For instance, players might start with Pharaoh Hatshepsut and Egypt, but if they accumulate three horse resources during Antiquity, they can transition to Mongolia for the Exploration Age. Specific resources, civics, technologies, buildings, units, wonders, and even game systems are age-specific, and the map expands as you enter a new age, allowing for the introduction of new Independent Powers: Civilization 7‘s humanized take on barbarians. They’re now villages scattered across the world that can grow into formidable city-states, potentially creating a buffer between your civilization and a hostile empire.

“The thesis is that history is built in layers,” said Dennis Shirk, executive producer at Firaxis Games. “Take Rome, for example. The entire world, especially in North Africa and Europe, has seeds of Rome woven into their societies, culture, and people. Eventually, people change, absorb, and grow, and that’s just the natural state of things. But instead of having a straight line from Point A to Point B at the end, Ed [Beach, the creative director on Civilization 7] wanted to explore that space.”

Across the river from my Gamescom appointment, the ruins of a Roman villa could be found in a car park beneath the distinctively Gothic Cologne Cathedral – a compelling real-world example of the Firaxis theory in action. In that sense, Civilization 7‘s layered approach is thoughtfully archaeological, and, in theory, it will enable players to finish a game with a unique stratigraphic profile of their empire, one that reflects their choices throughout history both visually and mechanically. A presentation that aimed to illuminate all of this tantalizing historical interplay, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get a sense of how this worked in practice as my demo was limited to the Antiquity Age.

As Augustus, I could have chosen Egypt, but I picked Rome instead and built my capital a few hexagons from the coast – a cute and bountiful geographical coincidence. My scouts ventured into the unknown, causing hexagonal monoliths to rise and fall, revealing glossy sea tiles with underwater flora blooming. The plant life created a delicate mirage on the water’s surface, one of many visual details I noticed in the game, details that reflect what the game’s art director, Jason Johnson, calls’readable realism’. Another example was a glut of bubbling mud spreading through my farmlands due to an inclement flood that arrived when I discovered Irrigation.

The next thing that caught my attention was the absence of builder units. As Rome expanded, I physically selected the next tiles to grow towards and the associated improvements. This change helped streamline turn time, at least compared to Civilization 6. On the other hand, there’s Influence, a new diplomatic currency that I spent on frequent pop-up chats with other empires and sanctions during the war, specifically targeting Ashoka’s agriculture. Broadly speaking, Civilization 7 is partial to an interruptive dialogue box, far more than its predecessor, with narrative events reminiscent of Crusader Kings 3 that would confront you as you played. Similarly, the ‘goody huts’ of old now prompt a choice that determines the type of reward you will receive.

Throughout the 30 or so turns I managed, I heard the soothing voice of Gwendoline Christie, who continues the Game of Thrones dynasty of Civilization narrators, taking over from Sean Bean, who lent his Yorkshire tones to Civilization 6. Initially, Civilization 7 was going to have different narrators for each age, but Christie’s early line reads made such an impression that Firaxis scrapped the idea. “The thing that popped for us was when we were getting the first sessions back – and it didn’t matter how small, like a five-word quote – everything was read with heart and feeling; it was like she was performing for an audience every time she read something,” said Shirk.