Sid Meier’s Civilization VI sets another milestone in the Civilization franchise, which has sold-in over 34 million units worldwide and changed the gaming landscape by bringing the strategy genre to unparalleled heights. In Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, cities will physically expand across the map to create new, deep strategic layers, active research in technology and culture will unlock new potential ways to play; and the large variety of leaders will pursue their own agendas based on their historical character traits as players race to achieve victory however they choose to play.

Civilization VI: Rise and Fall brings new choices, strategies, and challenges for players as they guide a civilization through the ages. The expansion introduces new Great Ages, a new city loyalty system, and Governors while expanding existing Diplomacy and Government systems; and adds nine new leaders and eight new civilizations, a variety of new units, districts, wonders, buildings, and more. Players can now lead their empire into a Golden Age of prosperity or emerge triumphantly from a Dark Age into a memorable Heroic Age.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the second expansion pack for  Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, will be available for Windows PC on February 14, 2019.

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm introduces an active planet where geology and climatology present unique new challenges. This new expansion also introduces the World Congress and a Diplomatic Victory to Civilization VI. Players will build new Engineering Projects, manage their cities’ Power and Consumable Resources and work with other world leaders in the World Congress to deal with the challenges presented by the dynamic forces of nature. This expansion also extends the Technology and Civics trees with a future era, and adds nine new leaders from eight new civilizations, a new Diplomatic Victory condition, a variety of new units, districts, wonders, buildings, and more.

“As Sid Meier’s Civilization approaches its 27th anniversary, 2K is honored to unveil Civilization VI’s second robust expansion, inviting fans to explore and master the franchise’s rich and strategic gameplay in all-new ways with Civilization VI: Gathering Storm,” said Melissa Bell, SVP and Head of Global Marketing at 2K. “Once again, the team at Firaxis has exceeded expectations to evolve Civilization’s features with the largest expansion ever developed for the series.” 

“With Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, players are now faced with a changing, active planet that places new challenges and opportunities in front of them,” added Ed Beach, Lead Designer at Firaxis Games. “Volcanoes, river floods, droughts and massive storms all await and are a part of our new Global Climate system that can cause ice sheets to melt and sea levels to rise based on players’ choices about how they want to interact with the environment.”

Key features for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm include:

• ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: Volcanoes, storms (blizzards, sand storms, tornados and hurricanes), climate change, floods and droughts will bring the world to life in a brand new way. Settlement choices are more important than ever for players as they balance high risks and high rewards;
• POWER AND CONSUMABLE RESOURCES: Strategic resources play an additional role in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. These resources are now consumed in power plants to generate electricity for cities. Initially, players’ advanced buildings will be powered by burning carbon-based resources like Coal and Oil, but renewable energy sources also unlock as players progress to current-day technologies. The choices a player makes about resource usage will directly affect the world’s temperature and can cause melting ice caps and rising sea levels;
• ENGINEERING PROJECTS: Players can now shape the world around their empires to overcome unfavorable land conditions by making improvements like canals, dams, tunnels and railroads. When settling cities, players will need to consider the flood risk to coastal lowland areas, but keep in mind that in the late-game, new technologies like Flood Barriers can be used to protect these tiles;
• WORLD CONGRESS: For the first time in Civilization VI, players can make their voices heard among the other leaders of the world. Along the way, they can earn Diplomatic Favor through Alliances, influence city-states, compete in World Games and more. In addition, they can use Diplomatic Favor to extract promises from other leaders, vote on Resolutions, call a Special Session to address an emergency and increase the weight of votes in their quests to achieve the new Diplomatic Victory;
• 21st CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES & CIVICS: A new era has been added to the Technology and Civics trees. As well, players will combat new environmental effects with speculative ideas, such as relocating their populations out to seasteads and developing technologies to recapture carbon emissions;
• NEW LEADERS AND CIVS: Nine new leaders from eight new civilizations are introduced. Each brings unique bonuses and gameplay, as well as a total of nine unique units, four unique buildings, three unique improvements, two unique districts and one unique governor;
• NEW SCENARIOS:
  • The Black Death: The Black Death ravaged Europe and western Asia in the mid-14th century, killing a greater share of the population than any other event in world history. The player’s task is to lead his or her nation through the calamity: keep the population alive, the economy strong and faith unshaken amidst a world of terror and desperation;
  • War Machine: At the outset of WWI, the German Imperial Army had a daring plan: invade neutral Belgium and then rush the French heartland before its leaders could mobilize to resist. When war was declared, both armies swung into motion and set up one of the most incredible and shocking military campaigns in world history. In this multiplayer scenario, players take the side of one of these two great powers at this same precipice. The clock is ticking, and the enemy is moving;
• MORE NEW CONTENT: Civilization VI: Gathering Storm will introduce seven new world wonders, seven natural wonders, 18 new units, 15 new improvements, nine new buildings, five new districts, two new city sets, nine new techs and 10 new civics;
• IMPROVED GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS: The Espionage system will be enhanced with new options. In addition, the Culture and Science Victories have been updated, new Historic Moments have been added and additional improvements have been made to other existing systems.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is currently available for PC and Nintendo Switch.