2K Games has announced the Brave New World expansion for Civilization 5, which will bring several new civilizations into play and focus improving a campaign’s late game.
Polygon spoke with senior producer Dennis Shirk, who explained why Firaxis is choosing to focus on the latter part of gameplay instead of the first already-meaty chunk.
“We do a tremendous amount in response to community feedback, only because once the game is out — especially a game with as many layers and the complexity of Civilization — it becomes very apparent where the weaknesses are in a game.”
“Our real goal was to make that second half just as exciting as the first half of the game.”
If you’ve played Civilization 5 multiplayer, you know just how frequently campaigns end prematurely due to a lack of interest past the development and expansion part of the game. Last year’s Gods & Kings expansion brought a lot of new content to the first half of a campaign, but Brave New World is more focused on that whole chunk your friends ditch you on 80% of the time. (Is one full game so much to ask?)
Tourism and some tweaks to cultural victories will be added in this latest expansion, as will international trade routes and a World Congress.
Considering the Civilization 4 playerbase’s initial lukewarm reception to the fifth game at launch, it’s refreshing to see 2K Games and Firaxis dedicated to making Civilization 5 the best it can be. Look for Brave New World this summer for Mac and PC.
