Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 86
  3. Negative: 18 out of 86

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  1. Augustus75
    Jul 3, 2019
    0
    Played the civ series since the first and it's been my primary gaming most of my life. I've loved every iteration of the series, even the struggling 5 which was quite possibly the worse launch of all of them. However, after giving 6 so much time and waiting for this final expansion and it's large summer update, i have to finally give a review.
    First, this clearly had ipad in mind for    Played the civ series since the first and it's been my primary gaming most of my life. I've loved every iteration of the series, even the struggling 5 which was quite possibly the worse launch of all of them. However, after giving 6 so much time and waiting for this final expansion and it's large summer update, i have to finally give a review.
    First, this clearly had ipad in mind for it's design. Stick a fork in it from that point on. The AI simply cannot play the game. It's utterly broke. 4 is so much better than this. It's like a lot of gaming now, rush to mobile market. Get that ipad money. Well, I'm reminded of that movie Idiocracy. Our new generations have no idea what they are missing concerning immersion and depth in gaming. But that's the point i suppose. They have no idea....    … Expand
  2. ScytheNoire
    Aug 30, 2019
    5
    Been playing Civ since the first game, but the games have lost their magic over the years. I love a lot of what they did in Gathering Storm, however, the cost for what you get was not worth it. It feels like they are phoning it in and just pushing stuff out to get paid. Franchise is most likely dead at this point, which is very sad. Expect 2K had a lot to do with it's demise.
  3. Hurrrr
    Feb 16, 2019
    6
    Game is decent, but needs a lot of balancing and bug fixes until I can recommend it at this price.
    40 eur? Nope.
    Diplomacy is broken: AI is making silly choices and demands left and right, if you play with more than 6 civilization you will go crazy with the amount of stupidity AI offers you each turn (not to mention trade offer spam which mostly is ridiculous) World congress: Very    Game is decent, but needs a lot of balancing and bug fixes until I can recommend it at this price.
    40 eur? Nope.

    Diplomacy is broken:
    AI is making silly choices and demands left and right, if you play with more than 6 civilization you will go crazy with the amount of stupidity AI offers you each turn (not to mention trade offer spam which mostly is ridiculous)

    World congress:
    Very disappointed. It's unrealistic and deals mostly with resources.
    Imagine all the world leaders coming together and deciding what to do with extra spices or camels.
    Basically, you will see this:
    A: Resource X brings +1 amenities.
    B: Resource X brings no amenities.

    Needs a lot of improvement

    And finally, environment effects: YOU DONT FEEL THEM.
    The most advertised feature is really underpowered and you hardly notice it.
    Just click away notifications and build the right improvements.

    Anyhow, until these things are fixed, I can't recommend getting the game at 40 eur, wait for a discount.    … Expand
  4. ScienceAdvisor
    Feb 17, 2019
    5
    Mediocre early access for an unfinished DLC that is being packaged and sold as an expansion. The new AI needs work, the new systems need proper integration in a meaningful way, and a balancing pass (or three) would not hurt. It is 20% off after only a few days, but I would be patient and wait for a 50%+ off sale.

    The news on 2K that hit in mid-Feb (2019) is correct, if a little late.    Mediocre early access for an unfinished DLC that is being packaged and sold as an expansion. The new AI needs work, the new systems need proper integration in a meaningful way, and a balancing pass (or three) would not hurt. It is 20% off after only a few days, but I would be patient and wait for a 50%+ off sale.

    The news on 2K that hit in mid-Feb (2019) is correct, if a little late. They are, and have been data mining you since early 2018. The worrying fact is that unlike good companies, they do not promise the information is for their own, internal use, and will not be sold to third parties. If you avoid Twitter or Facebook for their policies, then 2K is on your blacklist. At least until they update it with the appropriate promise of privacy for us in their Privacy Policy (where they hid these clauses instead of integrating them in their EULA where it would be highly visible).    … Expand
  5. matt79
    Feb 17, 2019
    6
    I always buy everything Civilization and so I did this time. It's not bad, but unfortunately, new features do not alter the gameplay in any significant way, Either environmental effects or world congress are things you can simply not bother with and still be perfectly fine. There are some good UI changes, new leaders, new units, etc, so I'd say it is a very nice DLC but a lacklusterI always buy everything Civilization and so I did this time. It's not bad, but unfortunately, new features do not alter the gameplay in any significant way, Either environmental effects or world congress are things you can simply not bother with and still be perfectly fine. There are some good UI changes, new leaders, new units, etc, so I'd say it is a very nice DLC but a lackluster expansion. Still, I never regretted a single dime spent on Civilization and I still don't. The only thing is, the Civilization V expansions were so much better.… Expand
  6. bassman2112
    Feb 16, 2019
    9
    A thoroughly enjoyable experience, and a wonderful expansion to Civilzation 6. It makes the game feel fresh, and the new mechanics are largely successful. There are a few problems with the newest content only playing into late-game, and not having them influence your decision-making enough; but the quality is very high, the new leaders are really cool, and the new diplomacy and disasterA thoroughly enjoyable experience, and a wonderful expansion to Civilzation 6. It makes the game feel fresh, and the new mechanics are largely successful. There are a few problems with the newest content only playing into late-game, and not having them influence your decision-making enough; but the quality is very high, the new leaders are really cool, and the new diplomacy and disaster systems are wonderful. The climate change system is really neat, but it is so out of your control that it's difficult to plan around.… Expand
  7. drewseph203
    Feb 18, 2019
    10
    Overall: This is the game it was meant to be. The world feels real, diplomacy matters much more, resources are now handled more logically, and the new civilizations bring variety to how the game is played. I actually find myself saying "... just one more turn ...", which was rare before this expansion in Civ VI.
    Civilizations: I honestly didn't know what to expect of the civ selections    Overall: This is the game it was meant to be. The world feels real, diplomacy matters much more, resources are now handled more logically, and the new civilizations bring variety to how the game is played. I actually find myself saying "... just one more turn ...", which was rare before this expansion in Civ VI.
    Civilizations: I honestly didn't know what to expect of the civ selections prior to the leak, because the last several announcements for Rise and Fall were truly underwhelming. This was not the case, for me, with Gathering Storm. The new ensemble brings several needed favorites, and they sre balanced by new and replacement civs that haven't left me disappointed (except maybe Canada, but then I may immigrate there some day, so I'll keep an open mind). More importantly, unlike most of the DLC and Rise & Fall civs, the civs of Gathering Storm feel like they bring unique approaches to how I play the game (even Canada, completely changing early game diplomacy without Surprise Wars). When I play as Mali, I'm working to maximize trade, building walls (because I have enough units and all my buildings and districts have been bought- thanks Reyna and Moksha), and generally feeling like an unparalleled economic powerhouse. As Phoenicia, my empire is built around my "colonies", as my new distant capital citizens refer to them, and I've got harbors out the wazoo. And so it goes.
    Map: Not only has there been a massive and appreciable aesthetic upgrade (my fiancee that doesn't even play commented on this), but the map generation is more interesting and better developed. Additionally, I play with climate settings maxed out, so I regularly get flooded and volcanoed (I've lost many citizens already, once a catastrophe that wiped a 10 pop mega-city of it's time down to a 3 pop rural outpost (remember, in civ games population has an exponential relationship to number of fictional people). Tornados have surprisingly damage my troops, dust storm have wreaked having, droughts have limited me when I really need to grow, and so on. While many of these were setbacks, I put myself in place for them by settling near where the later yields would see me flourish- so I only have myself to blame. And I can't say it was pretty or an interesting event for my people.
    Resources:

    Why oh why wasn't always like this? Of my two least favorite changes from V to VI, I'm so incredibly happy to see this one fixed. Resources matter, and it always should have been this way. I'm now engaged with the system, and consider how I'm using and acquiring them. (Now, if you would just readjust movement costs to align with V, we'd be all set)!
    Power: I play carefree enough that I can often make it to the late game, and I enjoy the add costs of environmental and resource challenges to developing my empire. It reminds me that a lot of the progress in the world post-Industrial era was centered in the few nation's that were able to terribly abuse resources for energy. The game now reflects this, and it's a fun and engaging system. Hopefully the real world continues to progressively move on from resource abusing means of energy production too.
    Diplomacy: The grievances system as a coat of fresh paint on an old vehicle, but that new paint job came with some work under the hood which has led to the vehicle running more smoothly. Beyond that, the added late game agendas have added an appreciated additional dynamic to the AI leader charachter, which is appreciated (even if I would just rather have the personality table from V back). Additionally, we have the featured new diplomacy system, with favor and the World Congress. For this, I say thank you. It feels right having a political system in the game, and I appreciate that it's notably different than what we had in the past. It's no longer simple to merely buy votes alone and dominate politically, now you must earn favor with positive relationships with major civs and earning the suzerainty of the minor powers (of course, the better your relations, the easier it is to actually do some of that bribing, in this case for favor rather than direct votes). While I don't always enjoy the lack of variety (getting three identical proposals in a row, IIRC), I enjoy that there are fairly powerful resolutions, contests, a revamped and improved emergency system, and an additional approach to diplomacy. Overall, I'm quite a fan!
    New Era: I appreciate the opportunity to stretch out the game, especially from a science and military game perspective (the two victory paths that have the most potential to benefit from the new aspects). The GDR is interesting, and the added time led to the developers really upgrading the science victory. With a slightly longer game, you also get more opportunity to appreciate later game buildings and events (like climate change).
    Is it perfect? No, but it's the best game for my tastes on the market, and this heavily loaded expansion pack is the reason.    … Expand
  8. devilchao0
    Feb 20, 2019
    1
    The new expansion adds almost nothing to the game, and at a price point of $40 you'd have to be an idiot to purchase this. The global warming mechanic doesn't kick in at all until the very end game, and many games will have been won before anything this DLC adds kicks in.
  9. MiguelASpain
    Feb 15, 2019
    8
    For a game in which I spend as much time as I do playing, I really don't feel like 40$ for an expansion is too expensive. There are 60 dollar games in which I'll spend maybe 30 hours on, so I'd say I get my moneys worth with an expansion that really makes the Civilization VI experience nearly complete.

    Things I liked: World Congress keeps things interesting during the slower periods    For a game in which I spend as much time as I do playing, I really don't feel like 40$ for an expansion is too expensive. There are 60 dollar games in which I'll spend maybe 30 hours on, so I'd say I get my moneys worth with an expansion that really makes the Civilization VI experience nearly complete.

    Things I liked:

    World Congress keeps things interesting during the slower periods of the game
    UI changes and QOL improvements make the game a much better experience (minus the swapping of the deal buttons..)
    The new Civs are some of the most interesting in the entire franchise
    Like the World Congress, the disasters serve to spice of the occasional monotony of some stretches
    The Diplomacy and Warmonger changes are more than welcome, making the AIs decisions in such respects a little bit more logical, and giving them more of a penalty if they're not
    Many new improvements keep builders relevant late game

    Things I dislike
    Diplomatic Victory can be a bit fiddly
    Why did they swap the accept and refuse deal buttons?
    The disasters feel a little too minor in their impact though their intensity/frequency can be changed
    Why again did they swap the deal buttons?!?
    The World Congress doesn't feel quite as fun in the fact that you can't be in the lead of it in a more direct way like V
    Yo what's UP with the DEAL BUTTONS?!?!?!
    The AI can still make some really ridiculous decisions and still are often real jerks in random and unnecessary ways.
    A LUMP OF COAL!?!?!? MY SPY FOR A LUMP OF COAL?!?! I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT ACCEPT WHY SWAP THE BUTTONS?!?!?!

    In conclusion, personally I feel the good outweighs the bad in all serious ways, and I can finally see myself permanently switching to Civ VI perhaps once and for all as my go to 4X game. But really... the buttons...    … Expand
  10. Speedball
    Feb 18, 2019
    9
    A solid addition across all most all levels of the game. GS has found a way of balancing complexity and accessibility is ways that Paradox game are still struggling with. The new civs offer nin-synchronous ways of approaching the new mechanics; only complaint is that the old civs could use more of a rework in terms of the new system.
  11. drlowdon
    Jan 3, 2020
    9
    The base game of Civilization VI is a great strategy title all by itself but it’s the two expansions, Rise and Fall and now Gathering Storm, that make it the best in the series.

    Alongside more new nations and leaders the biggest addition is natural disasters and the environmental impact of your activities. Neither fundamentally change the game, but the risk/reward factor of building on    The base game of Civilization VI is a great strategy title all by itself but it’s the two expansions, Rise and Fall and now Gathering Storm, that make it the best in the series.

    Alongside more new nations and leaders the biggest addition is natural disasters and the environmental impact of your activities. Neither fundamentally change the game, but the risk/reward factor of building on fertile land near volcanoes or rivers that may flood, adds an extra element of strategy when expanding your civilization. Rising sea levels, which can easily get out of control late in the game if the world doesn’t get a handle on CO2 levels, also help keep the end game interesting as your important districts and resources suddenly end up underwater!

    Much like Rise and Fall this expansion is a bit too expensive at full retail price, but if you spot it in one of the many Steam sales it’s highly recommended.    … Expand
  12. Orhunkk
    Mar 6, 2019
    8
    First of all it is overpriced.But the DLC overall is amazing.Especially the new Civ: Ottomans.
    I really liked the abilites,musics and architecture.Those are really historically accurate but, I really don't understand how a team with this accuarcy can **** up the design of the leader and units.I mean, they are all very dark skinned people in this game.Ottoman's Sultans were never this dark    First of all it is overpriced.But the DLC overall is amazing.Especially the new Civ: Ottomans.
    I really liked the abilites,musics and architecture.Those are really historically accurate but, I really don't understand how a team with this accuarcy can **** up the design of the leader and units.I mean, they are all very dark skinned people in this game.Ottoman's Sultans were never this dark neither the units.Especially the Janissary unit.Jannisaries were captured young boys who were converted to special forces for the Sultan from foreign conquered countries.Therefore, 90% of them were white.Thats why it's better to produce them in conquered cities btw.And what about the new governer Ibrahim.Let me start with telling his full name: Ibrahim Pasha of Parga. He was born in GREECE and he was from PARGA. He was also white! Those guys were the whitest whites lmao.    … Expand
  13. TsukasaHiiragi
    Jun 3, 2021
    0
    + Disasters look cool?

    - Bugs - Feels like a beta - Diplomacy is still broken -- Not casual/ New player to the franchise friendly -- severe balance problems --Loyalty is still a horrendous mess April 2021 update has made Civilization 6 entirely unstable and prone to crashing. I've played the entire civilization series since the original, and I'm sad that 6 is just so bad in    + Disasters look cool?

    - Bugs
    - Feels like a beta
    - Diplomacy is still broken
    -- Not casual/ New player to the franchise friendly
    -- severe balance problems
    --Loyalty is still a horrendous mess

    April 2021 update has made Civilization 6 entirely unstable and prone to crashing.

    I've played the entire civilization series since the original, and I'm sad that 6 is just so bad in general, Its difficult not to re-iterate what other people have said, but from the Rise and Fall expansion, CIV6 has became a literal disaster, loyalty broke the game for me and for many others, with Gathering Storm nothing was done to give the player any choice to enable/disable any potential game changing additions in fact the problem is made worse by having OP civilizations like Phoenicia.

    Rise and Fall added alot of balance problems, which was never really addressed and 2K doubled down even more by adding a holy crap down of even more balancing problems and bugs, and that leads me to the decision to say that unfortunately the expansions have made it much harder for the casual fans to enjoy the game, and feels like these are more catered to the hardcore fans of the series, you know the ones...who play on king or higher difficulties and willing to micro manage pretty much everything down to each individual tile.

    The disasters again, are nothing really new in terms in the Civ series in an earlier version of the series but not on this grand scale, all the disasters look quite decent and can have a dramatic impact on the game, whilst I can appreciate the developers trying to bring in real life situations such as climate change, you have to remember that this is still a game and making it fun for everyone is paramount to a successful game.

    Speaking of balance, it is quite bad for both multiplayer AND singleplayer with some civilizations being exceptionally overpowered, and others having fairly useless abilities that are very situational and make it far more difficult to be able to win or even survive for that matter.

    In closing, doesn't fix many of the issues that even from vanilla, fixes even less issues that came from Rise and Fall and add a whole bunch of its own bugs and balance issues, just feels rushed and genuinely like a beta than a full release. The really only good news is that this expansion actually doesn't need Rise and Fall to be installed so potentially you could bypass some of that mess.

    I seriously hope that for Civilization 7 that more options are given to the players to tailor make a custom game to everyones tastes, some features people like, and other features people don't like - giving everyone a toggle option benefits everyone.    … Expand
  14. hameow
    Mar 2, 2019
    7
    Over all i love it but the balance is not so great. For example you can make everything cost 0... Waiting for sid 7 :)
  15. Syhlcam
    May 14, 2021
    9
    L'ajout de la gestion du changement climatiques et de l'énergie est cool, ça pousse à bien géré ces ressources, à pousser la science pour trouver des énergies vertes et à faire pression voir détruire les pollueurs quand ont arrivé sur des moments critique. Les catastrophes aléatoires mette un petit plus dans les parties, des avantages peuvent changer, des victoires diplomatiques, vraimentL'ajout de la gestion du changement climatiques et de l'énergie est cool, ça pousse à bien géré ces ressources, à pousser la science pour trouver des énergies vertes et à faire pression voir détruire les pollueurs quand ont arrivé sur des moments critique. Les catastrophes aléatoires mette un petit plus dans les parties, des avantages peuvent changer, des victoires diplomatiques, vraiment sa apporte plein de petit truc vraiment intéressant.… Expand
  16. Bloodnes
    Aug 22, 2020
    7
    Очередное дополнение, глобально ничего не вносит в игру 7/10
  17. KonstantinPayne
    Aug 29, 2020
    9
    Культурную победу подтянули, с дополнениями нагромоздилась отличная игра с большим количеством механик. Весь геймплей с районами и чудесами света 10 из 10. Романтизированный визуал игры понравился, особенно заходит в первых эпохах. Очень приятно играть. Установить мод на улучшенный ИИ лишним не будет.Культурную победу подтянули, с дополнениями нагромоздилась отличная игра с большим количеством механик. Весь геймплей с районами и чудесами света 10 из 10. Романтизированный визуал игры понравился, особенно заходит в первых эпохах. Очень приятно играть. Установить мод на улучшенный ИИ лишним не будет.
  18. fabgo
    May 15, 2021
    2
    I like the base game, but this expansion just adds drudgery and makes everything a lot more complicated, without making much sense. The natural disasters just add noise and distraction. The world congress and the diplomatic victory was my least favorite mechanic of Civilization 5, and here it is again, even more obtuse than before, with all kinds of complicated voting choices. There is soI like the base game, but this expansion just adds drudgery and makes everything a lot more complicated, without making much sense. The natural disasters just add noise and distraction. The world congress and the diplomatic victory was my least favorite mechanic of Civilization 5, and here it is again, even more obtuse than before, with all kinds of complicated voting choices. There is so much stuff that needs to be micromanaged. For example, cities need power, and you need to build power plants, which requires coal/oil, which contributes to global warming. Plus the strategic resources needed are rare. I had six cities spread over a good portion of the map. No coal or oil in sight. So no power plants for me. The whole thing is just silly. After one play-through I already had enough and decided I don't want to play this expansion any more.… Expand
  19. LT_Gruber
    Dec 28, 2022
    10
    Great expansion for a great game.

    Civilization is one of my all-time favorite games, and the leap from the fifth to the sixth game is epic. It offers new mechanics, tons of stuff to do and build and a fresh new look over the older games. There is some new and relaxing music, more factions and overall, it is a huge improvement over the previous game. This expansion, Gathering Storm    Great expansion for a great game.

    Civilization is one of my all-time favorite games, and the leap from the fifth to the sixth game is epic. It offers new mechanics, tons of stuff to do and build and a fresh new look over the older games. There is some new and relaxing music, more factions and overall, it is a huge improvement over the previous game.

    This expansion, Gathering Storm adds natural disasters, and a new mechanic to gather resources.

    The disasters are cool but really frustrating at the same time. They add new challenge to the game and let you think about the placement of your new cities, the need to build damns and the constant repairing of destroyed tiles because of a tornado or sandstorm.

    Instead of the need to own two or more resources to build a stronger unit, you can just have one tile and the resources will slowly increase. The more fields you own, the faster this process goes. I think this is a huge improvement over the old mechanic, in which many times, you only had one field of the resource you need close, and the first possible field is miles away from you.

    Overall, Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is a nice expansion and worth the extra cost.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

79
#79 Best PC Game of 2019
45
#45 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 11, 2019
    60
    There is a fear in Firaxis to truly revolutionize the gameplay and it’s a shame that Gathering Storm’s potentially exciting new mechanics actually modify it ever so slightly. [03/2019, p.52]
  2. Games.cz
    Apr 5, 2019
    80
    Global warming isn’t truly catastrophic, diplomatic victory falls a bit flat, but there are plenty of very good minor improvements - and they are crowned by a slew of fantastic new civilizations.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 4, 2019
    60
    In a new addition to the Sixth Civilization, you deal with the environment. You'll be pleased by the World Congress and a more interesting diplomacy. However, it gets difficult to navigate in the flood of details. [Issue#294]
See all critic reviews »