Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1084 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 343 out of 1084
  2. Mixed: 374 out of 1084
  3. Negative: 367 out of 1084
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  1. Motasa
    Nov 5, 2014
    6
    Solid base game. Room for a lot of improvements. Essentially it's the same story as with Civ 5: vanilla is mediocre and the expansions made the game good.
  2. sebbby
    Nov 13, 2014
    6
    When I first heard of Beyond Earth, I wasn't exactly hyped. For me, the Civ series has always been a historical series, not a futuristic one. Nonetheless, I quite like many of the features in Beyond Earth. The quests system is quite nice. The art style is quite nice and the upgradable military units is a cool feature. By far the best thing added, is the new tech web. It allows for yourWhen I first heard of Beyond Earth, I wasn't exactly hyped. For me, the Civ series has always been a historical series, not a futuristic one. Nonetheless, I quite like many of the features in Beyond Earth. The quests system is quite nice. The art style is quite nice and the upgradable military units is a cool feature. By far the best thing added, is the new tech web. It allows for your colony to be what you want it to be.

    But, Beyond Earth is far from perfect. It is built upon the same engine as Civ V and it shows. Some of the wording makes little sense, as if they copy and pasted from Civ V. There is also a major lack of Civilizations. There were also a plethora of bugs when I played from crashing and disconnecting, to issues with multiple monitor setups.

    All-in-all, its a decent game. Definitely not worthy of being a sequel to Civ V. I hope that Beyond earth is a distraction while Civ 6 is being developed.

    6/10    … Expand
  3. armchairjerk
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    Really is a solid 7.5 and im sure it will get better as more DLC is added. But as it stands at launch it is nothing more than a mod for CIV 5.

    The tech trees are diverse allowing the player to focus on things they need and its not a boring rush down the line before. And the point system with harmony etc. is a great touch further adding a level of customization. And the culture system    Really is a solid 7.5 and im sure it will get better as more DLC is added. But as it stands at launch it is nothing more than a mod for CIV 5.

    The tech trees are diverse allowing the player to focus on things they need and its not a boring rush down the line before. And the point system with harmony etc. is a great touch further adding a level of customization.
    And the culture system still exists like it did in the last few games, which is just perfect as it is.

    The real issues with this game are the lack of things to do after a few 100 turns, often spending alot of time pumping out random units with no purpose and the general lack of a feeling that there is some kind of progression. Leave the player wondering what the whole point of this? Not to mention the movement of a unit across a map is more punishing then ever.

    All in all, its a great game and worth the 37 dollars i spent on it.    … Expand
  4. Smellfire
    Nov 8, 2014
    6
    Disappointing and feels shallow and pretty lifeless after playing Civ V. Has lots to recommend it but also, lots not to.

    Visually its not stunning. I expected an alien world to look fun and funky, but besides a few plants and buildings, it doesn't. The cities while building up don't look spectacular either. The aliens are mostly a bland green. The Buildings are many and interesting    Disappointing and feels shallow and pretty lifeless after playing Civ V. Has lots to recommend it but also, lots not to.

    Visually its not stunning. I expected an alien world to look fun and funky, but besides a few plants and buildings, it doesn't. The cities while building up don't look spectacular either. The aliens are mostly a bland green.

    The Buildings are many and interesting as are the new ways for skill ups like the tech web. Its really not clear what your doing in the beginning but sorts its self out after a few games. I can't say how much I like the Tech Web, but its a lot!

    The other major problem I have with the game are the victory conditions. Except for Domination, they are far to easy to get in any of the first 4 difficulty settings. After that it becomes harder, but no more interesting. Spying is also completely over powered in those difficulty settings.

    Voice over is also terrible and lacks any charisma at all, as do about a 1/4 of the playable characters. Yet another bug bear is the inane sayings that have been put in. Where as Civ 5 you had passages from Shakespeare, Washington, Dickens, Ghandi etc you get some barely cohesive drivel about nothing in particular. Quotes from the like of Jules Verne, Asimov, PJ Farmer etc would have been far more enjoyable and immersive.    … Expand
  5. rebi
    Nov 11, 2014
    6
    Horrible user interface and color selection, otherwise solid game. Seriously lacks replayability but some concepts in game are really promising. This game needs a lot of polishing but it has the potential to be a great game. Needs 1-2 expansions to catch Civ 5 Beyond Earth tough.
  6. brobro34343
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    In its current state Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game, but has some current glaring problems that keeps it from being a great one. Just like its predecessors, Beyond Earth keeps you busy, however some development decisions are quite head scratching. The tech tree feels new. The music is great and the unit designs are new and engaging. The UI has a very clean look, but this lookIn its current state Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game, but has some current glaring problems that keeps it from being a great one. Just like its predecessors, Beyond Earth keeps you busy, however some development decisions are quite head scratching. The tech tree feels new. The music is great and the unit designs are new and engaging. The UI has a very clean look, but this look isn't as eye catching as Civ 5, this is especially true for the Tech tree.. The mini map is placed in an odd place and is quite small, making it feel useless. The hazardous gas Miasma is hard to see on the map and resources don't pop out. The biggest gripe is the lack of personality of the leaders. Each leader seems unexpressive or irrational. I went through my entire first play through having all leaders neutral expect for one who was friendly. This friendly leader had the most negative things against me. Many of the things said by leaders are copied and pasted from Civ 5 or aren't voiced. Also luxury resources have been taken out so trade between leaders suffers, leaving you with little interaction. You have no idea how other civilization are doing because the demographics have been removed and the military advisor isn't there to compare military might. Beyond Earth understandably doesn't have City States, so they use Stations instead. These stations can not be allies so trade routes are your only option.Spying has been improved, meaning they can now perfume more tasks within cities. Your spies seem to fail higher tasks too often. My Special Agent failed two Level 5 task and two level 4's consecutively. Aliens are new but seem to act hostile at random moments, creating a level of mistrust. They have little benefit so wiping them out seem the best thing to do even when playing as Harmony. The MOST questionable thing by far is the fact the game just ends when you win or lose. There are no charts no map just a picture. You can look at the final chart in the main menu but you still have no way in knowing how you lost. Hopefully this all will be fixed with updates but until then it's nothing special.… Expand
  7. Jaquishqa
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    A lot of fun, but not entirely fantastic.

    The main gripe I have is that luxury resources are gone. While they were never a big part of my playstyle in Civilization V, they added that extra bit of diplomacy and trading among other leaders. My second gripe is with the exclusion of a world congress, why they didn't bring that in from Civilization 5 is beyond me. Now that I think about    A lot of fun, but not entirely fantastic.

    The main gripe I have is that luxury resources are gone. While they were never a big part of my playstyle in Civilization V, they added that extra bit of diplomacy and trading among other leaders. My second gripe is with the exclusion of a world congress, why they didn't bring that in from Civilization 5 is beyond me.

    Now that I think about it, they really "dumbed down" diplomacy. Which isn't terrible, but it certainly doesn't help the game.

    That being said, I really like this game. It was really nice to drop into a new Civ game and not know what the heck I was going to see, like you would with other Civ games. Most of the new features are really interesting and work well.

    The soundtrack is one of my favorite things about the game, it adds a lot of atmosphere to the game.    … Expand
  8. TheValeyard
    Oct 29, 2014
    7
    While its not Civ4 or Civ5, it is strangely addictive and the new paths to victory are intriguing. The AI needs a little work, and some of the old problems from previous games remain. The game is very simplistic, but keeps most of what we loved in previous games alive and well. Already many custom Civs are now downloadable if a current faction is not to your liking. Overall, it is a goodWhile its not Civ4 or Civ5, it is strangely addictive and the new paths to victory are intriguing. The AI needs a little work, and some of the old problems from previous games remain. The game is very simplistic, but keeps most of what we loved in previous games alive and well. Already many custom Civs are now downloadable if a current faction is not to your liking. Overall, it is a good game, with its flaws, but the positives far outweigh the negatives, worth a shot.… Expand
  9. Deathwafflez
    Dec 22, 2014
    7
    it is good but not great aliens the replacements for barbarians are everywhere and no naval units are safe at all and auto explore sadly now translates to *kill off this unit without any reward*

    "the npc people sort of lack personality" is what people say but is not true it has just the same amount of substance maybe it is just because these people do not exist but it is true something    it is good but not great aliens the replacements for barbarians are everywhere and no naval units are safe at all and auto explore sadly now translates to *kill off this unit without any reward*

    "the npc people sort of lack personality" is what people say but is not true it has just the same amount of substance maybe it is just because these people do not exist but it is true something is just sort of...off about them

    there are a lot of resources in the first part of the game and when you see them you cannot do anything with them until a certain era and in a civ game it just does not make sense

    at this point you might think how is this good all I mentioned was the cons and well yes that is true all the pros are the same as civ 5 pretty much

    and finally the tech tree it is not the traditional one as it is in a radio type set up in the original you could only go so far without one tech in this one however you could be all over one side and never touch the other

    7/10    … Expand
  10. Jthecrazed
    Nov 5, 2014
    7
    Still one of the best strategy games out there, rivaling the total war series for years and that series making a decline in grades, this one remains steady. It can still get some improvements but it's a great game overall.

    However this expansion is in my opinion not worthy of the game itself and thus 7/10
  11. Scottar
    Dec 19, 2014
    7
    The game is good but needs some enhancements to make it more enjoyable and less confusing. I accomplished my first victory and found it disappointing as with some other negatives.

    One thing I hate about this game is the loading. First it goes through the credits which I can’t bypass. Then a graphic screen appears with no loading indicator, I thought the game got hung during the first    The game is good but needs some enhancements to make it more enjoyable and less confusing. I accomplished my first victory and found it disappointing as with some other negatives.

    One thing I hate about this game is the loading. First it goes through the credits which I can’t bypass. Then a graphic screen appears with no loading indicator, I thought the game got hung during the first run and I have an SSD. Then it goes to the first menu of single or multiplayer or setup. Then in single player i select the saved game section and i goes to another graphic screen with no loading indicator.

    In my first victory I contacted the aliens, I was expecting advance technologies or insights from them along with an invite to their world. Perhaps even a harmonious path to existence on their planet. But instead I got a little scene that opens up- You have made contact, you are victorious, not even good fanfare. The game needs a better scheme, more adventure, better interface.

    There are some things about the game that seen dysfunctional.

    1) The Diplomacy Interaction seemed limited on Trade options along with diplomacy dialog. Why not have options on working alliance agreements like mutual wonder developments by sharing resources and technologies.

    2) On the manuals, instead of the tacky poster why didn’t they have graphical trees on Virtues, Units, and Tech developments. This would help in determining which way to proceed in desired development.

    3) More control over unit upgrades, it’s too canned.

    4) On spy ops, why couldn’t they have been more flexible in how it would proceed on advancement. Suppose I wanted to spy on an ally, why do I have to go through siphoning energy first for advancement? It too canned! And why could their be spy satellites to observe development.

    5) Some things require too much maintenance like some Orbital unites and trade caravans and just makes the game more tedious.

    6) Quests should involve 1st person adventure and puzzles. If I want to upgrade something in technology then the quests should be the mode to achieve them for some exclusive advantages. You search for alien technology for upgrades. Explorer unit should have the ability for armament upgrades and Lev capabilities. They also should have sensor enhancement upgrades for finding alien technology.

    7) On many off- shore resources there didn’t seem to be a way to harvest the bounty of the sea. I acquired one city that had an offshore drilling platform but I was unable to repair it after I pillaged it.

    8) I don’t quite like the cities growth patterns, I think there should be better options on where you want the city to grow such as toward strategic resources.

    9) There’s a city defense called a Tacjet. It’s very annoying to maintain so I put it to sleep. But then when I needed it I could not awaken it. May be a game bug.

    There were other negatives I can’t get into in the limited space.

    Here’s what I think should have happened. The alien bio life would evolve to threaten the colonists, that is why the original inhabitants left. The aliens would offer technology to prevent that via a certain development path. After developing that technology the victor would offer alliances to help defeat or subdue the life. Based on what was found that is what I would expect. Or it could have been the sun going supernova or some other impending disaster. Or the aliens would give the victor the technology for a warp driven space ship to another habitable planet.

    If an emancipation gate was constructed then the offer would be a return to earth.

    There are so much better outcomes then the canned programed one. Or how about a quest for alien technology to construct a ship to a better planet and then construct a gate to get a number of Earth inhabitants over.

    Maybe what this game needs is a strategy guide, I didn’t care much for the AI assistance. And the extended manual needs some better coverage on some things like Covert Ops. I could never get them past 4 level.

    I would also like to see mini game add-ons of first person scenarios such as 1st person video games of certain quests where you interact on a virtual world level instead of an icon strategy level. Just more money for you Civilization developers. ;>)

    I would like to also see a pre-game where the civilizations have to develop the technology for space travel. I think it would involve more then just rocket launches into space since you have to travel for years to the destination.

    I don’t much under stand the harmony approach, unless your some dye in the wool enviro, boring.

    I think this game needs a whole do-over, it’s too haphazard.

    I see there is already an upgrade that I have not had time to check out.    … Expand
  12. overkoell
    Jan 12, 2015
    6
    The biggest problem of this game is certainly the extremely high reputation of its predecessor.
    The truth is Civilization Beyond Earth is simply not as good as Civilization V. Its just not.
    But that doesn't mean that its not worth a look. The fact that it is much simpler than Civ 5 can also be a plus for people new to the series. And the Sci-Fi setting is interesting too. Civ 5 wasn't    The biggest problem of this game is certainly the extremely high reputation of its predecessor.
    The truth is Civilization Beyond Earth is simply not as good as Civilization V. Its just not.
    But that doesn't mean that its not worth a look.
    The fact that it is much simpler than Civ 5 can also be a plus for people new to the series.
    And the Sci-Fi setting is interesting too.
    Civ 5 wasn't as great on release either. The addons made it what it is today - one of the best Strategy games ever. Maybe 2K will give this game one or two addons that will also greatly improve it.

    Beyond Earth is a good strategy game. But it is not nearly as good as Civilization V... yet.    … Expand
  13. cgmcnama
    Nov 9, 2014
    6
    SUMMARY: The core game foundation is great but needs a lot of tweaking in the balance department. Wait a year for a Steam sale when all the patches and updates are done and I think you will be delightfully pleased.

    This game deceptively appears to be a re-hash of Civ V but is actually a completely different game and has a lot of fun concepts like aggressive Aliens and Affinities. It    SUMMARY: The core game foundation is great but needs a lot of tweaking in the balance department. Wait a year for a Steam sale when all the patches and updates are done and I think you will be delightfully pleased.

    This game deceptively appears to be a re-hash of Civ V but is actually a completely different game and has a lot of fun concepts like aggressive Aliens and Affinities. It has a lot of potential and really implemented a strong Culture system where all the trees are viable.

    However, it just isn't balanced right now and multiplayer is broken. There are frequent crashes and game concepts like trade routes are insanely strong and broken. Because they are broken and have no limits like Civ V, you end up micromanaging each route every 25 turns unless you modify the Asset file or install a mod.    … Expand
  14. AlexanderDM
    Oct 30, 2017
    6
    Not an objectively bad title; the gameplay is balanced and the tech 'web' is excellent. But nothing about the experience elevated it over Civ V in any meaningful way, and I found myself backing off after only two or three games. I admit I'm at a loss for definite suggestions aside from novelty - in all, this game really didn't need to be made.
  15. Sandro86
    Apr 27, 2019
    7
    I honestly enjoyed this game but I understand well why many didn't liked it that much.
  16. OldManGamerOMG
    Dec 4, 2020
    7
    Beyond Earth is a well made game. I had no technical issues, having the graphics at their maximum settings. I do feel that the UI (User Interface) is incredibly difficult to read. There were times that I would have to pull up information on my second monitor, to be able to read all of the information that was too small to read on an 85 inch display in 4k resolution. However, once you haveBeyond Earth is a well made game. I had no technical issues, having the graphics at their maximum settings. I do feel that the UI (User Interface) is incredibly difficult to read. There were times that I would have to pull up information on my second monitor, to be able to read all of the information that was too small to read on an 85 inch display in 4k resolution. However, once you have learned the game and understand what everything is, this is not something to worry about.

    I can recommend this game for those that like turn based strategy games. I prefer the classic style of Civilization on Earth, but this game was very well made and a fun twist to that concept.    … Expand
  17. IJustWorkHere
    Nov 17, 2021
    5
    I am a huge fan of Civilization IV, V, and VI so I purchased Beyond earth hoping it would be a good continuation of the series. In the end I view it as a soulless cash-grab hoping to capitalize on the success of the other, better games in the franchise. As much as I love the other Civs I would advise people to pass on this one.
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Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Best PC Game of 2014
21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 78 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 78
  3. Negative: 1 out of 78
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 9, 2015
    90
    Cancel all your plans and fill up the fridge, because once you launch Beyond Earth you will not want to leave your home. [13/2014, p.46]
  2. Worth Playing
    Dec 23, 2014
    85
    Passive AI and lackluster online support from the community isn't enough to make Civilization: Beyond Earth a total wash. If you've enjoyed the series over the years, you'll likely spend many hours with this entry as well.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    Dec 21, 2014
    80
    Prepare for tech tree troubles, but the amount to discover and overall quality wins out. [Christmas 2014, p.64]
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