Civilization franchise against HUMANKIND™ - How game studios selling out is bad

in Hive Gaming3 years ago (edited)

Civilization, from deep strategy to a childish toy

Game studios is never a good thing for a franchise's playerbase. Always be on the lookout. If the developers behind a game you love have been recently sold, you might want to immediately start looking for something different. Even though the game will begin to be more inclusive, there will be less love. Money over quality will take over. Less fun, more generic features, and a wider but less passionate community.

The last real Civilization game was Civ IV, which was launched back in 2005. Check it out on Steam here. Soon after it was obvious how well-received the game was, the game studio behind it, Firaxis, was sold to Take-Two Interactive Software. We would see the next installment become an incredible oversimplification of what there once was a fantastic strategic game of great depth.

Of course, figures escalated. Since Civ V is a much easier game than its predecessors while bringing better graphics, more people became interested in the franchise. Overall a great thing for Take-Two, but horrible for long-term fans of the series. Important pieces of what would remain an oversimplified strategy game would later get released as DLCs. Any player must now pay a lot more to get a lot less than before Take-Two took over.

Civilization 6 does not improve, as further cartoonization and the same oversimplified gameplay — of course, when compared to Civ 4 — only push the original playerbase away even further. The official trailer above goes as far as claiming the game is “so easy, a barbarian can play it”. Yes, it is now a children's game. Meanwhile, in Civ 4's player, you hear how a feature included in the Warlords DLC came to life because “players requested it”.

Obviously, a huge gap was left. AMPLITUDE Studios decided to fill it with HUMANKIND™, which shall be released on Steam in 2021. Promising the once-lost great depth, but not forgetting the amazing visuals, the old Civilization playerbase will finally be able to settle in a new home. Now that this market share is not vacant anymore, let's hope Take-Two does not get too interested in buying out its newfound competition.

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I used to play CIV so much when I was younger, it was an amazing game and they rekt it. good to see an alternative coming out to fill that hole

I loved playing CIV2 on the PS1, weirdly enough.

 3 years ago (edited)

!BEER
for you

 3 years ago Reveal Comment