When I first got to sit down and play a couple dozen turns of Civilization 7 last year, I had one key takeaway: It was a lot more different from its predecessors than I was expecting. And for me, that was definitely a good thing. Leaders and civs have been divorced from each other on the startup screen—you can have Ben Franklin lead Egypt or Cleopatra lead Rome. You pick a new civ for each of its three historical ages, similar to Humankind. Each civ has its own perk tree. Districts have been significantly reworked from Civ 7. It's a lot. Maybe the biggest departure from one mainline Civ game to the next in the franchise's history.
This hasn't come without controversy. The question looms: how much can you change Civilization before it's no longer a main series Civilization game? If you're asking me, though, the answer is quite a bit more. This series has been around since before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and has inspired waves of historical strategy games that have gone on to inspire waves of their own. It's a grandparent at this point. I wouldn't even mind if they went further into the weeds than Civ 7 already is.
