'Civ 6' Expansion Gets Release Date, Play 'Rise & Fall' Next Year

The Civilization games already have hundreds or even thousands of hours' worth of content in them from day one. Still, the popular turn-based tactics franchise could always use more because the world always wants more of everything. Developer Firaxis is delivering more with Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, the latest game’s first major expansion pack.

As reported by PC Games N, Civilization VI: Rise and Fall adds a bunch of meat to the already-dense base game for the price of $29.99. It can be yours on Feb. 8 on PC. As its name suggests, Civilization VI: Rise and Fall is all about the peaks and valleys that are inherent to the history of any great civilization. You can see the fancy CG trailer that does not actually show the game but does a decent job communicating its premise below:

As you move through history in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall , you will reach moments where the game judges your performance up to that point and triggers either Golden Ages or Dark Ages, depending on how you have played. A Golden Age will obviously confer bonuses while a Dark Age will provide plenty of headaches for you to work through.

What is neat about this concept is that a Dark Age is not an automatic fail state that you should quit out of to start a new Civ. If you successfully overcome the challenges of a Dark Age, your next era will be a Heroic Age, which is like a Golden Age on steroids. That means players who love building out compelling narratives over time or maximizing the effectiveness of their Civ both have incentives to enter Dark Ages.

One of the other cool bits is the concept of loyalty. Individual cities now have loyalty ratings based on how you treat them, and if you treat them poorly, they can eventually declare independence and become a thorn in your side. Of course, that means you can also presumably lure away other Civ’s cities and make them your own.

Other new gameplay systems include new types of alliances and Civs banding together to stop another Civ that has become too domineering. There will also be new world and natural wonders as well as some new units and buildings. You can also use a handy new visual timeline feature to see the history of your Civ laid out on a pretty little chart.

Last but certainly not least, there will of course be nine new leaders and eight new Civilizations. There is not much information about who those leaders or Civs will be at this time, unfortunately. In case you have not played much Civilization, each of those Civs has unique stats, units, buildings and districts to work with, meaning each one has several distinct paths to victory that other Civs might not be able to take. It is safe to assume we will hear more about these new Civs between now and the expansion’s release on Feb. 8.