The player is brought onboard as the commander of a sponsored colonist crew sent from earth by fictional yet realistic alliances such as Polystralia, a union made of Australia and neighboring Asian countries. The fear of the unknown is palpable, but quickly dismissed to make place for excitement. The premise is grim but it doesn’t take long for the game to transfer this feeling of despair into something more adventurous. The only option left for survival is the discovery of an inhabitable planet on which a select few will have the chance to start anew. Earth is in disarray as human made destruction has caused the planet to be unsustainable for its population. Don’t worry, I’ll get back on it later in this review. Put yourself in the mood with some ambient music, straight from the original soundtrack. But here comes Beyond Earth, reminding us there’s always a way to make something great even better. With two incredible expansions under the belt and practically infinite content available from its loyal Steam Workshop community, it was inconceivable the developers could surpass this legend of strategy gaming.

This modification altered core game mechanics drastically and won Civilization V many awards. The popular 4x series has gone through several changes in the past years, notably the rite of passage to 3D environments but surprisingly enough, the biggest improvement to the game was made in its 5th entry, when the hexagonal tiles were introduced. Sid Meier’s epic franchise has been evolving steadily since his startup, Firaxis, took over development.

After playing over 20 hours during the weekend, finishing a single campaign and getting acquainted with its new features, I feel ready to judge if this new entry in the legendary series is worth one. To write a review about a game of Civilization Beyond Earth’s scale is no small feat.

Steam civilization beyond earth loop