Civilization: Beyond Earth Gameplay Goes Beyond Conventions

The next installment of Sid Meier's award-winning Civilization franchise is coming later this month and naturally the marketing machinery is going full force. This latest trailer of Civilization: Beyond Earth gives a glimpse of key features and gameplay mechanics, revealing just how much it goes beyond the Civilization you've grown to love.

That said, this is still a Civ game in heart and soul, even as it is also being poised as a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's other hit title, Alpha Centauri. The setting may be different and there is no human history to confine you, but fans of the previous Civ titles will still find familiar ground. Game mechanics are mostly the same and features like advisers are also present. And, of course, the iconic hexagon tiles will also be there as well.

But true to its name, Civ: Beyond Earth goes beyond that. It's not simply Civ on an alien world. Things get really interesting once you take new gameplay mechanics into account. For example, beyond choosing an expedition sponsor (much like choosing a culture), you also get to select an Affinity that determines your overall goal and strategy as well as one of the five possible endings of the game. The Harmony affinity believes that humans will be able to adapt through genetic modification and a more harmonious (hence the name) co-existence with their new alien home. Supremacy is your hard-core sci-fi philosophy, using nanotechnology and cybernetics to achieve domination over the new world. Purity, on the other hand, believes that it is the new world that should adapt to humanity, preserving human genes and culture.

Unlike the more linear tech progression in previous Civ games, which are more based on the linearity of history, Beyond Earth employs a more sophisticated "web" idiom. You still need to meet requirements, but there is more than one way to open up new skills and technologies. You start at the center, immediately surrounded by more familiar-sounding tech. But as you veer towards the fringes of the web you get to unlock more exotic options.

There are five possible endings to each Beyond Earth playthrough, depending on what final structure you are able to build. Three are mutually exclusive and depend on your chosen Affinity, whether you merge your consciousness with the planet ala Avatar for Harmony, bringing in hordes of refugees from Earth for Purity, or, conversely, sending ambassadors to earth to "enlighten" organics there for Supremacy. The other two involve either making contact with a mysterious benign alien civilization or subjugating all other colonies and the planet's native inhabitants under your original city.

Civilization: Beyond Earth is definitely a refreshing take not only on the venerable franchise but on the genre as a whole, shedding off the shackles of history in order to build a new future. The game is set to launch October 24 but pre-orders, and in some cases discounts, are already available with a free Exoplanets Map Pack in tow.