In 2024, there were attempts by major publishers to outdo each other with a historical strategy game simulation from the Civilization series. In March 2024, strategy experts Paradox tried with Millenia, and in September 2024, Microsoft tried its luck with Ara: History Untold. By the end of 2024, one must soberly acknowledge: it was nothing, as the player numbers on Steam show.
This is the situation with historical 4x strategy games: Since the 1990s, Sid Meier’s Civilization has dominated the scene. Part 6 was released in 2016 and has received 12 DLCs or expansions. Part 7 is planned for 2025.
Over all the years, hardly any alternatives to the “Just one more turn” classic have appeared. The closest to a new Civilization was the visually appealing Humankind, which appeared in 2021 with new ideas, some of which Civ 7 will adopt.
2024 was supposed to change that, and the monopoly of Civilization was finally meant to fall: Two challengers from well-known publishers launched to seize the time until Civilization 7 appears, aiming to conquer the market of historical 4x strategy games.
Millenia – Good approaches, but teething problems hinder the breakthrough
How it went for Millenia: The 4x strategy game was released in March 2024 and was published by Paradox Interactive, real specialists in strategy games.
Millenia focused on city development and divides the game into individual ages. Depending on the conditions met by the technologically leading player, “golden ages” or “dark ages” can dawn for all players.
However, Millenia launched with some teething problems that denied the game great success: For example, cities could not be demolished. Since the AI built very tightly and cities need a lot of space to develop, it affected the fun of the game.
Meanwhile, the worst bugs have been fixed, and just a few days ago the second expansion was released, but the player numbers on Steam remain disappointing:
- At its peak during the release, Millenia reached “only” 4,717 players on Steam
- On average, around 260 are now still online
The game never achieved a breakthrough on Steam, and the expansion has brought back only a few players.
The longer a game of Millenia lasts, the less fun it becomes
What is the problem with Millenia? Millenia suffers from the typical “bloat” of 4x strategy games. As long as you have few cities and can manage each one, the game is fun; but later on, it turns into work to optimally expand many cities. Especially since the power structures in a match are established early on and only shift gradually.
The longer a game of Millenia lasts, the less fun it becomes.
Moreover, there is a severe research race in Millenia, as only the player who is technologically leading can determine which new age to enter. The new DLC brings about two new ages, but you only reach them after countless gaming hours and only if the game goes according to plan.
The mood on Steam was disappointing: the game has a lot of potential and looks fantastic, but drives players crazy because it expects them to keep so much in their heads.
In the months since the release, the number of players on Steam has fallen from initially 4,260 to just 500. Now a patch is supposed to be released that will turn the game around, but the momentum seems to have been lost.
Also, Ara: History Untold simply required too much effort to provide players with real fun.
We Germans often get teased for being so keen on work in games and then distracting ourselves from our everyday work with games like Factorio. Pirate Software noted that the time when Germans play a video game is also the time when the economic simulation Factorio is most often mentioned in game chat. In his view, that’s the favorite among all Germans because you can work so much:
Even we Germans, who love to work in games, will have to continue hoping for Civilization 7. Maybe you should already save a bit: Civilization 7 has already caused the first stir before its release – anyone who wants to play all civilizations has to pay €100 on Steam
The first DLC that revised the start of a game provided much more as a Millenia player.
Microsoft leads us into micromanagement hell with great graphics
This is how Ara works: History Untold: Ara History Untold was launched in September, published by Microsoft. The game scored with great graphics but failed to engage players.
The problems in the game mechanics were evident: The strategy game introduced complicated production chains, but did not give players any means to keep track of them.
Quickly, players were cursing that they were stuck in a “micromanagement nightmare.”
The mood on Steam was disappointing: the game has a lot of potential and looks fantastic, but drives players crazy because it expects them to keep so much in their heads.
In the months since the release, the number of players on Steam has fallen from initially 4,260 to just 500. Now a patch is supposed to be released that will turn the game around, but the momentum seems to have been lost.
Also, Ara: History Untold simply required too much effort to provide players with real fun.
We Germans often get teased for being so keen on work in games and then distracting ourselves from our everyday work with games like Factorio. Pirate Software noted that the time when Germans play a video game is also the time when the economic simulation Factorio is most often mentioned in game chat. In his view, that’s the favorite among all Germans because you can work so much:
Even we Germans, who love to work in games, will have to continue hoping for Civilization 7. Maybe you should already save a bit: Civilization 7 has already caused the first stir before its release – anyone who wants to play all civilizations has to pay €100 on Steam
