Despite more than a year of updates and at least one massive overhaul, Civilization 7 remains as stubbornly divisive as ever. May’s enormous Test of Time update brought significant mechanical reworks and a fresh influx of players to Firaxis’ latest entry in the 4X series. But with Steam reviews still sitting at ‘Mixed’, with 51% positive, it ultimately did little to shift player opinion.
This is partly because numerous aspects of Civ 7 are still rudimentary compared to previous games, including the ability to wage nuclear war While Firaxis’ latest allows players to drop atom bombs on their enemies via World War 2 bombers, its final, modern age ends in 1950, meaning many advanced technologies including nuclear submarines and ICBMs are not featured in the game.
Fortunately, this is going to change. Alongside the release of update 1.5.0—which adds features like improved resource generation and an Earth map where your faction starts at their historically-accurate location—Firaxis outlined its plans for the sequel over the next 12 months. This includes another free update that will finally drag the game into the age of the A-bomb.
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The update is called Arc of Tomorrow, and Firaxis says that it will be “even bigger in scope” than May’s Test of Time patch. Introducing a fourth Act to Civ 7 that extends the game’s timeline from 1950 to 2050, Arc of Tomorrow will bring a host of new features and play opportunities to the experience.
This includes “expanded nuclear gameplay” that introduces new units and what Firaxis describes as a “fun twist” on mutually assured destruction, plus atomic-era diplomacy options that will let players call for nuclear disarmament or escalate warhead production and send the doomsday clock spinning toward midnight.
Alongside nuclear weapons, the update will also extend Civ 7 into modernity in other ways. Firaxis says it will add the ability to transform settlements into City States, then use these to engage in proxy-wars to avoid battling empires directly, essentially letting you engage in Cold War-style conflicts. It also introduces the ability to manufacture advanced resources like enriched uranium, and a system called “Great Works of Film”, where film crews can scour the globe for ideal filming locations, presumably for cultural benefits.
Like Test of Time, Arc of Tomorrow will be free for all Civ 7 players. Unlike Test of Time, Arc of Tomorrow will likely be released alongside Civ 7’s first major expansion—Earthrise. As the name suggests, this will focus on humanity’s exploration of the stars.
Interestingly, your stellar endeavours will run throughout the game rather than being squashed into an end-game Space Age, with players able to chart the night sky in the age of antiquity and even name celestial bodies. As technology advances, you’ll be able to launch your first orbital missions in the modern age, before establishing your own space agency in the modern age to venture out into the solar system.
Firaxis says that both the Earthrise expansion and the Arc of Tomorrow update will be released sometime in 2027, and that the announced features are still in development and subject to change. In the meantime, if you’re on the fence about Civilization 7 (and you certainly wouldn’t be alone) the base game is currently free to play until September 10, so now would be a good time to see whether its structure works for you. If you’re taken with it, then the full game is 50% off until September 17, down from $70 (£60) to $35 (£30).
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