Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is the Best in the Series for Steam Deck

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Sid Meier's Civilization 7 has just launched into Advanced Access on Steam, and it seems pretty polarizing both with critics and with players, with some praising the changes to what we've come to expect from a Civilization game, and others disliking the simplifications and alterations that have been made.

But does all this affect how the game plays on the Steam Deck? Let's examine it.

Civilization 7 - Gameplay Impressions

It's hard to get a complete view of the gameplay of Civilization 7 in the time I've spent with it so far, that will be coming in our full review of the game next week, but right now, first impressions are quite positive. Is it simplified compared to previous Civilizations? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily.

The UI is designed to be more console/controller friendly, which seems to have angered a lot of the PC crowd, but it is great for Steam Deck users. The slightly simplified game mechanics are also kind of welcome, given that Civilization has never really been a very deep strategy game, sort of straddling a line between Age of Empires and grand strategy titles like Europa Universalis. Civilization 7 still falls between these two on complexity, but it shouldn't be daunting to any new players.

One thing I do appreciate about Civilization 7 is that there always seems to be something to do. In Civilization 5 and 6, in the early game, it can quickly be a case of ending turn after turn without much taking place. In 7, every time your city grows, you must decide in what direction it grows. When constructing a building, you have to decide what tile to build it on. There are governments, religions, civic policies, technologies, and occasionally decisions to be made when encountering other civilizations, all of which keep the gameplay busy and engaging.

Content such as available civilizations and leaders may be a little light on the ground right now, with more promised in the form of paid DLC. We did encounter a couple of UI bugs with tutorial windows and occasionally the controls on the Steam Deck ceased working for a moment, for example. Still, the gameplay itself seems to be there, with a competent AI and a faster-flowing gameplay style that's ideal for multiplayer matches, I'm starting to like this new take on the Civilization formula.

Civilization 7 - Steam Deck Performance Tested

Civilization 7 is a big leap forward for the series regarding controller support. With the UI being simplified and working well with a gamepad, I'd have no difficulty recommending players use a gamepad instead of a keyboard and mouse for playing Civilization 7. It even has easy support for sending text chat messages in the game using the Steam Deck's virtual keyboard. Key UI elements are mapped to various controller buttons, ensuring you can access almost everything with your controller.

The one exception I found was the game's Civilopedia, which I couldn't access without physically tapping my touchscreen, as it didn't seem to be mapped to a button on the controller.

The game defaults to graphical settings that work well for 30 FPS and pretty much holds that the entire time, aside from some stuttering if you zoom the camera close to cities. So we'll be limiting the game to 30 FPS. It'll also save us some battery life, and it's perfectly adequate for this type of game.

The power draw was around 9W-10W in the early game. As we approached mid-game, we did notice the power draw creep closer to 11W, but I think we can still expect it to stay on the lower side. The performance difference was negligible even when 15 units or so were present on screen.

Temperatures were around 55C-60C throughout.

Civilization 7 is a new take on the classic Civilization formula. Some people will love it. Some may hate it. But one thing is clear, it's much more controller-friendly, it's streamlined and more performant than previous iterations, and these changes play into the Steam Deck's hands beautifully, making Civilization 7 the best Civilization game to play on the Steam Deck.

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