Overall, I have been enjoying the new features. However, one change in particular is giving me pause.

After launching Gathering Storm for the first time, I noticed that the game made a unilateral decision that the resolution of my screen is now 1920 x 1080, despite my personal experience that it is in fact quite a bit lower. It took some convincing by my significant other that “no, the expansion pack does NOT come with a new 1920 x 1080 monitor that Firaxis is delivering to our doorstep as we speak.”

Disappointed, I navigated to the graphics options and attempted to lower the resolution. While I was able to find the proper setting in the dropbox menu, there was no way for me to confirm the selection. Even though the game tried its best to cram down as many pixels down the HDMI cable as possible, the monitor couldn’t keep up and only rendered the top-left portion of the screen. As a result, the “Confirm Changes” button remained off screen, alone and unloved.

After scouring the forums for similar issues, I learned that the resolution can be changed by editing a config text file. While I appreciate Gathering Storm making me feel like a total hacker for five minutes, I can’t help but question the developers' decision to put Bob from accounting in charge of designing the user interface. It seems to me that having a confirmation button in a place where it could potentially be off the screen is not the innovation that will usher us into a new era of video game design.

I invite the developers to reach out if they want further clarification about this issue, or if they need my address to ship that brand new 1920 x 1080-resolution monitor that comes with Gathering Storm.