama, or a tabletop strategy game come to life. Instead of simple hexes on a map, we want you to feel like your empire is evolving with every turn you take and every decision you make, and the visual representation of your territory is a huge part of that.

For Civilization VII, a guiding principle for our art team was the idea of ‘readable realism’—pushing the visual fidelity even further to make every tile, building, and unit feel that much more lifelike. As you continue to expand your borders and construct additional buildings and historic Wonders, you’ll notice the layout of the tiles seamlessly connecting to form believable vistas with more detail than ever before.  

We’ve also taken the extra step of creating graphics renderers for each platform in-house, so the graphics engine is fully optimized on both PS5 or PS4. Your empire will be gorgeously detailed as it grows and evolves across the Ages, whether you’re admiring it from the map’s aerial view or zoomed in for a closer look at a particular unit or building.

Take control of your empire with ease

We’ve completely overhauled the UI for Civilization VII on consoles, incorporating a radial menu that allows for quicker navigation between the most frequently used systems on the HUD. This change has done wonders for making the experience feel more streamlined. We want to put all the focus on the decisions that matter most, and the radial menu helps put those choices at the forefront.

Our developers also had a lot of fun coming up with unique and playful ways to utilize the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback, so you can really feel key moments in your empire’s history. Along with simple, click-like vibrations to emphasize actions like the completion of a new civic or the start of your next turn, combat takes on a new dimension as the controller rumbles to indicate damage taken and units defeated.  

When you declare war, you’ll feel a pulsing pattern akin to a war horn’s call; when you found a new city, hammer-like thuds mimic the classic building sound effect. There are more effects to discover on your own, and we hope they add that little bit of extra immersion to each turn. If you’d prefer to play without the haptic feedback, they’re easily disabled via the game settings!

Make friends (and enemies) in cross-play multiplayer

If you’re looking to test your strategic mettle against human opponents, Civilization VII’s online multiplayer is the perfect proving ground. Multiplayer matches can be epic campaigns that unfold across all three Ages—the Antiquity Age, Exploration Age, and Modern Age—or you can opt for a shorter match covering one specific Age, skipping straight to the endgame with a Modern Age match for example.

Civilization VII supports up to five players in the Antiquity Age and Exploration Age, and up to eight players in the Modern Age. More players means even more opportunities to form alliances, instigate conflict, or even backstab your friends (hopefully they’ll forgive any in-game betrayals)! Best of all, cross-play is supported between PC and consoles at launch, so you can play together with friends wherever they are.

We can’t wait for you to take one more turn with Civilization VII on February 11, 2025! You can also play the game up to five days early starting February 6, 2025 if you purchase the Deluxe or Founders Editions!

 *Online play and features (including progression bonuses) require an Internet connection and 2K Account (minimum age varies). Up to five players supported in the Antiquity & Exploration Ages. Up to eight players supported in the Modern Age. Map size restrictions may apply to certain cross-play multiplayer games. Console online play requires PlayStation Plus subscription.