Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 458 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 326 out of 458
  2. Mixed: 78 out of 458
  3. Negative: 54 out of 458
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  1. Tridus
    Jun 24, 2012
    5
    It's still Civ 5. Depending on what you think of Civ 5, that'll either be a good thing or a bad thing. For me it was a bad thing. The new systems don't feel well integrated. Religion in particular is built around yet another pool of points that you gather up from buildings, then spend on stuff. You know, like every other system in the game. You pick some buffs, then you can pretty muchIt's still Civ 5. Depending on what you think of Civ 5, that'll either be a good thing or a bad thing. For me it was a bad thing. The new systems don't feel well integrated. Religion in particular is built around yet another pool of points that you gather up from buildings, then spend on stuff. You know, like every other system in the game. You pick some buffs, then you can pretty much ignore it. Since diplomacy is so schitzophrenic you can ignore it for that purpose, and it spreads on its own (eventually), or you can use a missionary or great prophet to speed it up. Great prophets have no other real use then spreading religion, unlike other great people (who you can buy with faith later, likely added because the points would be virtually worthless once the religion is buffed up otherwise). Spies are really limited in what they can do, and since tech stealing is so prevalent you'll want to use a couple to defend against it pretty much all the time. That makes the whole system really limited and passive. If you thought Civ 5 was a great game already then you'll enjoy this, but IMO Civ 4 did both of these systems better.… Expand
  2. crushilista
    Jun 19, 2012
    8
    I went into this with low expectations. I heard that the expansion didn't fix any of the AI problems or add anything really new to the mix. I'd like to explain why that's wrong. You start of the game and you off the bat see that there are 9 new civilizations to meet with. They are all well done in how they look and sound besides maybe the Mayans which are a tad lackluster. Religion is theI went into this with low expectations. I heard that the expansion didn't fix any of the AI problems or add anything really new to the mix. I'd like to explain why that's wrong. You start of the game and you off the bat see that there are 9 new civilizations to meet with. They are all well done in how they look and sound besides maybe the Mayans which are a tad lackluster. Religion is the most paramount thing in the beginning. You start off by making a pantheon, which later leads to creating your own religion. The only thing that I would have liked with the religions is the option to import a picture of my own instead of picking one of the main religious symbols for already held religions. At first, it seems as though religion does nothing. This made me really disappointed for a while, until later when I had converted whole countries over to my side and they were steadfast allies through thick and thin. However, places that already have a religion to spread will become very upset if you spread yours in their land. I'll come back to that near the end of the review. After you play with religion for a bit, spies come out of the woodworks. The spy menu is one of the reasons this isn't a perfect expansion. It looks and feels like a facebook game in the way it's handled. This would bother me much more if it wasn't for the fact that, once you get used to it, it's kind of nice to not have to manually tell the spies where to go. (They are spies after all. You should just tell them where to go and what to do.) They can steal technology and tip off players on oncoming death by war. Which leads me to my favorite parts of the expansion. The diplomacy seems to be more deeper. When someone says to not build more lands near them, you can promise not to. After a certain period of time, when it is seen that you are not spreading your lands about, you will get an increase in your relationship with them for staying true. However, on the other side of that coin, if you were trying to force your funny named religion onto other people who didn't want it, swore that you wouldn't do it again, then did it again because you have a short memory span, then they will be very upset. The best part of my play through was getting tipped off by my best ally, Attila, that the Sweeds were trying to attack one of my main cities. At first I wasn't sure if it was trickery on his part or if he was just trying to help. The first time I ignored him. Later he comes back and warns me that they are planning total war with me and I should prepare. This time I took what he said into consideration and build a basic combat unit in each of my cities. Knowing the combat system from vanilla Civ 5, I was positive that they'd send a single unit in, I'd smash its face in, then they'd beg for peace. Then war was declared.... I look up upon the city that Attila had warned me they'd strike, and there were two generals manning trebuchets, three long swords man, a musketman and archers following suit in the background. I pissed myself. I scrambled to find an ally near me and took comfort in Theodora to protect me. It seemed nice of her, seeing as I broke promises to her and surrounded her lands full of cities that kept trying to convert her. While she fought with me, she actually came over. I was surprised at the amount of competence in the AI for a change. I attacked Swedens trebuchet and it retreated; smart move on the AI once again. After a while though, I guess my ally learned that she could have my lands with the help of Sweden and no longer have to put up with forced conversions. She turned on me, and for the first time in Civ 5, I lost my city. Bittersweet moment there. The new combat 100 point system is much better. An example would be a warrior attacking a tank no longer does 1 damage out of it's very minimal amount of life and threatens it's stability. It makes it much more balanced and worth it to upgrade. Altogether, I have to say that the game is a must-buy for any players of Civ 5. PS Dido might have a stupid name, but her voice whenever she makes a deal with you is adorable. ... Maybe it's just me.… Expand
  3. Atr0s
    Jun 23, 2012
    3
    This expansion adds two very interesting features which made Civ 5 much less entertaining than its predecessor. However, as far as I've gone into this game, it feels like the Social Policies when announced: interesting but actually severely lacking. It doesn't bring back the challenge from Civ 4, it's just another bunch of dumbed down features, fitting for a dumbed down game.

    In a few    This expansion adds two very interesting features which made Civ 5 much less entertaining than its predecessor. However, as far as I've gone into this game, it feels like the Social Policies when announced: interesting but actually severely lacking. It doesn't bring back the challenge from Civ 4, it's just another bunch of dumbed down features, fitting for a dumbed down game.

    In a few words: don't even bother if you were disappointed with Civ 5.    … Expand
  4. Tacoss23
    Nov 20, 2012
    7
    This expansion was a step forward after the franchise took 20 back with the release of Civilization 5. While arguably still the same Civ 5, you can tell the difference in the point of view/direction the game is heading with this expansion. For the ones that don't know, Jon Shaffer, the 20 year old kid developer responsible for the disaster of Civ 5, was fired 2 months after launch (noThis expansion was a step forward after the franchise took 20 back with the release of Civilization 5. While arguably still the same Civ 5, you can tell the difference in the point of view/direction the game is heading with this expansion. For the ones that don't know, Jon Shaffer, the 20 year old kid developer responsible for the disaster of Civ 5, was fired 2 months after launch (no surprise there), and since then Firaxis has been slowly trying to fix the mess. This expansion shows the dedication of the team and great efforts to restore Civ 5 to the franchise standards. Unfortunately, it's still Civ 5 at the very core, which depending on your opinion of Civ 5 it could be very bad or good. If you are new to the franchise or somehow managed to find Civ 5 appealing, then this expansion will only make it better in every aspect. If you are part of the horde of disappointed decades long hard-core fans like myself, then this expansion gives you hope in the future of the franchise, nonetheless still a mediocre mess compared to Civ 4-BTS. Religion, the improved AI, improved combat and several other small changes are really good, and made me play the game again, still with sour taste of Civ 5 vanilla in my mouth though. Conclusion: It's a good step to get Civilization back on track and restore the fan's confidence in the future of the franchise. Despite the efforts, the horrendous mess left by Civilization 5 vanilla it's still too big to be cleaned up by a single expansion and subsequent patches. If you hated what they did with Civilization 5 (like I did), give this expansion a try, it might bring you back to the game. However it still is Civ 5 at the core and therefore you will still have a sour taste in your mouth every time you play it. Hopefully with patches and maybe one more expansion like this we can get back to Civ 4-BTS standards?… Expand
  5. elendiel7
    Jun 30, 2013
    7
    As a 4x enthusiast the base game was not well received by Civilization veterans. It was known to lack depth, any meaningful AI, and in general anything beyond the first few eras was boring. Common for a Civilization expansion, you can expect new civilizations, units and wonders that take advantage of the new features of the game. Such features as Religion, and espionage have been included.As a 4x enthusiast the base game was not well received by Civilization veterans. It was known to lack depth, any meaningful AI, and in general anything beyond the first few eras was boring. Common for a Civilization expansion, you can expect new civilizations, units and wonders that take advantage of the new features of the game. Such features as Religion, and espionage have been included. Gods and kings adds enough content to justify part of the cost, but there are still some glaring problems.

    AI just simply needs to be fixed. It's horrible at combat, and it sometimes take a unreasonable amount of time for it to take it's turn. Often times the AI will even hang, resulting in the screen being frozen in place.

    Any multiplayer issues you had in civ 5 have not been fixed. In some cases the multiplayer is even worse. I have never been able to play a game without it crashing on multiplayer. This is supposed to be resolved once Brave New world comes out. The changes will be made for all versions of the game.

    Late game is still very very boring. By the 1800's, you should already know who's going to win. Finishing the game is often a grind at that point. This can be attributed to the majority of 4x games, but I'm surprised it's something that hasn't been resolved yet. Brave new world should fix any late game issues.

    Overall, the base game would be a solid 6, but gods and kings raises it up to a 7 out of 10. Regardless of all the issues the game didn't fix, this expansion does make the game so much better. I easily put 100 hours in the game within 2 weeks of having the expansion. Buy it on sale or get Brave new world when it releases.    … Expand
  6. Seryin
    Dec 16, 2013
    3
    Civ 5 is a great game, but I will be frank with my issue: Gods and Kings is NO WHERE EVEN CLOSE to 30 bucks worth of new content. Firaxis or 2k, whoever is responsible for the pricetag of these expansions, NEEDS TO STOP THIS RIDICULOUSNESS!
    Considering the base game's price tag, and the fact that this is pathetically considered a "rich man's game," these expansions should be priced no    Civ 5 is a great game, but I will be frank with my issue: Gods and Kings is NO WHERE EVEN CLOSE to 30 bucks worth of new content. Firaxis or 2k, whoever is responsible for the pricetag of these expansions, NEEDS TO STOP THIS RIDICULOUSNESS!
    Considering the base game's price tag, and the fact that this is pathetically considered a "rich man's game," these expansions should be priced no more than 15 bucks.

    I would prefer to give this expansion a 0/10 for the absurd pricing vs. content, but cannot deny the intuitive, but SIMPLE changes in this expansion that make the base game even better...So I will toss it a couple.    … Expand
  7. The_Ommadawn
    Oct 16, 2012
    9
    Until last week, I'd never played a Civ game. What was I thinking??? To be quite blunt, the poor user scores confuse the life out of me. I've played some seriously poor games in recent years, yet this ranks right at the top of the good (if not great) games. It offers so much entertainment and scale that only a PC game could offer. I've seen screen shots of Civ games in the past and thoughtUntil last week, I'd never played a Civ game. What was I thinking??? To be quite blunt, the poor user scores confuse the life out of me. I've played some seriously poor games in recent years, yet this ranks right at the top of the good (if not great) games. It offers so much entertainment and scale that only a PC game could offer. I've seen screen shots of Civ games in the past and thought 'Jesus that looks intimidating'. But the reality is quite different (from my point of view at least). The game gives you as much hand holding as you need to find your wings, then it's up to you to experiment with tactics. I love the TW (Total War) games and this kinda resembles the overview map mode game play, which ticks so many boxes for me. It builds upon the all the features I enjoy from TW and adds so much more to the mix. I've had sleepless nights and waking hours considering the best plan of action and this is with just one starting faction! This game has legs and I can see why so many people praise the Civ series. People have passion for Civ 4 and criticize Civ 5 for missing/failing to extend the experience. Having no frame of reference, I can't comment. All I can say is if you haven't played a games from this series and fancy giving it a go, Civ 5 has the ability to change your gaming outlook on turn based strategy. It's a shining example of why gaming is so special. A perfect score from me.… Expand
  8. Gabbetthw
    Aug 18, 2012
    7
    This expansion is good in many ways, but for $50 a little overpriced. Gods and Kings adds religion and espionage, as well as a few userface changes. The religion addition was very enjoyable, allowing you to create your own religion and send it into other countries to spread it worldwide. Of course, this could effect diplomatic relations with other countries, which made religion have a lotThis expansion is good in many ways, but for $50 a little overpriced. Gods and Kings adds religion and espionage, as well as a few userface changes. The religion addition was very enjoyable, allowing you to create your own religion and send it into other countries to spread it worldwide. Of course, this could effect diplomatic relations with other countries, which made religion have a lot of potential to play. Espionage, however, was a little dull. Aside from selecting which cities your spies were located, you don't have much choice in what they do. This made espionage rather boring and hardly worth using. There were some civilizations added which also help to increase the enjoyment of the game.

    Overall, it's a great expansion, just a little pricey.    … Expand
  9. chevmech
    Jul 26, 2012
    8
    A nice comprehensive package. New civs are great and they are heading in the proper direction with relig. and esp. I wish esp was fleshed out a bit more. Some other options for spies would have been nice. In this case a step backward (toward civ4) is the step forward. AI is still as dumb as a bag of hammers and AI diplomacy is still as fickle as ever. Overall a good expansion worthA nice comprehensive package. New civs are great and they are heading in the proper direction with relig. and esp. I wish esp was fleshed out a bit more. Some other options for spies would have been nice. In this case a step backward (toward civ4) is the step forward. AI is still as dumb as a bag of hammers and AI diplomacy is still as fickle as ever. Overall a good expansion worth having though.… Expand
  10. KHAAANNN
    Jul 17, 2012
    6
    I'm still a big fan of Civilization IV, so I consider myself "one of those" that was disappointed with the mainstream-approach (aka dumbing-down) the developers took with Civ 5. Although this expansion addresses some of the complaints die-hard Civ players have had with the newest addition - specifically religion and covert operations - it seems too little, too late to rescue the baseI'm still a big fan of Civilization IV, so I consider myself "one of those" that was disappointed with the mainstream-approach (aka dumbing-down) the developers took with Civ 5. Although this expansion addresses some of the complaints die-hard Civ players have had with the newest addition - specifically religion and covert operations - it seems too little, too late to rescue the base game. If you prefer Civ 5 over its predecessors, however, you may find this expansion breathes new game play styles and strategies into sessions.… Expand
  11. JaguarXJ6
    Nov 23, 2012
    5
    I can't recommend this Civ game. In the franchise, great steps were made to separate this from previous games with new concepts from hex, unit stacking, graphics, social policies, and city states. These succeed in creating new challenges for the player and add to the military strategy game.

    However, what the game does not deliver is an adaquate AI that fails at even the simplest of    I can't recommend this Civ game. In the franchise, great steps were made to separate this from previous games with new concepts from hex, unit stacking, graphics, social policies, and city states. These succeed in creating new challenges for the player and add to the military strategy game.

    However, what the game does not deliver is an adaquate AI that fails at even the simplest of tasks. For example, an automated worker in an unhappy, fledgling empire at game start will not attempt build immediately on resource one tile from the capitol to connect it. Increasing difficulty beyond King (L6) doesn't incorporate new AI routines, it simply handicaps the player by huge bonuses for production, happiness, science, and gold output for all AI players. I have over 200 hours into this Civ with another 500+ for Civ4 and another 500+ hours for every Civ incarnation before it. Even if purchased on a Steam sale, it doesn't overcome the disappointment at the lack of re-playability compared to previous Civs. The game can be fun at times, but those moments of enjoyment are too rare. Like a tribal hut, you get the immediate sense of reward and that is about as good as it gets as the game goes back to tedium of micro-management to overcome a weak AI.    … Expand
  12. DrZ
    Jun 22, 2012
    9
    My history with Civ: I have played all Civ series and Alpha centauri.

    After first playing Civ V I thought it wasn't good enough of a series for the masterpiece Civ IV was. There were a lot of bugs, balance issues and a wierd diplomacy system. But after spending some time to understand it I begun to think that it has more tactical value than IV because of the combat system. It reminds me    My history with Civ: I have played all Civ series and Alpha centauri.

    After first playing Civ V I thought it wasn't good enough of a series for the masterpiece Civ IV was. There were a lot of bugs, balance issues and a wierd diplomacy system. But after spending some time to understand it I begun to think that it has more tactical value than IV because of the combat system. It reminds me of Panzer general in some way. The expansion addresses a whole lot of issues that the Vanilla had: - great improvement in the AI (it will no longer just walk into the range of my units, also combines his units in a good manner) - Diplomacy far more intelligible - RA spam is no more - Open border selling span is gone because now you need an embassy and it comes later into the tech tree - Religion is far less passive than in IV and has a lot more diversity - City states are no more easily bought with money but you really need to do quests now.

    Over all i think the developers really tried to balance it and listened to the community. I hope more people will try it out    … Expand
  13. LordDiniz
    Nov 24, 2012
    10
    Gods and Kings is a true expansion pack, not a minor DLC as we keep having from other games.
    The expansion really adds to the game, giving you a bunch of new features to play with, and it makes the strategy-setting more complex and, in result, better. The features include not only the religion, but also new civilizations, units, wonders, the expanded diplomacy... It really improves the    Gods and Kings is a true expansion pack, not a minor DLC as we keep having from other games.
    The expansion really adds to the game, giving you a bunch of new features to play with, and it makes the strategy-setting more complex and, in result, better. The features include not only the religion, but also new civilizations, units, wonders, the expanded diplomacy... It really improves the game!
    In regard to the price, I think that 24 dollars may be a little too much for an expansion, as you can buy a lot of full games for that price, so I'd wait for some sale (like Black Friday) to get it with a good discount.
    But it is definitely worth it.    … Expand
  14. Kanazawa
    Jun 20, 2012
    9
    Managed to breathe life into a nearly dead game. The religion and Spy system made the game a lot more fun to play. The religion was entertaining to observe as multiple countries would send ministers to others and spread their religion like a plague. It was like a silent war. It has diplomatic repercussions of course, as many don't like me going into their town and preaching. The spy systemManaged to breathe life into a nearly dead game. The religion and Spy system made the game a lot more fun to play. The religion was entertaining to observe as multiple countries would send ministers to others and spread their religion like a plague. It was like a silent war. It has diplomatic repercussions of course, as many don't like me going into their town and preaching. The spy system was exciting and fun at first, but quickly died out. It's still a very useful tool, and you really need it to prevent attacks and such, but it wasn't very fun after a while. It got rather annoying that other countries would always steal your city state with their spy and there is nothing you can really do about it, as there is no way to fight another spy in a city-state. The new civs were interesting to learn, and I enjoy most of them over the original provided ones. The new scenarios were shockingly fun, where as the old ones always seemed very dull. The new units made the game a lot more competitive, making that small lead in technology really pay off rather than everyone having the same units 4-5 branches behind you. The water battles were far more fun and required a lot more work and strategy than before. I used to never use naval units unless it's required, but now I can't live without them. It's really fun. I love the new wonders, and technologies as well. All these additions certainly drag on the game on a lot longer, but it's more worthwhile and less dull.… Expand
  15. Wanguard
    Oct 3, 2012
    5
    If you liked Civ5 you'll probably like this expansion too. It adds religion, spying and some minor tweaks to the game but doesn't change the core game mechanics too much. The biggest flaw of Civ5, horrible AI unit movement in war, is still there.
    If you can get it cheap it's worth buying but you can easily cope without it. If you are a civfanatic you've already bought it.
  16. frankdew
    Jun 20, 2012
    9
    After 6 hours of gameplay, I can say that I am satisfied with Gods and Kings. It may not be perfect, but it takes an "ok" game and make it a good one. I even find the religion thing as a whole better than it was in Civ 4. The level of customization for your civilization is great. Its not just more gold and happiness anymore. They also made slight changes to the tech tree, making it harderAfter 6 hours of gameplay, I can say that I am satisfied with Gods and Kings. It may not be perfect, but it takes an "ok" game and make it a good one. I even find the religion thing as a whole better than it was in Civ 4. The level of customization for your civilization is great. Its not just more gold and happiness anymore. They also made slight changes to the tech tree, making it harder to get Civil Service with the Great Library. Diplomacy is enhanced and the AI is better at waging wars. Maybe my mind is playing me but it seems that the espionage stuff is more like Civ 3 than Civ 4, which I find a little bit disappointing. I prefer the spy as a unit on the map, discovering blurred tiles and acting on the field, not only in cities. But nevertheless, I am looking forward to test it at a lan party with my friends this weekend.… Expand
  17. CivGuy
    Jun 19, 2012
    3
    1) It doesn't fix the tactical AI, (it's still bad), just gives them more HP.
    2) It doesn't fix the diplomatic AI, (it's still schizophrenic).
    3) ICS is still the dominant strategy, as global happiness just doesn't work, especially with all the new happiness resources.
    4) Turn times are still atrocious. Unless you're from the future, this game will chug on your machine.
  18. Odin_the_Red
    Jun 21, 2012
    9
    Overall a great edition to the series, but about ten dollars overpriced. Even with all it's overhauls and additions, I don't think that the publisher has much legitimacy to charge anything more than $25 or $20 (not sure what the dev costs where but I doubt they were enormous). Unless you're a big MP fan, wait till this goes on sale. Now content... Religion and Espionage have beenOverall a great edition to the series, but about ten dollars overpriced. Even with all it's overhauls and additions, I don't think that the publisher has much legitimacy to charge anything more than $25 or $20 (not sure what the dev costs where but I doubt they were enormous). Unless you're a big MP fan, wait till this goes on sale. Now content... Religion and Espionage have been integrated quite well but don't feel very satisfying as they probably should (still better than magically founding religions in Civ4 though). I like the faith system, it's simple yet varied, as well as the complex spy actions. One of the nicer changes I think is the naval combat, now with Great Admirals, more ship types and greater bombardment power. Taking a City-State by pummeling it with frigates and then sweeping in with privateers to storm it's docks is a very satisfying feeling. New Civs and music are awesome and fresh, adding a great deal of variety to the game-play and audio pleasure. As far as AI goes, I don't see much of a difference, although, it does seem more organized and a bit more buffed so good enough I suppose. The new tech tree is fantastic, it feels much more realistic and intuitive than the previous one and allows for a much more interesting modern and ancient ages as far as wars go (composite bowman, Gatling/machine guns, WWI Units etc.) Don't worry too much about re-balancing, there's not too much and not too little if you know what I mean. Bottom-line, if you're a hardcore fan or a big MP player, buy it! If you're a causal player or unsure, wait till it goes on sale. Don't miss it though, for me it pretty much completes the game, though the edition of corporations and space exploration would satisfy my last wishes for content. This is definitely a great step forward from clunky and easily-cheapened Civ4 (although, it will always be a classic, and a good one at that). Happy Ruling.… Expand
  19. Attricus
    Jul 16, 2012
    8
    It expands the Civ V at new levels, it adds the things were missing on original release. And not only has things as were on Civ4, it has that things in a better way. This expansion is a must have if you like Civ V.
  20. Gorkoan
    Jul 10, 2012
    9
    My love for the Civilization series started as a kid playing the first Civilization on my Amiga. I've seen features appear and disappear trough the various installments, but never did so many features go missing as it did between the forth and fifth game. Therefore I was excited when this expansion was announced, as it was bringing back espionage and religion, two things that had in factMy love for the Civilization series started as a kid playing the first Civilization on my Amiga. I've seen features appear and disappear trough the various installments, but never did so many features go missing as it did between the forth and fifth game. Therefore I was excited when this expansion was announced, as it was bringing back espionage and religion, two things that had in fact been introduced in an expansion to Civilization 4. The question; Is it worth buying something that maybe should have been included from the start? In short, YES! This expansion adds another layer of strategy to the game, and also fixes some of the imbalances in the tech tree and dominant strategies. Also worth mentioning is the 9 interesting new nations that are focused on either city states or the new religion mechanic "faith". There are also a bunch of new units that "plugs" the gap between the late 19th century and the start of the 20th century. All in all, a great expansion to an already great game!… Expand
  21. TrueGamer81
    Aug 30, 2012
    9
    The new expansion turns Civilization 5 into a modern, improved version of Civilization 4.

    That is, overall, a good thing.

    It is a real shame that we have to pay for what should have been in the first place.

    Civilization 5 is an absolute blast to play, I must admit.
  22. Tubey
    Jun 30, 2012
    5
    Unfortunately, by "dumbing down" the overall game to appeal to a wider audience of gamer, Civ 5 has actually alienated itself from everyone - it's too easy for it's traditional fans, and it remains too boring for the casual gamer.

    For those looking for a "proper" Civilization game, you're best served with either Civ 3 or Civ 4 which is available on Steam. A warning for the franchise in    Unfortunately, by "dumbing down" the overall game to appeal to a wider audience of gamer, Civ 5 has actually alienated itself from everyone - it's too easy for it's traditional fans, and it remains too boring for the casual gamer.

    For those looking for a "proper" Civilization game, you're best served with either Civ 3 or Civ 4 which is available on Steam. A warning for the franchise in the future - you're not gonna rope in Call of Duty players, no matter how hard you try. Stick to what brought you to the race for Civ 6.    … Expand
  23. Zenren
    Jun 30, 2012
    5
    I had heard great things about this expansion, but sadly it didn't live up to the hype. The addition of religion is nothing like Civilization IV and leaves much to be desired. I was hoping for a little more variety in the new civilizations added as well, but they're either over-powered or just plain, blah. Nothing to see here folks, just another great franchise in decline.
  24. Malinos_97
    Nov 17, 2012
    9
    Game is outstanding like all games from Sid Meier. Innovations brings new solutions and also brings something new in this serie. The only minus is no religion and espionage.
  25. Surg3on
    Dec 13, 2012
    3
    Firaxis seems to be a company in dire straights milking this cash cow for all its worth with minimal investment. Still poorly made, pretty but poorly made. The new systems feel tacked on and poorly integrated. Spying more than religion. Religion being kind of interesting if somewhat pointless.

    Multiplayer is still buggy as hell after so many years to patch it. it crahses (though    Firaxis seems to be a company in dire straights milking this cash cow for all its worth with minimal investment. Still poorly made, pretty but poorly made. The new systems feel tacked on and poorly integrated. Spying more than religion. Religion being kind of interesting if somewhat pointless.

    Multiplayer is still buggy as hell after so many years to patch it. it crahses (though thankfully recovers OK). Pauses for no good reason then wakes up after a minute or two. If you have an AI in the game it cant initiate diplomacy with you! Who has 8 friends to play? I imagine many multiplayer players still need 1 or 2 AI's!

    Civ4 is still a better game. Sad but true.    … Expand
  26. BillyIdol
    Jul 31, 2012
    9
    One of the best strategy games of all times !
    Highly addictive, great quality, the only problem I can find in this game is that once you start playing it, you just can't leave it alone
  27. KvltKitty
    Aug 2, 2012
    9
    A solid expansion, well worth the cash. Should it have come with the game at release? Probably, but it's probably better they waited and sorted out the bugs so we'd have it to play in the meantime. Religion was very well integrated, better than in IV. The espionage is a nice touch, doesn't take up too much time per turn but your decisions are very important (much like a lot of Civ V'sA solid expansion, well worth the cash. Should it have come with the game at release? Probably, but it's probably better they waited and sorted out the bugs so we'd have it to play in the meantime. Religion was very well integrated, better than in IV. The espionage is a nice touch, doesn't take up too much time per turn but your decisions are very important (much like a lot of Civ V's aspects). Nice additions to the tech tree, definitely more balanced. To all the people whining about long turn times and glitchy multiplayer, I have yet to experience any of these issues. Get a better internet service provider, or just get a better plan cause I have yet to drop a game with this expansion. As for the game chugging, upgrade your computer or try overclocking a bit, mine runs smooth as a whistle on max settings AND online. Noobs are still just angry cause they can't stack anymore lol. It's pure strategic bliss. Get it and your weekend will go by wayy too quickly.… Expand
  28. Transponster
    Feb 17, 2013
    0
    less than useless. Although my PC is clearly within the crosshairs of this game, it constantly hangs. It always says "Next Turn", but nothing happens. The little workers work, but the game does not progress. I have to get to the Task Manager to close the game and Steam. Really not worth the effort for 5 minutes of play. Throwing it out. Will never buy from Steam or Sid again.
  29. Tytos
    Apr 30, 2013
    2
    This expansion managed to add a little bit more complexity into the very arcade gameplay of CIV5, too bad it's still too dumbed down. The multiplayer part hasn't be fixed either in this expansion, the question remains, why the did they not copy&paste the excellent MP-part of CIV4?
    An inferior product of a once great game-series.
  30. MrXLiebezeit
    Jun 18, 2013
    6
    It's an okay expansion. They did a few things to improve, like religions, and combat HP. But it could have been a lot more than it was. As some others have said, if you didn't like Civ V, don't buy it.
    I for one, liked Civ V, so it was kind of neat, but nothing special.
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Awards & Rankings

47
#47 Best PC Game of 2012
80
#80 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 53 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 53
  3. Negative: 1 out of 53
  1. Level7.nu
    Aug 3, 2012
    80
    An expansion with focus on religion. It features many well needed changes.
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  2. Eurogamer Sweden
    Aug 1, 2012
    80
    Gods & Kings adds some fun and interesting things to the game, but leaves the core gameplay intact. While none of the additions tries to revolutionize the Civilization V formula, each of them still manages to improve it, which makes Gods & Kings a good catch for those already hooked on the basic game.
    Read full review
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Jul 31, 2012
    100
    The rarest of all expansions: the one that's better than its base game. [Aug 2012, p.58]
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