Polygon releases full documentary on the complete history of Civilization for its 35th anniversary

By | October 23, 2026
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Polygon has released a full-length documentary, The complete history of Civilization, as told by Sid Meier and more, marking the 35th anniversary of the series. The 43-minute video went up on Polygon’s YouTube channel on October 22, 2026.

The story starts 44 years ago, when Sid Meier and Bruce Stealey met in Las Vegas to discuss starting a video game business together. Their studio, MicroProse, specialized in military simulators, but after the positive reception to Railroad Tycoon, Meier had an instinct that history could capture players’ imaginations, and Civilization was born.

Polygon spoke with people who created and stewarded the series over the decades. The documentary walks through every mainline game: inventing the original Civilization, the man who made Civilization II, how the series was almost lost, the birth of Civilization III, Civilization IV starting out as a multiplayer game, how Civilization V changed combat, how Civilization VI revolutionized cities, the ambitious vision of Civilization VII, and a closing chapter on Earthrise and Civilization in space. As Polygon puts it, Civilization has endured, “shaped as much by the people who play it as the ones who create it.”

Video by Polygon on YouTube. More of their gaming coverage is at polygon.com.

Which chapter of Civ history is your favorite, and did the documentary teach you anything new? Come tell us on the forums!

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Civilization VI turns 10 with a new official lo-fi album

By | October 22, 2026
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Sid Meier’s Civilization VI turns 10 today. Firaxis is marking the anniversary with Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: The Lofi Sessions, a new 36-minute digital album that reshapes 12 themes from the game into laid-back listening.

The album includes new lo-fi versions of the America, Korea, Brazil, Maya, Kongo, Greece, Georgia, Zulu, Germany, Arabia, and Egypt themes, plus a Greece “Elevator” mix. Firaxis sound designer Dmytro Nebesh created the arrangements by ear with recreated virtual instruments rather than the original audio stems, aiming to retain the musical identity of each civilization while changing the mood.

Firaxis says the album is available through streaming services including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon, Deezer, and YouTube Music. Read its behind-the-scenes interview with Nebesh for more on the production, and join the anniversary conversation in the CivFanatics forum thread.

Crucible of Time – A new Civilization Call to Power like game announced

By | October 21, 2026
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Many of our CivFanatics have wished for another Call to Power sequel over the decades and it looks like fans have filled the void with a new CtP like game called Crucible of Time. Inspired by CtP’s ambitious gameplay, this new project features stacked unit combat with lines and flanking, physical trade networks and supply chains, naval sieges, an expansive tech tree reaching far beyond the modern era into futuristic ocean and orbital cities, and full online multiplayer. With over four years of human (no AI) development behind it, the team is now seeking playtesters to help refine the game ahead of a public demo. Could this be the successor CtP fans have been waiting for? The trailer looks very impressive, there’s a steam page you can wishlist and there’s a free playtest demo you can sign up to try on their website too. Check out their announcement forum post for links, features and more information!

OpenCol takes apart Sid Meier’s Colonization — and finally fixes its water animation

By | October 10, 2026
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OpenCol, a fan reverse-engineering project for Sid Meier’s Colonization, has reconstructed the 1995 Windows release well enough to patch the original COLONIZE.EXE. Its most visible fix finally enables animated river currents and beach surf—frames that were present in the game but never switched on in the Windows version. The water-cycling patch leaves open sea, lakes, marsh and fog still, and adds a Game Options → Water Color Cycling toggle.

The patches are available from the win-patches repository or a browser tool that modifies a player’s own executable locally; no game file is uploaded. They require the updated 3.141 Windows build, so the unpatched Windows version included with current Steam and GOG releases needs MicroProse’s official update first. Other patches separate overlapping Colonopedia colonist icons, restore a hidden Picture Viewer, and shorten the introduction screens.

OpenCol has also published documentation on the game’s mechanics and file formats, tools for unpacking and rebuilding Windows and DOS assets, and an archive of 36 recovered fan maps. A companion win31-runtime project uses otvdm and Wine to help run the 16-bit Windows release on modern systems; players still supply their own game files. CivFanatics’ Blake00 has the fuller project roundup and discussion in the OpenCol forum thread.

Play the new Civ7 “Game Of The Month” #31

By | October 4, 2026
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With the start of another month we will also let you start another GOTM! This time, we want you to play as Hikimo, Queen Of Wa, with Silla as civilization. The world is a standard size earth map with light disaster intensity. The game is set on Immortal level, and you need to win it via a Science victory. Interested in this challenge? Then get your savegame here and submit the winning savegame until November 1!

AI agents take on OpenCiv3 – with AI commentators calling the game

By | October 3, 2026
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What happens when AI models each get a civilization to run? Developer Edgar Arakelyan has introduced an OpenCiv3 environment that lets AI agents compete against one another, complete with public messages between leaders and two AI commentators following the action.

The project builds on OpenCiv3, the community’s open-source reimagining of Civilization III, and runs as a plugin for Scale AI’s AgentEnv Framework. Agents using Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini CLI can manage cities, choose research, move units, change governments, and declare war or negotiate peace through a set of game tools. They can also play against OpenCiv3’s built-in AI, while human players can join supported matches through a browser.

For spectators, there’s a live map, standings, replays, and a view from each civilization’s perspective. The AI casters, Max and Ada, provide spoken play-by-play and analysis, with captions and Twitch streaming support.

Interested in watching AI leaders bargain over borders—or challenging them yourself? See the announcement and demo and the GitHub repository for recordings and setup instructions.

Discuss on the forums

Civilization VII Update 1.5.0 Hotfix fixes late-game crashes and missing resources

By | October 1, 2026
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Firaxis has released a hotfix for Civilization VII‘s Update 1.5.0, focused on stability and performance. The patch is live now on Steam and consoles, arriving a little over two weeks after the big 1.5.0 update of September 15.

Switch and Switch 2 players will have to wait a bit longer: Firaxis says this hotfix needs additional Nintendo submission requirements, so it is coming at a later date. The current console-compatible Switch version stays available in the meantime, with full crossplay support with Steam.

Here’s what the hotfix addresses:

  • Stability and crash fixes, most notably in the late-game Modern Age.
  • Lag that could occur when using mouse and keyboard inputs simultaneously.
  • Missing Treasure Resources in the Exploration Age and missing Factory Resources in the Modern Age. A dev note explains that previously not all Treasure or Factory Resources were required to spawn in the random selection of age resources, but now they are — which should make certain Triumphs and Victories less frustrating to pursue.
  • Several minor resource issues on the True Start Location Earth map (“goodbye, mysterious Ocean Cocoa!”).
  • Softlocks that could prevent turn advancement in multiplayer games.
  • Elizabeth I fixes: her “The Annals” Memento now properly grants a Great Work slot to Unique Gold Buildings acquired through Syncretism, and incorrect “Out Of Range” warnings in the Trade Lens are gone.
  • A controller fix for focus issues when swapping between a Settler and a Settlement’s Production Menu after enabling the Radial Ruler map decoration.

Firaxis asks players who still run into problems after the patch to report them through the official support portal.

The full notes are on Steam. If you want to compare notes with other players on whether the 1.5.0 issues you hit are gone, the Civilization VII Update 1.5.0 thread is the place to do it.

Thunderfall’s New Game, Wonder Rails

By | September 30, 2026
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A little detour from Civilization 🚂 I’ve been building Wonder Rails, a cozy model railway you can watch, ride, or drive in your browser. The first world is free – no download or account needed.