- [Dan] Gathering Storm is Civilization VI's second
and probably final expansion
and it cements this iteration's place in history
with a new round of interesting systems
that we've never seen before in a Civ game,
things like disasters and grievances
give us plenty to consider during all eras
and it backs up a dump truck's worth
of liters of other content
atop an already fully loaded 4X strategy game.
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The list of available leaders
has grown to a gigantic cast of 45,
or 46 if you count Eleanor of Aquitaine's
ability to lead either the French or the English.
All that narration must've taken Sean Bean ages.
- [Narrator] You have built great cities of stone
and seen early empires rise and fall.
- [Dan] For my first full game
I played as Kupe of the Maori.
The Maori have significant limitations,
like an inability to recruit great writers,
but they start out with sailing
and their territory ends up looking
pretty different from any other civilizations
because they get bonuses to undeveloped tiles.
Most of the other eight new leaders
have similarly interesting traits,
though a couple are a little too focused
on one strategy to be versatile.
Gathering Storm's titular feature though
is its great new disasters.
I love having these in play,
because not only do they add more variety
but they bring an important element of the real world
to Civilization VI that's been conspicuously missing
all this time.
It balances out their destruction
by clearly telegraphing where volcanoes will erupt
and rivers will flood, so you know what you're getting into.
And when disasters do strike
the residual effect is a nice reward
of increased fertility.
On top of that, mid game technologies
allow you to mitigate flood damage with dams
or you can turn them off if you don't like that element
of randomness in your strategy.
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Separate but complimentary, the climate change system
gradually raises the sea levels
and increases the likelihood of floods,
storms, and droughts as you and other civilizations
burn fossil fuels to power cities.
Even if you avoid coal and oil,
inevitably some tiles are going the way of Atlantis.
It's a race against time to tack up
and unlock seawall improvements and solar and wind power.
Or you can just plan ahead and enjoy
your new beach front property,
because you know exactly which tiles will flood first.
That does take some of the surprise out of it
and the consequences aren't as apocalyptic
as I'd expected.
But having the map change so radically throughout a game
is a novel and intriguing idea for Civ.
Managing all that dirty coal and oil,
along with horses, niter, and uranium,
is now more intuitive and slightly more realistic
because they're consumable resources
that are harvested every turn
and can be stockpiled and traded.
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Diplomacy has also been meaningfully improved
with some satisfying mechanics,
the grievances system finally puts a number
on just how angry leaders get over broken promises,
being able to declare a justified war against a bad actor
finally feels like the rest of the world
is holding them accountable.
There's also a new currency, called Diplomatic Favor,
that represents the good will earned
by simply doing another civilization
or city state a solid, or keeping a promise.
And if you throw enough of it around
at the New World Congress meetings
you can bend all the other civilizations to your will
on everything from wars to what trading partners
get what bonus, it's a power trip.
As useful as Diplomatic Favor is,
the opportunities to spend it
on the diplomatic win condition are rare
because the congress only meets every 30 turns.
You need 10 Diplomatic Points to win,
and outside of rare side missions
you only get two every time it meets,
that means you're committed to 120 turns
after the first meeting in the Medieval era,
assuming you win every vote.
Missing just one opportunity cost me
30 tedious late game turns of waiting around
when I had already effectively won,
that's a slog of a way to end any round of Civ.
And of course there are tons of new features
that range from long requested improvements
like canals and tunnels through mountains,
to a set of futuristic governments,
plenty of new units, new man made and natural wonders,
and so many new odds and ends
that I'll have to leave to the wikis to list them all.
It also comes with a pair of new scenarios
based around World War I and the Black Death.
On the multiplayer front there's an exciting new
asynchronis Play By Cloud option
where Steam will pop up and let you know
when your turn is ready, after your opponents cycle through
and play on their own time.
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Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
is a bursting at the seams expansion
that leaves few systems without
substantial improvement or new content.
It's new civs and leaders are distinctive
and its natural disasters are predictable but meaningful
without feeling as cruel and unfair
as their real life counterparts.
A new emphasis on tradable resources,
both tangible goods and abstract favors, is a welcome change
that bring a sense of accountability
to the notoriously erratic AI rivals.
This is likely where Civ VI's expansions end,
which is logical because it's hard to imagine
how Firaxis could cram much more into its frame.
For more strategy games, check out our reviews
of Wargroove, Mutant Year Zero, and Two Point Hospital,
and for everything else stick with IGN.
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