I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up Civilization V a few months ago. I had heard a lot of great things about the franchise up until the point of my purchase, and I was not disappointed when I bought it. Those first few days were unforgiving: I played it non-stop, and when I was done with my first campaign, I wanted to do it all over again.

Civilization is a turn-based strategy game where you take control of a historical empire and steer it through the choppy waters of evolution, competing with other civilizations. I love how there is a very balanced feeling to all the aspects of the game: diplomacy, war, culture, religion and science all factor into who will finally be victorious. And even though you'll inevitably get in touch every single one of those areas, there are multiple paths to victory. You can just as easily try to annihilate every other civilization as you can lead a peaceful society, focus on exporting your goods and reeling in cash to be the very first one to launch a rocket into outer space.

Furthermore, you can easily set up a game to your own desire, choosing how long you want a campaign to last, how many city-states and competing civilizations you want to rival with, etcetera. Civilization V is at the same time a challenging game with a lot of depth, as it is a toy box: you can fiddle around with everything, try out new things, play on different maps, use fresh strategies and never play the same campaign twice.

And if you haven't delved into the vast amount of mods out there, hang on. The possibilities are near endless with the toolbox they're giving you.

I do want to recommend one thing: make sure you also buy both main expansions "Gods & Kings" and "Brave New World". They're quintessential to having the ultimate Civilization V experience, as they add new gameplay mechanics and a whole bunch of new civilizations, greatly expanding on everything that the base game already offered!

It's simply put one of the best and most addictive strategy games of all time, and deserves a spot in your collection. Period.

I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up Civilization V a few months ago. I had heard a lot of great things about the franchise up until the point of my purchase, and I was not disappointed when I bought it. Those first few days were unforgiving: I played it non-stop, and when I was done with my first campaign, I wanted to do it all over again. Civilization is a turn-based strategy game where you take control of a historical empire and steer it through the choppy waters of evolution, competing with other civilizations. I love how there is a very balanced feeling to all the aspects of the game: diplomacy, war, culture, religion and science all factor into who will finally be victorious. And even though you'll inevitably get in touch every single one of those areas, there are multiple paths to victory. You can just as easily try to annihilate every other civilization as you can lead a peaceful society, focus on exporting your goods and reeling in cash to be the very first one to launch a rocket into outer space. Furthermore, you can easily set up a game to your own desire, choosing how long you want a campaign to last, how many city-states and competing civilizations you want to rival with, etcetera. Civilization V is at the same time a challenging game with a lot of depth, as it is a toy box: you can fiddle around with everything, try out new things, play on different maps, use fresh strategies and never play the same campaign twice. And if you haven't delved into the vast amount of mods out there, hang on. The possibilities are near endless with the toolbox they're giving you. I do want to recommend one thing: make sure you also buy both main expansions "Gods & Kings" and "Brave New World". They're quintessential to having the ultimate Civilization V experience, as they add new gameplay mechanics and a whole bunch of new civilizations, greatly expanding on everything that the base game already offered! It's simply put one of the best and most addictive strategy games of all time, and deserves a spot in your collection. Period.