Civilization 7 Dev Recommends Even Experts Stick With the Tutorial for Their First Full Campaign — Here’s Why

Firaxis' Creative Director, Ed Beach, urges even seasoned Civilization players to utilize the tutorial for their initial Civilization 7 campaign. His Steam post highlights the game's significant departures from previous iterations, particularly the new Ages system (Antiquity, Exploration, Modern), which introduces Age Transitions impacting civilization selection, Legacy retention, and world evolution. This unprecedented system necessitates a learning curve.

Beach justifies the default "Small" map size, arguing that the manageable number of opponents (three on the home continent, plus others discovered later) facilitates learning the new Diplomacy system and managing Diplomatic Influence. He recommends the "Continents Plus" map type for its gentler introduction to ocean exploration, crucial in the Exploration Age.

The tutorial is automatically enabled for first-time players and strongly recommended for veterans as well, at least for the initial full campaign. The tutorial provides timely tips and explanations for new mechanics. Four Advisors offer guided quests, and Beach suggests focusing on one at a time initially. Even after mastering the core systems, he advises switching to the "Only Warnings" setting, allowing Advisors to alert players to potential setbacks – a practice even the Firaxis development team employs.

Firaxis also revealed Civilization 7's post-launch content roadmap during a livestream, noting that Great Britain will be released as DLC. Civilization 7 launches on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 11th, with Deluxe Edition access starting February 6th.