THINGS TO IMPROVE / FIX

(Based on my first 13-hour playthrough on version 1.1.0)

UI & ERGONOMICS

The game doesn’t communicate information well to the player. I often felt like the UI was working against me rather than helping me. It made learning new concepts harder. I’ve been playing Civ since Civ III, and even I struggled to adapt—so I can only imagine how overwhelming this must be for a new Civ or 4X player.

• The UI feels designed for consoles. I’d love an option for a more PC-friendly UI. Right now, my eyes are all over the place—menus on the left, right, full-screen popups, no consistency… migraine-inducing.
• The UI doesn’t remember filter options in menus or on the map (grid, resources).
• I don’t like the full-screen menus—they are too large (I play on a 32-inch screen), and the formatting is bad. For lists, bullet points or dashes would be much more readable than long sentences.
• Menus are poorly organized, and the reading flow is disrupted by a lack of contrast. Everything blends together since all menu boxes share the same dark tones. The graphic structure needs work.
• Menus lack color coding. I have to read every title to understand where I am. In previous Civ games, colors helped (blue for science, purple for culture, yellow for commerce, red for military). Bring back color-coded menus!
• In the resource menu, I’d like to be able to drag and drop resource icons.
• Unit icons look generic and lack personality.
• Bonus icons (science, culture, gold…) are too small in all menus.
• The city's production indicator is way too big—it looks like the city’s level.
• City development information isn’t emphasized enough and disappears when clicking on the city. It takes multiple clicks to find what I’m looking for.
• I don’t like the white text for bonuses from free cities. Why not just use an icon (science, culture, etc.)?
• Clicking on an enemy city label should open diplomacy with its leader.
• Unit labels are hard to see (contrast and/or size issue). They blend in with terrain, buildings, and improvements.
• Some map filters from Civ VI are missing (e.g., religion).
• The French translation is inconsistent and sometimes poorly done.
• Right-clicking an item (unit, building) in a menu should open the Civilopedia.
• The city production menu is too big but still doesn’t display many options, forcing constant scrolling.
• More tooltips, please! Hovering over buttons or text should provide explanations and show keyboard shortcuts.
• The quest journal (on the left) is hard to read. Text overlaps with the map, making it difficult to track active quests.
• When I earn a legacy point in a tracked quest, the quest disappears from tracking—why?
• I’d like an easy way to see how many trade routes I can assign to different civilizations.
• Unit health bars are nearly invisible.

GAMEPLAY

• The game should auto-center the camera on units awaiting orders, cities that completed production, and explorers who found artifacts.
• Clicking a unit’s thumbnail doesn’t locate it—nothing happens.
• Why are my cities downgraded to communes when I change eras?
• When a city finishes production, its completed project should be displayed.
• Why can’t I rename my cities? Can we rename them when changing eras?
• When I discover a codex or an artifact, the game should auto-open the Great Works menu, or I forget about it.
• What happened to Loyalty? Same for Religion—it feels way less present than in Civ VI and even Civ V.
• What happened to Civ VI’s environmental mechanics? And the World Congress?
• Artifact discoveries should have a mini-animation showing the object (a spear, a mask, etc.) instead of a wall of text where we just scan for the bolded word—like Great Works in Civ V.
• Gaining era score should trigger a distinct sound effect.
• Cities and districts can’t bombard attackers anymore—why?
• My units and cities are being destroyed, but I’m not getting any damage notifications.
• I have mixed feelings about era changes. I hate starting over from scratch. I’d prefer changing leaders instead of civilizations.
• The game ends way too early—WTF?? I won before 1900, I think.
• Overall, the game felt too easy after the initial phase. I played on the second difficulty level as usual. At first, free cities crushed me, but the last two eras were a cakewalk. AI balance needs serious work.

DIPLOMACY

• Leaders should change appearance depending on the era.
• I don’t like the diplomacy screen where leaders face each other. They don’t look me in the eyes anymore, which makes war declarations feel less intimidating.
• Is it normal for leaders to give up cities so easily in peace deals?
• It’s a shame we can’t trade resources or gold anymore…

GAME OPTIONS

• Not enough game setup options (number of players, teams, resources, sea level, world age, climate, AI aggressiveness, disable victory conditions, etc.).
• More UI customization options in the settings, please!
• You can’t keep playing after a victory or game end?
• Bigger maps with more than 7 AI players, please.

Right now, Civ VII has fewer options than Civ VI, which is disappointing. I feel forced down a fixed path with only the illusion of choice. This is a bad sign for a game that should prioritize replayability. Once I’ve played every leader, the quests will feel repetitive.

POSITIVES

• The music! Every single track is excellent and sticks in my head.
• The art style—the terrain (seas, coasts, coral reefs, mountains…), natural disasters (eruptions, blizzards…), buildings, wonders, and districts. I love all the visuals, even the units. I spent ages just zooming in on everything at first.
• Most of the new mechanics and concepts (trade routes, city growth, commanders) are great.
• I love explorers!
• The game is super fun and addictive. Like any good Civ, there was always something to do each turn. Unlike previous games, I never had “empty” turns in the late game.
• Navigable rivers!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Firaxis, you have gold in your hands. Don’t copy your competition—improve what makes Civ unique. Respect PC players by offering an interface designed for them.

The game has insane potential, and the foundation is solid, but it still needs a lot of polish. I will recommend it based on its quality, not its potential.