Only played a few games with this expansion so far but it's a very good expansion.

In summary, the things I like and dislike about Rise and Fall are the same things I like and dislike about base Civilization 6. Great content but it needs more simplifying and touch up then new mechanics. I recommend this expansion on the new base content alone. 8 new civilizations, new districts, buildings, units, resources and tons of wonders. They add so much more variability to the game, so many more ways to win. As far as mechanics there are 3 new major mechanics (and a few smaller mostly late game ones): Governors, Loyalty, and Eras. Governors is straight forward, I like it. I really like what Loyalty is supposed to do (balances the game, nerfs forward settlers) but I'm not totally sure how it works. Eras is my only complaint as I'm very confused as to how it works and what it's supposed to do. Lastly there's also some UI improvements and they adapted Governments and Policies to fit the new mechanics.

So in conclusion, Governors and Loyalty mechanics are cool but get this game for the tons of new game content.



See full review below:


Governors: Straight Forward, there's like 8 types of governors (religious, military, etc.) and just 7 possible promotions per governor. Going for a science victory? Take the science one, pretty straightforward

Loyalty: Loyalty is slightly confusing but I like what it's intentions are as it balances the game. Maintaining a large empire is more difficult as if you settle a city from your capital but near another Civilization's capital, that city will have loyalty issues. The loyalty mechanic discourages annoyingly placed cities where they can just forward settle you with little to no repercussions. If the other player forward settles on your cap they are going to have significant loyalty issues and may end up gifting you a border city. Putting thought into your city placement and empire size is rewarded with this mechanic.

Eras: As of 10+ hours of gameplay or so I don't really get how eras work. There seems to be a bunch of stuff you can get era points for. I get that upon entering the classical age you can choose what you get some era points for. Like the governors there's science era bonuses, religious era bonuses, etc. so you just pick your focus or need at the time. I so far don't understand what a golden age does for you, what a dark age does and how you can try to remember all the possible ways you get era points if you actually wanted to focus on those. The Era Mechanic is the only part of the new Rise and Fall content that doesn't improve the game much in my opinion. It's pretty complicated and doesn't seem to do much.

Also they readdressed vanilla Civilization 6 with Rise and Fall with improved UI and adapted Governments and Policies to fit the new mechanics. I like the UI the most myself as I always felt Civilization 6 was a bit cluttered. The new city UI has sooo much useful info on it. So on your city, let's say your French capital Paris for instance, you can see if there's a governor there and which type. Your population and production now have progression bars that fill up. To me Civilization 6 needs more than anything a cleaning up and simplifying of current mechanics and less new complicated mechanics. The new content will definitely do in the meantime though lol.

10/10

I'd like to start with I'm biased because this was one of my favorite games growing up. The nostalgic factor is in play lol. Still this is a solid strategy game with tons of depth to it. Like most RTSes there's a lot of micromanagement but there's also some personalization as well which I like. Every nation has its own special units and looks. Every nation has its own "home city" which you level up every time you play a game. In these home cities you can build decks which you give you bonuses in-game. So there's like a bonus for playing the game more but it isn't super imbalanced or anything. The cards just give you an extra edge.

The single player campaign is pretty good. Multiplayer still works from what I understand but beware, anybody still playing this game is going to be super good likely lol. The only con I can think of is that I would wait for this game to go on sale to buy it. It's great but it's not 10+ years old but we're still charging $40 great.

In conclusion, a real fun RTS, can't wait for Age of Empires IV.