This is a pretty fun game. I've got a few hundred hours in it and feel like I'm still mastering parts of the gameplay. Almost all of the new systems in the game are very well done, but almost all of them also have something that induces frustration.

The new religious victory mode is a lot of fun, greatly expanding the depth of religion, though religious combat is rather dull.
The new diplomacy system is very intricate, but it is not user-friendly, so it takes quite a bit of consulting the wiki to understand it. I'm still figuring it out but I like how deep it is. Leaders have set agendas and randomized hidden ones, making you have to interact with them in order to figure out their agendas and keep relations amicable.
The civics and science tree split is probably the best new feature. It adds a nice amount of customization for your particular empire and makes you choose how your civilization will advance through the ages.
Policy cards is also a great feature. You can choose several cards to give your civilization bonuses, like a bonus to wonder production, or extra yields from certain strategic resources. Each policy card fits into one of three categories: military, economic, and diplomatic. Each government that you can choose has a different number of each type of policy slots, with some getting wildcard slots as well that can fit any type of policy card, making your choice of government important. You can switch out which policy cards you are using from the pool of unlocked cards at certain points in the game, and this is really well balanced. I feel like I can change my cards often enough to be dynamic without being able to change them on every single turn.
The changes to builders are fantastic and make using them very strategic. I wish they could still lay down roads, though.
Gaining and using gold is still important, but less so than in Civ V, which I think is a good change.
Trade routes take far, far, *far* too long to complete considering that they are the only way to lay down roads before the industrial age.


The art style is overall fantastic. I do like the fog-of-war map, though it is frustrating how much the coloration hides areas that you've already explored. The cartoonish world leaders are a lot of fun, and the animations look good.
The music is really good as always, but a little repetitive. Even though the orchestration changes as you move through the ages, there's only so much that you can listen to a particular melody without getting a bit tired of it. This is especially true if you play a civilization whose melody is based on an already well-known song, like Scarborough Fair, or Hard Times Come Again No More.

And, as always, the two expansion packs (Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm) are very important and make the game significantly better. Rise & Fall introduces Ages, which give you bonuses or penalties depending on how well you perform over a certain amount of time. It also introduces City Loyalty, making you have to put work into keeping your border cities maintained rather than just used as military buffers. Governors are also introduced, giving you the ability for certain cities to be even more powerful, though I think only about half of the governors are actually useful.
Gatheing Storm introduces environmental factors like floods, hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, and volcano eruptions, which can devastate an area. It also introduces climate change, making the borders of the landmasses change in the more future ages.

Overall, a really good game with a few frustrating features. That said, it's a worthy successor to Civ V.

This is a pretty fun game. I've got a few hundred hours in it and feel like I'm still mastering parts of the gameplay. Almost all of the new systems in the game are very well done, but almost all of them also have something that induces frustration. The new religious victory mode is a lot of fun, greatly expanding the depth of religion, though religious combat is rather dull. The new diplomacy system is very intricate, but it is not user-friendly, so it takes quite a bit of consulting the wiki to understand it. I'm still figuring it out but I like how deep it is. Leaders have set agendas and randomized hidden ones, making you have to interact with them in order to figure out their agendas and keep relations amicable. The civics and science tree split is probably the best new feature. It adds a nice amount of customization for your particular empire and makes you choose how your civilization will advance through the ages. Policy cards is also a great feature. You can choose several cards to give your civilization bonuses, like a bonus to wonder production, or extra yields from certain strategic resources. Each policy card fits into one of three categories: military, economic, and diplomatic. Each government that you can choose has a different number of each type of policy slots, with some getting wildcard slots as well that can fit any type of policy card, making your choice of government important. You can switch out which policy cards you are using from the pool of unlocked cards at certain points in the game, and this is really well balanced. I feel like I can change my cards often enough to be dynamic without being able to change them on every single turn. The changes to builders are fantastic and make using them very strategic. I wish they could still lay down roads, though. Gaining and using gold is still important, but less so than in Civ V, which I think is a good change. Trade routes take far, far, *far* too long to complete considering that they are the only way to lay down roads before the industrial age. The art style is overall fantastic. I do like the fog-of-war map, though it is frustrating how much the coloration hides areas that you've already explored. The cartoonish world leaders are a lot of fun, and the animations look good. The music is really good as always, but a little repetitive. Even though the orchestration changes as you move through the ages, there's only so much that you can listen to a particular melody without getting a bit tired of it. This is especially true if you play a civilization whose melody is based on an already well-known song, like Scarborough Fair, or Hard Times Come Again No More. And, as always, the two expansion packs (Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm) are very important and make the game significantly better. Rise & Fall introduces Ages, which give you bonuses or penalties depending on how well you perform over a certain amount of time. It also introduces City Loyalty, making you have to put work into keeping your border cities maintained rather than just used as military buffers. Governors are also introduced, giving you the ability for certain cities to be even more powerful, though I think only about half of the governors are actually useful. Gatheing Storm introduces environmental factors like floods, hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, and volcano eruptions, which can devastate an area. It also introduces climate change, making the borders of the landmasses change in the more future ages. Overall, a really good game with a few frustrating features. That said, it's a worthy successor to Civ V.