Civilization Online Announced, Might Not Be What You Expect

Here’s one I can cross off the bucket list: via an interview at MMORPG.com with XLGAMES’ Jake Song, the much-rumored Civilization MMO has been revealed. Aptly-named Civilization Online, it’s clear right out-of-the-gate that XLGAMES has quite the project on his hands, as the Civilization series clearly has some mechanics that wouldn’t translate well over to an MMO at all.

It’s no surprise, then, that Civilization Online isn’t going to be quite like other Civilization games we’ve seen in the past, but the core values, if you will, remain. The biggest change will hit you as soon as you log in: you’re not a ruler. Instead, you’re a lowly being that must work with other players of the same culture (4 at launch, more later) to fulfill much of the same thing you would in a regular Civilization: advance, conquer and be smarter than everyone else.

The next major change is that there will be no TBS element – but that’s obvious. Instead, the game will be open-world, and you’ll freely be able to move around and explore. Exactly what your characters will look like, and your perspective, is up in-the-air at the moment. I think it’s probably safe to say that while there may be “tiles”, they’re not going to be as obvious as they are in a regular Civ game.

The intriguing thing about this MMO is that teamwork seems imperative. To build wonders and other buildings, more than one person will be required – in some cases, a hundred or more will be. As the MMORPG writer suggests, this would in effect be like “Raid crafting” – how cool is that?

In Civilization Online, going to war is considered a “bad” thing, but like the regular games, it might be necessary sometimes. Exactly what can be gained from war, aside from a domination victory, is unclear at this point. What is clear, is that the game will be a 24/7 affair, so war could very-well break out while you’re sleeping (oh, the horror).

Everything about the game seems intriguing so far, so I’m looking forward to learning more as time goes on. A release date hasn’t been announced, but as the game has been in development since 2010, we’d hope its release wouldn’t be too far off (mid-to-late 2014 would be excellent).

Are you interested in checking Civilization Online out? If not, perhaps this launch trailer will whet your appetite.