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Civ 7 director thought the new Ages system might not work, but says it does fix the 'number-one issue' - players not getting to the end of their games

Civilization 7's new 'Ages' system, dividing campaigns into Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern, significantly improves completion rates by streamlining decision-making and reducing player overwhelm, according to developers.

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If you, like me, are always giving up on your Civ games long before you reach the end, then we have some good news, as one of Civilization 7's new systems seems to have led to a much higher completion rate for campaigns, even though some devs weren't convinced that it could work.

While games of Civ aren't as long as they are in some other strategy titles, one game will likely set you back several hours to complete, with many players tiring out before reaching the end. According to Civ 7 director Ed Beach in an interview in Edge issue 405, data had long shown that players not finishing their campaigns was one of the game's major issues and something that the new Ages system seeks to fix.

"The number-one issue that the Ages system solves for us is it helps you to get towards the end of a game," Beach explains, "and not feel like you're overwhelmed with too many things to manage, too many decisions to make to get through each turn."

In Civ 6, players would move between various eras throughout the game (ancient, renaissance, modern, etc.), but Civ 7's campaign will instead be divided into three ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Rather than a marker of how far the game has progressed, the start of each age will instead provide players with a selection of new civilisations to choose from, reminiscent of a similar system in Civ-like Humankind. 

While Beach and the team at developer Firaxis Games were not initially sure that the new system would work, he insisted that it was worth trying, and reports from the design and QA teams are promising. "I'm getting so many more reports of people playing all the way to finishing a game, and having an interesting conclusion." 

You'll find Civ 6 and more on our list of the best strategy games you can play right now.