There are some technological feats that just hammer home how far we’ve come in a few short years. One of those is the fact that, through what we can only presume is the software engineering version of witchcraft, Sid Meier’s epic Civilization VI game has been squeezed onto iPhone.
And it’s available in the App Store right now — with a 60 percent price discount if you hurry!
Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate
Virtually everyone reading this will likely at least be familiar with the Civilization franchise name; even if they haven’t personally surrendered hundreds of hours to advancing through it. The TLDR version is that it’s a turn-based 4X game — meaning a strategy game where your job is to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate your way across maps. Your ultimate goal? Domination, obviously!
Civilization VI was first released on Microsoft Windows and macOS in October 2016, with a later port added for Linux in February 2017. Last December, Aspyr Media somehow pulled off the impossible when they unloaded an HD port of the game onto iPad.
We’ve previously been “treated” to big name desktop games arriving on iOS, only to turn out to be money-grubbing abominations, loaded with in-app purchases and watered-down gameplay. However, this was the real thing: compete with ultra-immersive gameplay and all the depth of its big brother. Best of all, the touch controls actually worked well, which was something of a minor miracle in itself, given how keyboard and mouse dependent the franchise is.
Slightly less than a year later, that same port is now available on iPhone, too. Since this is a universal version of the iPad game, it means that it’ll be a free download for anyone who purchased the iPad version previously. If not, its regular price is set at $59.99 — although the game is currently reduced to $23.99 as an introductory offer.
If that still seems a lot of cash to drop for an iOS game, have no fear: You can download Civilization VI for free, and play through the first 60 turns before deciding whether or not this is for you! You can’t say fairer than that.
