Why you shouldn't buy Civilization VI (and what you should buy instead)

I'm a long time fan of 4X games and this weekend I took the plunge and picked up Civilization VI at a 10% discount during the Steam winter sale. The interface is slick but almost too polished. By taking away the granularity they also reduced the depth. They basically force the automatic management of population on city tiles now and will automatically allocate the population for you by allowing you to select from a toolbar what you want to focus. Manually reallocating population is tedious as you have to cycle through them "locking" to a tile. It's a long shallow pool that takes forever to paddle across. The game is accessible but not engaging.

I grew up with the majesty of Civilization IV and enjoyed the shininess of Civilization V but at this stage in my life I'm ready for more intricacy. Playing Civilization VI I found myself bored between turns. The combat is as simple and unengaging as ever. My recent experience with series like Heroes of Might and Magic have me hooked on personally directing the flow of combat on a zoomed in battlefield (though there is always the option for auto combat to save time).

"But what should I buy instead?!?!" 

I highly recommend picking up Endless Legend which is a steal at $7.49 during the Steam winter sale.

After dipping my toes into the shallow tepid pool of Civilization VI I quickly found myself diving back into Endless Legend because of the perfect mix of accessibility and depth. It doesn't take 50+ turns to begin to feel invested in your civilization. From the very beginning the quest system helps guide you through pacifying local tribes and expanding your empire giving much needed focus during the early turns of the game. Endless Legend perfectly balances heroes alongside the traditional 4X experience and has a rich combat system that allows you to take part in pivotal battles.

Endless Legend's greatest strength is the wonderful variety between civilizations. Nearly every civilization feels like a completely new experience. In Civ IV civilizations are only differentiated by stylization, a few special units, buildings and slight bonuses in different eras. In Endless Legend it feels like a completely new game when you load up a new civilization; there are races that can only have one city, a race that consumes the games currency instead of food to grow and other interesting twists. This variety greatly increases the replay value (I'm on my fifth play-through with a different civilization).

I didn't take to Endless Legend until the second time I started it - the wealth of customization can be overwhelming at first but if you can focus on the game for half an hour and pay attention to the tool-tips (upgrade your units in the army panel!) you'll be rewarded with hours of immersive game play. The expansions are also on sale and I plan to pick them up the first three soon - at ~$2.50 a piece for the first three I feel it is a great value. The game earned many awards and accolades when it was released but it managed to slip under my radar until now.

If you're on the fence about what games to buy this Steam Sale I hope this helps you get the most entertainment value for your money.

As always, thoughts and opinions are welcome! Let me know what you think if you've played either game or if you have any other suggestions.

Until next time, game on!

-Eliott