2K and Firaxis Games have announced Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, which will propel the development of human civilization beyond the traditional timeline of a Civilization game by exploring humanity’s future on an alien world. Players will lead factions divided by contrasting cultures and evolve their new civilizations to reflect their chosen destiny. They will experience an array of new gameplay possibilities, including nonlinear technological progression, deeper customization of chosen factions, and an entire alien world that will change the very identity of each faction based on their choices.
“Having celebrated its 23rd anniversary last year, ‘Civilization’ has cemented its reputation as one of the greatest and longest running franchises in video game history,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “‘Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth’ builds upon that success by pushing the series in new directions with players exploring an unknown future on an alien planet.”
“The Civ team was excited about the opportunity to continue the story of ‘Civilization’ into the future, because it allows the team to break free of historical context,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “We’ve always let our fans create the history of mankind, and ‘Civilization: Beyond Earth’ will now let them create the future.”
In addition to its use of DirectX 11, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will be among the first wave of products optimized for the latest in AMD graphics technologies, including: the new Mantle graphics API, for enhanced graphics performance; AMD CrossFire, for UltraHD resolutions and extreme image quality; and AMD Eyefinity, which allows for a panoramic gameplay experience on up to six different HD displays off of a single graphics card.
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will be available for Windows PC, Mac and Linux in North America this fall for $49.99.
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth is a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award-winning “Civilization” series. Set in the future, global events have destabilized the world leading to a collapse of modern society, a new world order and an uncertain future for humanity. As the human race struggles to recover, the re-developed nations focus their resources on deep space travel to chart a new beginning for mankind.
As part of an expedition sent to find a home beyond Earth, you will write the next chapter for humanity as you lead your people into a new frontier and create a new civilization in space. Explore and colonize an alien planet, research new technologies, amass mighty armies, build incredible Wonders and shape the face of your new world. As you embark on your journey you must make critical decisions. From your choice of sponsor and the make-up of your colony, to the ultimate path you choose for your civilization, every decision opens up new possibilities.
Features of the game include:
• Seed the Adventure: Establish your cultural identity by choosing one of eight different expedition sponsors, each with its own leader and unique gameplay benefits. Assemble your spacecraft, cargo & colonists through a series of choices that directly seed the starting conditions when arriving at the new planet.
• Colonize an Alien World: Explore the dangers and benefits of a new planet filled with dangerous terrain, mystical resources, and hostile life forms unlike those of Earth. Build outposts, unearth ancient alien relics, tame new forms of life, develop flourishing cities and establish trade routes to create prosperity for your people.
• Technology Web: To reflect progress forward into an uncertain future, technology advancement occurs through a series of nonlinear choices that affect the development of mankind. The technology web is organized around three broad themes, each with a distinct victory condition.
• Quest System: Quests are injected with fiction about the planet, and help to guide you through a series of side-missions that will aid in resource collection, unit upgrades, and advancement through the game.
• Orbital Layer: Build and deploy advanced military, economic and scientific units that provide strategic offensive, defensive and support capabilities from orbit.
• Unit Customization: Unlock different upgrades through the tech web and customize your units to reflect your play style.
• Multiplayer: Up to 8 players can compete for dominance of a new alien world.
• Mod support: Robust mod support allows you to customize and extend your game experience.
