Sid Meier's Civilization® V

Take-Two and 2K games have updated all their games Terms of Service, turning this game as well as all of their other games into literal spyware.

As other reviewers have noted, there are two major issues that have surfaced which lead me to no longer recommending this game: being unplayable and the predatory TOS update. Since the game was updated in 2025, I've not been able to play this game no matter what I try (this was prior to the infamous TOS update). Now that 2K et al has changed the TOS to collect all manner of personal data that is not necessary, I cannot ever purchase or play another game of theirs. Frankly, it is such a disgusting and predatory practice which they should not be allowed to do - Steam should remove their entire catalog from the marketplace, as no one is consenting to their data being stolen from them.

I have been playing Civ 5 on and off since 2012 so I definitely enjoy it. I think it has the right amount of complexity. It is complex enough to be interesting, but simple enough to learn all the systems. After I had been playing for a while, it started to feel more like an abstract strategy game, rather than a history/diplomacy roleplay, but it's still fun. My biggest complaint is that the enemy AI is pretty dumb. Raising the difficulty basically just lets the AI cheat more, rather than playing better. Still a fun game though.

It really says a lot that 15 years after its release the devs/publishers price this game higher than their newer installments. Trust me; that is not coincidence or them forgetting to change the prices. They known damn well that Civ 6 never had the content or polish that Civ 5 did. If you're looking for a Civ game; this is the one to buy a *decade and a half* later. DLC and mods take the game from an 8/9 to a 9/10. If you're going to buy the mods tho; make sure you get the Civ 5 Complete Bundle. It offers a way better deal on the DLC. Separately you're looking at spending over $100.

Highly addictive with endless replayability. Lots of fun ways to play depending not only on your leader, but on the randomly generated map. You can start as Attila, fully planning on warmongering, then realizing you're alone on an island full of jungle... Well, guess Attila is a scientist now.

One of the recent updates had totally borked the game. It loads up, apparantly, pick starting conditions, click 'okay' after loading when choosing the leader and just haaaaaaaaaaaang. I enjoyed it for years, but when they removed the launcher the borked something up seriously and it is now completley unplayable :( I don't enjoy the 'new style' of Civ games with the sprawling cities, so that's not even an option.

One of the best 4X games out there. I'd argue the best CIV game out right now

I am fecked of with Steam. This worked, but no longer does I paid good money for these games , but due to constant upgrades they no longer do. Fuck you steam. I bought these games in good faith and I have nothing. You bunch of feckless theives

This game is absolutely amazing and works on non gaming laptops which is a boon!

wasted my days on this as a 9 year old with zero responsibilities and im doing it again as a 20 year old with zero responsibilities