I don’t quite know yet. I’ve played every Civ game since I started on the first with my dad when I was about 11 years old- and I’ve loved every iteration for different reasons.

I’m approaching this one kind of the same way as always- I’m playing it kind of leaning on what I know about the franchise as a whole rather than trying to understand every more granular system, because a lot of things change while all the patches start rolling in and the expansions release. I play each new game sort of the same way I played the previous one, learning the new systems by making mistakes.

It’s early enough that I still don’t really understand most of the new systems- I will say that I am enjoying it just about as much as I enjoyed 5 and 6 at launch, but less than I enjoyed 4 at launch. Fully tricked out 5 and 6 are both excellent as far as I’m concerned, and I’m thinking this one has potential to get there.

Having said all that, I absolutely HATE the “Civ-switching” mechanic. It very much takes me out of the game. We’ll see how that develops.

In the time I’ve been waiting for Skywind to release, I:

Met my future wife

Started grad school

Got engaged

Finished my Masters’

Got married

Bought a condo

Published two textbooks

Started a doctorate

Became a dad

Sold a condo

Bought a house

Finished my PhD

Got tenure

Started sending my kid to preschool

I put Avowed down last week after finishing up the first map- no reason, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but for some reason am finding it hard to pick back up again.

Been screwing around with Civilization 7 this week, dipping my toes into Pikmin 4 (still not sure how it suits me but I like its uniqueness), and playing through Final Fantasy VI on my retro handheld.

Peter Gabriel- In Your Eyes