The point of Civ games is to recreate a whole civilization and its style of life from scratch. The idea is that you integrate the best features and techs for the future of your empire. But, in these terms, which Civ game features the best balance regarding graphics, gameplay, complexity, nations, and more? In this Civ 5 vs Civ 6 article, we compare the most relevant differences and similarities of both games.

Remember that you can get both titles and previous Civilization games at a budget-friendly price on RoyalCDkeys!   

What Is Civ 5, or Sid Meier’s Civilization 5?

• Release Date: September 21, 2010
• Developer: Firaxis Games
• Publisher: 2K Games / Aspyr Media
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
• Metascore: 90

Sid Meier’s Civilization 5 is a 4X video game (turn-based and real-time strategy game) developed by Firaxis Games and the fifth installment of the Civilization game franchise. It was released on September 21, 2010. It has two major expansions, and it received good reviews in general. It won the Best Strategy Game award at the 2011 BAFTA Awards. 

Sid Meier’s Civilization V GOTY Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys. 

What Is Civ 6, or Civilization VI?

• Release Date: October 21, 2016
• Developer: Firaxis Games
• Publisher: 2K Games / Aspyr Media
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Metascore: 88

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, just like all other Civ games, is a 4x video game developed by Firaxis Games and the sixth major installment of the Civilization game franchise. Contrary to previous games of the franchise, Civilization 6 was ported to mobile devices and Nintendo Switch. This corresponds to the latest iteration of the saga. Currently, it features two major expansions.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys. 

Civ V vs Civ VI, Key Differences

Now, let’s check the main features and key differences between these two incredible titles of this magnificent genre. In summary, Civ 6 adds content and improvements to its predecessor, including new infrastructure, visuals, and civilizations. Now, to what concerns us!

Civilizations

As you may know, each civilization, either in Civ 5, or Civ 6, plays a little bit differently. Civ 5 features a total of 18 playable civilizations in the standard retail version. Subsequently, with the two major expansions, Civ 5 currently features a total of 43 civilizations.

Civ 6 also features 18 different civilizations in its original version, but it integrates multiple leaders for some civilizations. Finally, there are a total of 36 civilizations in Civ 6.   

Gameplay Mechanics

In general terms, Civilization 6 is the same game as Civilization 5 but with some improvements and new features.

A major difference between Civilization 5 and previous releases is that Civ 5 integrates a new tabletop style based on hexagons. This gives more naturalness to the game. Now, unities can move just in 6 directions.

 This iteration also makes a major change regarding the number of units you can gather in the same box. This way, you can move a great army at a time. The creation of military units is also more expensive; thus, war conflicts are not as important as in the previous installments. 

Regarding Civilization VI, its system keeps the hexagonal system. A new mechanic is the “Unstacking Cities.” This way, you necessarily have to put improvements in districts, which are specific boxes. Districts give you several bonuses.

For example, the Encampment district is used to train military units and build structures that benefit them. Some districts, such as the one above, cannot be located in the city center. Camps gain bonuses when you put them near woods, allowing scientist advances. In this regard, Civ 6 focuses on playing wide across the map rather than tall, as it does Civ 5.

Civilization 5 has a strong penalty system that applies to the Science and Culture of civilizations that build many cities. This balances the game allowing small empires to compete with larger ones. Civ 6 lacks meaningful penalties for more cities, which can lead to unfortunate general decisions.

Civ 6 is a game where expanding your empire is from very early on, compared to Civ 5, where you must build on existing resources before expanding your conquest. 

Tech Threes

Technologies are organized in a Tech Tree in both games. This means that to get any expansion in the tree, you first need to unlock some prerequisites. 

All technologies form a continuous in Civ 6, but, contrary to other saga games, you can now advance limitlessly in some areas while leaving others behind. Developers have improved Tech three by allowing you to enhance scientific research with proper resources. 

Eureka moment is a new feature that allows you to boost your progress in a specific technology if you accomplish a specific task. 

Civ 6 also introduces Civics Trees. Progressing through the Civics Tree requires Culture development. There are 50 civics in the base game. Some civics are not necessary to progress to the end of the tree. Using the culture obtained through building cities will unlock some politics of the government of the civilization. 

Cards and Government

In Civilization 6, you define the Government by using Policy Cards. You insert these cards in split slots divided into several categories, such as diplomatics, economics, etcetera. Social policies define benefits, bonuses, and solutions for unities. Some cards provide many features and relevant improvements, such as reducing the cost or time of producing new units. 

Happiness and Amenities

Amenities is a mechanic in Civ VI that represents the contentment of a city's population. This is similar to the Happiness mechanic in Civ 5 . Just like the other titles of the franchise, in Civ 6, your decisions directly affect the happiness of the inhabitants of your civilization. The difference is that in Civ 6, choices are restricted to as many cities as you apply decisions. Unlike the previous iteration, Amenities are defined on a per-city basis, rather than globally.

Achieving Victory

Both games share four out of five Victory Conditions. You can win in Civilization 5 and Civilization 6 through Domination, Culture, Science, and Diplomacy. 

Civ 5 is the first game of the saga, which allows you to assemble and launch a spaceship, winning a space race victory. 

Civ 6 adds Religious Victory, giving religion-heavy Civs a clearer route to the win. To achieve it, your religion must be predominant and gain great power among followers. Of course, with a bunch of followers in a city, you can establish the supremacy of your religion in the settlement. 

New People and Places

Civilization 5 integrates new places and people, such as Sites, City-States, Natural Wonders, and Barbarians. 

• Wonders. New cities that are built near wonders and explode a box with a wonder get more production and gold to the empire.
• Antique Sites. A box that contains an ancient ruin gives several benefits, such as antique treasures, weapons improvements, and technological advances. 
• City-States. These are the smallest political entities. You can fight against or join them. City-states provide you with bonuses, such as resources and units.
• Barbarians. These are free people who wander through the map and attack your civilization.

In Civilization 6, Antique Sites can appear on all types of tiles after discovering Natural History. These sites depend on past events and tribal villages. Regarding Wonders, Civ 6 adds “wonder movies,” through which you can watch how a wonder was built from scratch in less than 30 seconds. 

Civilization 6 also received a loyalty system. It represents the political alignment of a city and the control of the owner over the civilization.

Expansions and Content Packs

Civ 5 features two expansion packs.

• God & Kings. This pack adds religion, espionage, new leaders, and nine playable civilizations: Austria, Carthage, Byzantium, the Celts, Ethiopia, the Huns, Maya, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
• Brave the World. This expansion adds international trade routes, tourism, eight wonders, and nine civilizations: Assyria, Indonesia, Brazil, Morocco, Portugal, Poland, Venice, Shoshone, and the Zulus.  

Civ 6 features two major expansions and several content packs that add new scenarios and 8 individual civilizations. Expansions and updates are:

• Rise and Fall. This adds to the concept of rising and falling civilizations.
• Gathering Storm. This adds natural disasters and a new climate system.
• Red Death. It was a free update released in 2019. This adds a multiplayer game mode, very similar to a battle royale game, called “Red Death.”
• New Frontier. It contains 6 downloadable content packs that feature eight new civilizations: Maya, Grand Colombian, Ethiopian, Gaulish, Byzantine, Babylonian, Vietnamese, and Portuguese.    

Conclusions

All the improvements of the latter iteration make Civilization 6 a more interesting game in almost all categories. Although some weak points still remain there, such as AI, Civ 6 features a better end result and more accessible gameplay. Ultimately, although they look similar in most aspects, the differences are strong enough to divide the fanbase. We personally love Civ 6, but we encourage you to play both and draw your own conclusions.