Civilization VI announces its first big expansion, Rise & Fall

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Civilization VI is getting its first big expansion next year. Rise & Fall will be available on February 8th, introducing new leaders, civilisations, wonders, units and much more.

One of the biggest new additions in the Rise & Fall expansion is its introduction of ‘Historic Moments,’ in which expands the traditional Golden Age system into including Dark Ages. As usual, a Golden Age introduces heightened productivity including bonuses to Loyalty and other in-game systems. The new Dark Age, however, hurts these systems, hindering the player and leaving them vulnerable for a temporary period of time.

It’s not all doom and gloom for those stricken by a Dark Age, though, as this enables special policies that are only available during that time and paves the way for the more powerful Heroic Age, which acts similar to that of a “triple Golden Age.”

Developer Firaxis has also made changes to its Loyalty system, giving opposing players to attack their enemies without militaristic intervention. This is distinctly different to previous titles in that “keeping your cities loyal not only keeps it on your side, but also emanates its Loyalty as a kind of “peer pressure” to other cities nearby. You could even sway cities from other civilizations to join you.” This directly ties into Golden, Dark and Heroic Ages in how Loyalty is swayed and therefore sways others.

Loyalty can be reinforced by appointing specific Governors, which offer unique bonuses and promotion trees. These are used to help prevent revolts and influence neighbouring cities into joining your empire.

More tangible incentives have been added to alliances, prompting players to band together for bonuses and benefits. This is reflected in Emergency Situations, a new system that triggers when one player takes too much of a lead. This prompts the remaining players to join or pass the event, which, if completed, can yield permanent individual bonuses.

Alongside these new systems come nine new leaders and eight new civilisations, eight new world wonders and seven natural wonders, four new units, 14 new buildings, three new resources, two new tile improvements, two new districts and a few behind the scenes improvements that focus on individual player experience.

KitGuru Says: While some might see it as a dead practice, it’s good to see Firaxis continue the tradition of expansions instead of microtransactions. Much like continuing the tradition of Sean Bean dying in the trailer, once again. Will Rise & Fall make you hop back into Civ VI?

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