We thought that was a missed opportunity. “Regarding culture in Civ V,” Beach continued, “there was a path for cultural victory, but it wasn’t as fun or involving as the military path. We want people to play like that if it suits their play style.” “And, remember, Civ V is a game about world history, and there were great civilizations that rose and weren’t necessarily dominant military powers. “There are actually a lot of players who don’t want to go down the military path,” Beach said. In a direct response to player feedback, creating and promoting art is now a worthwhile pursuit. Players will be able to select an ideology-Communism, Fascism, or Democracy-each with immediate and long-lasting effects on both military strength and culture. “It’s for fans of history, and it deals with how things progressed from the Renaissance into the Industrial Revolution with Communism and the world wars and the League of Nations.” “There were some improvements made to the back end of the game since launch, but we knew there was more we could do-and that’s where Brave New World comes in,” Beach said. While the first expansion, Gods and Kings, focused heavily on religion, combat, and content found in the earlier sections of the game, Brave New World loads the latter portion with new skills, ideologies, and a “great works” culture system. I had the opportunity to speak with Ed Beach, lead designer on Civ V, about the game’s newest expansion, Brave New World. And perhaps most distressingly, it wasn’t a fun upgrade path to walk. Victory through art, through culture, through the spread of ideals, was often less viable than a direct military conquest. In Civilization V, however, the pen has long been relegated to the bottom of the pile. Given different scenarios, either could come out on top.

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