Hey, Civ fans,

Firaxis devs here with another Update Check-In! We want to take a few minutes of your time to share where things are at with Civilization VII and what’s coming next in Update 1.2.2, which is planned to go live mid-month. 

This next update is shaping up to be one of our most content-packed so far. We’re bringing in several long-awaited features, including Large and Huge map types, new advanced game setup options, Steam Workshop support, and a handful of other improvements pulled from a mix of our own testing and community feedback. 

We’re excited about what’s in this next update, and we also want to be transparent about what’s still in progress. Some of that work is ongoing behind the scenes, and we’ll talk more about it later on in this check-in, and in future check-ins. 

Here are the broad strokes of what’s coming in 1.2.2, and we’ll share some context on how these changes will impact your next game of Civ VII. Let’s dive in!

Update 1.2.2 is planned for June 17

This is the part where we say: date subject to change. That said, June 17 is what we’re aiming for, and we’re currently on track! Many of the changes in 1.2.2 are aimed at a high-priority goal of ours to give you more freedom and flexibility.  Let’s kick things off with something we know has been on your wishlists for a while…

Large/Huge Maps

Man the Scouts, up your Settlement Limits, and get ready to spread out – Large and Huge maps are incoming! 

Just like history in Civ VII, features like this one are built in layers.  Over the last few updates, we’ve been steadily laying the groundwork: resource generation got a big overhaul in 1.2.0 to make sure Yields stay meaningful across wider spaces; Distant Land starts introduced in 1.2.1 gives players more room to breathe, so you’re not bumping into neighbors in multiplayer games; now, with 1.2.2, we’re ready for it to all come together. 

A quick heads-up that bigger maps have bigger hardware demands. On some systems, you might notice slower turn times or performance drops, especially on lower-end hardware. Large and Huge map types will be supported on PC, Mac, Linux, PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2. 

As for player count, both Large and Huge maps default to 10 civs in single-player games, but Huge can optionally go up to 12 – even if you only have 10 civs (in which case, you’ll see some duplicates). In multiplayer games, the player count (both human and AI) remains capped at 8 to help maintain stability and performance.

We’re keeping an eye on how things run and continuing to optimize, so let us know how these new maps feel for you!

New Advanced Game Options

Another request we’ve seen a lot: more control over how you start a game. In Update 1.2.2, we’re adding a few new options to help with that, and these should feel especially nice for our players out there who want a more sandbox-style experience.

Here are the new options incoming:

• Turn Legacy Paths on or off - You can now turn off Legacy Paths, either per Age, or for all of them at once. With this change, you can now play a Civ VII game without Legacy mechanics to enjoy a full sandbox-style game. Or, if you want to focus on just one or more Legacy Paths, you can turn specific ones on or off. This option also includes the ability to turn off Score Victories. We definitely want feedback on how this one in particular feels, so let us know in our official Discord!
• Crisis Picker - This lets you choose which crises are allowed to show up in your game. If there’s a particular crisis that doesn’t fit the kind of game you’re wanting to play, you can simply disable it.
• Custom AI Difficulty - For all our players that want more or less of a challenge from the AI, you’ll appreciate this change! You’ll still have the six standard difficulties, but now you can go in and tweak individual systems like economy, combat, and expansion, customizing your AI opponents to your liking.
• Bypass Civ unlocks - When you toggle this new option on, you’ll be able to pick ANY civ from the next Age during an Age transition, no matter what you’ve unlocked through your gameplay decisions. This is something we know many have asked for, especially those who want more freedom to experiment or roleplay!
• Independent Power hostility - This controls the initial hostility of Independent Powers. You can dial it down for a more relaxed experience, or crank it up for more heat – but be warned, if you settle too close to a friendly IP, it will still upset them.

Steam Workshop Support

We know modders have already been creating some really amazing mods for Civ VII, and with 1.2.2, we’re making it easier than ever to share and discover these community mods with Steam Workshop support.

To help people get started, we’re including documentation, a few best practices, and some simple example mods made by a few of us on the dev team. You’ll be able to check those out once the update goes live (including instructions on how to grab the SDK).

This is our first step into Workshop support for Civ VII, and we’ll be looking at ways to expand modding support in the future. For now, we’re excited to see what the community creates!

New Town Specializations & Balance

Okay, now let’s talk about some changes coming with Towns. With a new Specialization, a redesign of the Urban Center, and a handful of balance changes, we’re hoping to make settling and building Towns more rewarding. And with these new Large maps, trust us, you’ll want to invest in some Town-building. 

We’ll start with what’s new:

• Resort Town is a brand new Town Specialization aimed at players who like settling in naturally beautiful areas. It gives bonuses to Happiness and Gold on tiles with high Natural Appeal, and on top of that, Towns with this Specialization get a bonus to Yields on Natural Wonder tiles.
• Urban Center has been reworked to better reflect its name and role. It now boosts Gold and Happiness toward Building maintenance and unlocks access to key Buildings like the Library, Bath, and Monument without needing to fully upgrade into a City. 

We’ve also made a few small-but-meaningful tweaks to improve variety and balance across other Town types: 

• Fort Town will allow you to purchase additional walls.
• Religious Site’s Happiness bonus will scale across all Buildings in the Town instead of applying a flat +2.
• Factory Town will grant a +5 Trade Range, making it easier to connect distant supply lines.
• Mining Town sees a boosted Production output in resource-heavy areas, scaling based on Improvements like Camps, Clay Pits, Mines, and Quarries.
• And for the only nerf of the bunch, Hub Town has been tuned down slightly to bring it in line with other Towns – providing a +1 Influence per connected Town instead of +2.

New City State Bonuses, Pantheons, and Beliefs

Now let’s talk through some of the new City-States bonuses, Pantheons, and Religious Beliefs coming with 1.2.2. We’ve added 24 new City-State bonuses, 2 new Pantheons, and a big batch of 14 new Religious Beliefs (across Founder, Reliquary, and Enhancer Beliefs) in this update.

On the City-State side, we want to broaden the pool of bonuses available across every Age. Especially on larger maps or with more players, you might’ve started seeing the same bonuses pop up over and over. This update introduces a wider spread of options, including bonuses that better reflect where you are in the game, like expanding Settlement Limits in Antiquity or new yield bonuses tied to Buildings during the Exploration Age. 

On the religion side, we’ve added two new Antiquity-Age Pantheons and a range of new Beliefs, with a focus on creating more reasons to actually convert your cities, not just cities belonging to your neighbors. We’ll be sharing these beliefs in more detail when the update releases! 

Religion still has room to grow when it comes to engaging gameplay. This update adds some variety, but we’ve got our sights set on bigger changes in the future.

Some other items being worked on for June: 

The update notes will have the full details, but there’s some other changes we want to highlight are also on the way in 1.2.2: 

• Specialist Balance: After our big Food buff in 1.2.0, Specialists were feeling a little overpowered, especially when their maintenance cost could be negated via various policies. We rebalanced the policies to keep in line with the new Food curve.
• Treasure Fleet Improvements: Treasure Fleets are growing legs! These will now be called Treasure Convoys, and you’ll be able to use them over land and not just the sea. 
• Scout Dog is now Pettable: Okay, this one’s less gameplay-impacting. But it does impact our hearts and souls.
• Bug Fixes, UI Polish, and Quality-of-Life Improvements: We’re always improving what’s already in the game, and you’ll get exact details whenever the full Update Notes are released.

We could keep going, but we want to leave some surprises for the update! These items, and more, will be reflected in our full update notes when they release.

And some we want to mention are coming beyond June: 

If you didn’t see something covered in this check-in, that doesn’t mean it isn’t being worked on! There’s plenty of other features still in progress, like Auto-Explore. We're targeting July for this feature, which will function similarly to how it worked in Civ VI, but possibilities begin here. During the Firaxis Feature Feedback Discord Event, you shared your insights into the future of the feature and voted on its possible evolution, taking the time to help us lay a few paths for the system. Before we change the system further, take some time to experience Auto-Explore in Civilization VII and share your thoughts with us!

We also know features like Hotseat Multiplayer are high on many players lists, and while we don’t have a specific date for this yet, it’s something we’re actively scoping. We’ll keep you posted through Check-In articles like these as things come together. 

The Journey So Far, and What’s Ahead 

Now that we’ve talked about 1.2.2 and the couple other features above, let’s talk about where we are, and where we’re heading next. Since launch, we’ve been focused on improving the Civ VII experience by delivering highly requested features, cleaning up pain points, and responding to immediate areas of feedback. That work will still continue in June, July, and beyond.

But we also want to acknowledge some of the bigger things players have been asking about. With Civ VII, we took some big swings with many features (Ages, Civ Switching, Commanders, Legacy Paths, Legends & Mementoes, Towns, and more!). Our goal: move beyond static empire-building and into something more dynamic, where your civilization evolves and reinvents itself over time.

That being said, we also hear that some of these features haven’t landed quite as we'd hoped in their current implementation. Specifically, here are a few recurring themes we’ve seen in player feedback:

• Age Transitions can feel abrupt
• Game replayability needs more depth
• There's room for improving the player's sense of empire identity and continuity throughout a multi-Age campaign

These are significant areas of the game that are incredibly important to get right, but are more complex to solve. Addressing this feedback in a satisfying way will take time, over the course of several updates. That said, you’ll start to see some smaller changes in July focused on end of Age countdowns and improvements to Age Transitions. For the longer-term and broader changes, we’ll share more detailed plans here when we’re ready. We’re invested in making these changes and empowering you to enjoy what sets Civ VII apart.

And finally, a heartfelt thank you from all of us here at Firaxis. To the players who have been loving Civ VII, your excitement, support, screenshots, and fanart mean the world to this team. Thank you also to the players sticking with us through every update and patch. And for those of you that have stronger criticisms to share, thank you too. That feedback helps us make better decisions as developers and build a stronger, better entry for Civilization. All that to say – we’re lucky to have a community that cares this much about Civ VII, and we’re committed to continuing to earn that level of dedication. 

We can’t wait to get this update in your hands, and we hope you enjoy it!

Where Can I Share Feedback?

If you're looking to share feedback on Civilization VII, want to stay up-to-date, or are just looking for a place to talk with other Civ players, check out the Steam Discussion forums and our official Discord channel! For any issues, you can check if it's an issue already on our radar or submit a ticket through our support portal (select Civ VII in dropdown). 

From the entire team at Firaxis, thanks for being the best fans in gaming!