When I get addicted to a game, I want to pick it up and put it down multiple times. I want my game time to be enjoyable and engaging but also reasonable. I hear people talk about meaning to go to bed at 11 pm and they suddenly realize it’s 4 in the morning, and I run away screaming. In fact, that’s one of the big reasons I haven’t touched a Civilization game since Alpha Centuri : it just becomes too damn much.
In theory, if you truly wanted to sink your time, there is an endless mode, but I simply have no taste for those types of ordeals. You choose one of several tribes, each with a starting advantage (things like farming, hunting, archery, etc) and then have thirty turns to prove you’re top of the heap. Instead of going deep with historical aspects and massive levels of expansion and strategy, you simply exist. So I can see how The Battle of Polytopia fits into the gaming sphere. It also makes the entire genre a little daunting to get invested into, especially when I consider the humble roots of the first Civilization. The AI is somewhere between brilliant and malevolent, the number of researched ideas spans libraries…it’s a lot. I realize many players look at things like the Civilization franchise, ENDLESS Space or Stellaris and decide “Yes, I will now play this game until my heart gives out.” They’re wonderfully engrossing, full of variety and lore, and can be played for hours, if not days, at a time, with tons of variety and no two same games. Not every 4X game needs to be a brand new commitment for the rest of your life.
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