Sid Meier's Civilization VI Announced for October 2016

In a surprise announcement, 2K and Firaxis Games today released a trailer and press release revealing Civilization VI. The game will launch this year, October 21, 2016, helping them celebrate 25 years of the franchise. It will ship worldwide on Windows PC retailing at $59.99; a Digital Deluxe Edition includes the game, a 25th Anniversary soundtrack, and four DLC packs, but that hasn't been priced yet.

The announce trailer doesn't reveal anything about the actual gameplay, but does show it spanning all of civilized history.

"Sid Meier's Civilization games hold a reputation for defining the 4X gaming genre for the past 25 years," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K in the press release. "We can't think of a better way to celebrate the silver anniversary of our longest-running franchise than launching the eagerly anticipated Sid Meier's Civilization VI, which will provide the most detailed, beautiful and complete experience ever featured in a Civilization game."

There's plenty of new promised for the game, as they seek to make it open to those gamers new to the franchise and longtime fans. Checkout the first screenshots below. From the press release, the "key features" are:

• EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map like never before. Each city spans multiple tiles so you can custom build your cities to take full advantage of the local terrain;

• ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization's progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures;

• DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations;

• COMBINED ARMS: Expanding on the "one unit per tile" design, support units can now be embedded with other units, like anti-tank support with infantry, or a warrior with settlers. Similar units can also be combined to form powerful "Corps" units;

• ENHANCED MULTIPLAYER: In addition to traditional multiplayer modes, cooperate and compete with your friends in a wide variety of situations all designed to be easily completed in a single session;

• A CIV FOR ALL PLAYERS: Civilization VI provides veteran players new ways to build and tune their civilization for the greatest chance of success. New tutorial systems are designed to introduce new players to the underlying concepts of Civilization so they can easily get started on a path to victory.