Honest opinion from people actually playing it

[Viper]

Is it fun Does it have that Its 2 AM and you just have to play 10 more turns aura. Where did the time go. That was Civ 4 and Civ 5. Still trying to decide on the purchase.

[Crusadertsar]

Yes it is very fun. Especially on the steam deck. Stayed up until 1 AM last night playing in bed. And had to wake up at 6 AM to go to work. Will probably do the same thing tonight. So yes I’m enjoying it greatly despite all the complainers.

[jnpoint]

I see you already got it :), but yes, it has the feel 'one more turn'.

[PhalseDemeise]

the game did not capture me, i find myself asleep often at the desk. rather than 'one more turn' asking 'how many more'.

it is like you may want to play one way, but the game will hold your hand. it has very specific chores for you to do. the era will end and upon the next turn you will find everyone is once again even, your progress negated. the end game ai is like raging barbarians have taken over a civ, a 1 tile city in the middle of the ocean became a torrent of ships making the game feel like an rts or td game at times. perhaps this is something you will like.

But, if like me, you were looking for the same freedom afforded by the sandbox style of previous titles than it will be best to wait or avoid it altogether

[Captain Flappy]

I'm loving it tbh. I didn't want the exact same game over and over again.
I like they changed it up.
I Def have that "one more hour" feeling.

[johnhhamrick]

OP has it right, the foundation of a good Civ game design is that you feel compelled to "play one more turn" (and then another, and then another). That said ... a couple of days ago I played a game from 10am to 4pm ... took a break for a few hours ... then continued on unto about 2am ... so, I felt the urge to play one more turn ...

Each new release of Civ is always a bit jarring. I'm 65 now, having been playing Civ since the beginning. III to IV was a big change, as was IV to V and V to VI. Lots of new things were added each time (sometimes good stuff, sometimes not), and lots of stuff removed (sometimes for the good, sometimes not). V didn't really shape up for me until Brave New Worlds (which I still play, turn-based with 2 others), and VI didn't really shape up for me until Gathering Storm (which I still play, turn-based with 1 other).

I was hoping (vainly) that the developers, while making something new, had worked with alpha and beta players enough to make sure important stuff wasn't lost (or mislaid). I was hoping that VII would be richer than VI (which ultimately was richer than Vi, and so on), but that's not the case ... yet. There are definitely some stuff really not fleshed out properly. A good example is when negotiating peace, the only thing you can offer or demand (at least in the Age of Antiquity, I've not been in the other ages yet) )are whole settlements .... no tributes of gold, resource, influence, great works, etc. That's a loss of finesse ... what in Civ VI was deeper is now clunky and shallow in VII. Hopefully things like this, and others (big and small) will be addressed by the developers and the richness brought back.

Still learning this one, and will continue to do so. Whether it will be added to my play-list permanently still remains to be see. It has the bones of the core concept, and there is some meat here, but it needs to be better cooked and seasoned.

[WeirdWizardDave]

For all its faults it is a fun game, but the faults are hard to overlook. The Age mechanic really needs to be redone or made optional or something because the transitions are truly terrible and break the sense of a civ built to stand the test of time.

That said if you don't play it as a Civ game and just treat it like a new age specific game (or 3) then there's plenty of enjoyment to be had. Just try not to think about Civ. Its just such a shame as it could so easily have been the best game in the series.

[Queeg]

I'm enjoying it very much, but I hated both Civ 5 and 6. I like the new ideas - it definitely feels like a different version of Civ. And, no, it's not just Humankind repackaged - I like it much better.

The UI is bad and simply leaves too much unexplained. I had to restart 2-3 times just to learn basics the UI doesn't convey. Fortunately, there's already a UI mod that adds tooltips that fill most of the holes.

I think if you loved Civ 5 or 6 and mostly want just a new version of those games, then you may struggle with this game. But it's been a welcome change for me.